Integrating a cat & a Jack Russell?

fiwen30

fiwen30

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 May 2014
Messages
3,502
Visit site
I’m pondering aloud here, but all suggestions, advice and anecdotes welcome.

My partner and I would like to live together within the next 6 months - he currently lives at his parents with his 7 year old Jack Russell bitch, and his family’s 3 other mixed terriers, and I own a small 1 bed bungalow and have an 10+ year old (rescued as an adult) indoor cat. It would make financial and relational sense for him to move in with me until we marry and join finances, and then buy somewhere larger together.

My cat has previously lived with my old collie-cross dog, who was raised with cats and ignored them completely, but she was still wary of him. My partner’s JR is used to rough-housing with the big tom cat on their yard, and the two of them play together.

My cat is very sensitive, timid, and nervous, and is easily upset; the JR is sweet, but is always going a million miles an hour, and…does not behave in the manner in which I brought up and trained my own dog. All of the family dogs bound over living room furniture, beg at the table, resource guard toys and people amongst themselves, don’t have a basic grasp of ‘bed’, ‘off/down’, ‘leave it/drop it’ etc., and the JR is accustomed to sleeping in my partner’s bed every night. I’m sure that’s perfection for some people, but that’s not how I prefer my dogs 🫠

I know that we mustn’t compare, but at the very least I need to live with a dog that knows where it’s own bed is and how to settle and self-soothe there, to wait to be invited onto the sofa and to get down when told, and to know what belongs to them and what Absolutely Does Not.

My partner is aware of the JR’s foibles, and is very open to working on her behaviour so that we can all co-habit - I’m just not quite sure where to start, or how it will look to start to bring them together.

She isn’t an unintelligent dog by any means, and she may even be quite biddable when she’s not competing with the other dogs, she’s just never had any foundational training and I don’t want my cat to become a teachable moment.

The JR hasn’t come up to my house yet, but I’m gathering ideas as to how to begin. Scent swapping feels like a good first baby step?
 
I am not a dog training expert by my terriers have always known the difference between our house cats and other cats they encounter outside, ie on the yard. Our house cats were always good at quickly putting any new dogs in their place. I would suggest making sure your cat has a safe space she can retreat to, stair/baby gates can be very useful as the cat can just hop over away from the dog as long as the dog is not likely to jump. For the first introductions I would have the dog on a lead the whole time so the cat can move out of reach easily. Also if the dog is likely to be snappy a muzzle for the dog will be very useful. I would keep the initial visits short and have toys or chews to distract the dog. Another thing we always did was have our cats food dishes out of reach of the dogs, our cats had a shelf or cupboard top they were fed on so there was no chance of the dogs getting into their food. The other really gross thing some dogs do is help themselves to "snacks" (💩) from the cat's litter tray so be aware of that.
 
If your cat was bold it wouldn’t be a problem, but as she is nervous I’m really not sure that this can be made to work.

You might recall that we were adopted by a cat. Hitherto our JRT had seen off any trespassing cats with gusto, but new cat was used to dogs and had bossed large dogs in her previous life. Careful introductions were made with the JRT always on a long line. JRT soon realised that the new cat was not one to run away and soon accepted her as the boss. They are great friends

Had the cat been timid and tried to run the JRT would have chased.

The JRT still won’t entertain other cats.
 
I wouldn't be happy about removing a 7 yr old terrier (or any dog) which is used to living as part of a pack. The JRT might nominally belong to your partner but it sounds as if he is used to being a family dog. Would the dog be left at home sometimes? That would be most unfair imho, as currently he is never alone. Partner needs to put the dog's needs first above his wants. Is there any real reason why the dog can't remain with partner's parents and partner visit/take the dog out at times?
And that's without worrying about the effect on the cat.
 
As a JRT and general terrier fan mine have all been really happy but cheeky dogs. They will chase cats but if the cat stands up to them they'll stop. Def a lead for introductions in the house though. Mine have caught and killed squirrels and rabbits and once, to my horror, ducklings 🙁. They've always been respectful of chickens, again because chickens retaliate when threatened.
Mine do sleep on our bed and sit on the sofa but know OFF! SIT! NO! LEAVE! HERE! Always in a good firm voice. They are very trainable dogs and intelligent dogs but they do need firm boundaries. A JRT in a pack is not very trainable so not sure how that will work.
Terriers are an acquired taste.
 
We had a PJRT who had a very strong prey drive and our son brought home a tiny, fluffy kitten. We had a baby gate installed half way in our long thin house so the cat could get through and the dog couldn’t. Early introductions were with the dog on a lead and at night the kitten slept shut in a pet carrier.
We didn’t have any issue with the dog viewing cat as prey. They would play with each other, rough and tumble, and ambush from behind furniture though they never actually shared a bed.
Defo put the cat food out of reach of the terrier.
Get a trainer to help sort the dog - it can be done.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I wouldn't be happy about removing a 7 yr old terrier (or any dog) which is used to living as part of a pack. The JRT might nominally belong to your partner but it sounds as if he is used to being a family dog. Would the dog be left at home sometimes? That would be most unfair imho, as currently he is never alone. Partner needs to put the dog's needs first above his wants. Is there any real reason why the dog can't remain with partner's parents and partner visit/take the dog out at times?
And that's without worrying about the effect on the cat.
Click to expand...
That was my first thought of tbh.

Either way, I think one of you may have to make a difficult decision.
 
I’d say you definitely need to trial the dog being brought over for visits beg deciding how likely it is that they’ll be able to happily live together long term.

Scent swapping is a good, initial step towards this.

Definitely have the dog onlead to start with so that chasing can’t happen (as the dog learning to chase the cat will make everything harder).

Would recommend making sure cat has perches from which she can observe the dog without him being able to reach and also areas of the house designated as dog free zones where cat can escape to if she needs a break. (We have the conservatory with baby gate across and cat is allowed upstairs unsupervised during the day but dog is not. They also sleep in separate rooms as I have nowhere dog proof to leave the cat food if not.)

The hooligan is a CKCS not JRT but he has more prey / chase drive than genetics suggest he should. (He’s got a lot of collie-like tendencies… god knows why?!)

When we got him as a puppy it took months for him to be allowed off lead in same room as cat as he REALLY wanted to chase and as Horrid hadn’t lived with dogs before and he tends to run from trouble (not always fast enough it must be said!) it took a while for him to realise if he stopped the dog would usually stop & that if the dog got in his face a quick nip would make him back off. He also learnt that he could run AT the dog and it would run away (thinking it was a wonderful new game). In time he also learnt the dog is a bit thick and can be stalked from the bushes & jumped on!

Chasing does still happen in certain circumstances. Usually these involve the cat deliberately winding the dog up & then jumping on the fence 🙄

It was a difficult and frustrating process and there were times near the start where I wondered if they’d ever be able to share a room & be relaxed without the hooligan always having to ruin it / if the cat would ever tolerate the dog tearing around (tbh he still isn’t a fan an usually retreats to his podium to glare disapprovingly… that is likely because idiot dog has accidentally ran into him before when not looking where going) but we’ve ended up in a relatively good place in the end. This was with starting with a puppy though.

I’m not sure we’d have managed it had Hooligan been an adult.
 
I'm not sure there is much you can do that will guarantee that your cat won't be a teachable moment. You might be lucky and the dog doesn't bother much with the cat. But if she is interested in chasing then it will be a (probably long process) of teaching her 'yes', 'no' (or equivalent commands) and working on her impulse control.

Or, as per up thread, create a safe space for the cat with gates etc so that they never need see the dog if they don't want to, and then you won't have to worry.

As an aside, my terriers have always been able to differentiate between a cat that likes to play and a timid cat. Current terrier lived with a boisterous ginger Tom as a puppy/young dog that she played with, then no cat for a few months, then an elderly cat and a timid rescue, who she just ignored and left alone, then another very very timid cat, and now it is just one of the timid cats and a kitten. The kitten is a fire cracker, and takes rough housing to a new level. Phoebe and the kitten play all manner of bonkers, high arousal games together, but Phoebe is still completely respectful of timid cat, and tbh she is the only other animal that timid cat is relaxed around (he finds the kitten a bit much).

But all my terriers have been with cats from a young age, all know what no means, and have good practice from an early age of contextualising play, excitement, high arousal Vs time to be quiet and low energy. Not sure what a 7yo with a general lack of boundaries so far in life would be like.
 
Thank you all for your input, and especially your candour! It’s all confirming what I had been thinking, if I’m honest.

My partner has lived alone before for a few years, at which point the JR had moved out to live with him and to be an only dog. When I asked, he said that the JR is his, and therefore his responsibility - he feels it would be irresponsible to leave her at home, and he would miss her. She is very much his dog in a way that none of the others are, and she is glued to him at all times on the property. She may struggle to be the only dog when we’re both at work though.

Whether she would be better adjusted to remaining in the pack, or remaining with him, I’m genuinely not sure. The behaviour of the pack when they’re together is objectively terrible though, but in an environment with nothing to guard from other dogs I do think she could make strides in her behaviour.

I fully agree on separation & baby gates as tools or permanent solutions, which is what I did to introduce my previous dog as a 9 month old to my former 3 resident cats. I would be happy with that set up again, if it weren’t for the fact that the house is tiny. I’d recently been nursing a poorly chicken in my bedroom, which meant that my cat’s usual space got halved for 3 weeks and she was Not Happy. If the house was larger, I’d feel more content with them each having their own spaces.

Terriers are definitely not my cup of tea, and I’m trying very hard to not let that be the overriding influence whilst also trying to be realistic about our options.
 
He can still be responsible for her welfare while she lives with his parents and the pack. The responsible thing is to ensure the dog's day to day happiness and health, not necessarily to have her glued to his side, which would be impossible anyway, unless he can take her work with him and you will allow her to sleep on your bed, which I wouldn't. All dogs here sleep downstairs.

Years ago a friend literally rescued a Rottweiler pup who spent her days chained to a radiator. He removed her from the environment and took her to live with him in his flat. She had to be left alone while he went to work. He brought her, aged 5 months, to visit us and our dogs, she came to play most weekends. Then he wanted to visit his dad for a month over Christmas. Dad had an older dog, Friend asked if he could leave the Rott with us, we agreed but said that a month was too long for her to get used to pack living and then go back to being left alone in the flat.
It was arranged that she would live with us and he would continue to visit most weekends. They both had the best of both worlds; Rott got to live with her best friend, a Lab a couple of months older than her, and the rest of the pack, while friend didn't need to worry about her being alone and wasn't as tied at evenings and holidays.
It is possible to be responsible at a slight distance.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
He can still be responsible for her welfare while she lives with his parents and the pack. The responsible thing is to ensure the dog's day to day happiness and health, not necessarily to have her glued to his side, which would be impossible anyway, unless he can take her work with him and you will allow her to sleep on your bed, which I wouldn't. All dogs here sleep downstairs.

Years ago a friend literally rescued a Rottweiler pup who spent her days chained to a radiator. He removed her from the environment and took her to live with him in his flat. She had to be left alone while he went to work. He brought her, aged 5 months, to visit us and our dogs, she came to play most weekends. Then he wanted to visit his dad for a month over Christmas. Dad had an older dog, Friend asked if he could leave the Rott with us, we agreed but said that a month was too long for her to get used to pack living and then go back to being left alone in the flat.
It was arranged that she would live with us and he would continue to visit most weekends. They both had the best of both worlds; Rott got to live with her best friend, a Lab a couple of months older than her, and the rest of the pack, while friend didn't need to worry about her being alone and wasn't as tied at evenings and holidays.
It is possible to be responsible at a slight distance.
Click to expand...
I would be inclined to agree with you, but I’m also conscious of it not being my dog - I can suggest, but can’t make all the decisions on my own. Our homes are currently about an hour apart, so it’s not exactly handy.

However, I do think I have the best solution in mind, but again it’s not all my decision! Without wanting to sound too much like a long-running thread in the club house, my partner’s parents have a 2-bed barn which they are almost done converting with the aim of it being an air bnb to supplement income once they retire, and to potentially become a single-level down-size home for themselves if the farmhouse becomes too difficult to manage in their later years - they’re only early 60’s right now.

In my head, it would make a lot of sense for my partner and I to move into the barn for a year or two - my cat would have more indoor space which could be partitioned to accommodate the JR, the JR would have the company of her pack in the big house when everyone is at work, my partner would have his workshop on site rather than having to travel back and forth from my house, we would each have built-in pet sitters for time away from home, it’s close to my partner’s work and no further away from mine than I am right now, and there is ample outdoor space to bring my rabbit & chicken set ups.

We would rent it at market value until marriage, then I would sell my house, and we would buy together and move out somewhere else. We all get along very well with each other, and I’ve run it by my partner as a theory before, but it’s not my place to pitch the idea to all parties as a serious proposal. Perhaps presenting it from the perspective of bringing the cat & dog together might make it seem less pie in the sky.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top