tips for introducint puppy to my cat???

[futuremommytolab]

Hello

We are going to adopt a 3 month old lab on Thursday. It seems she was lost and her owners have not claimed her, so as long as the vet clears her we can adopt her on Thursday. YAY! I have one small concern. I have a very macho cat who runs the house. He is an indoor/outdoor cat. We have had a dog in the house 2 other times in his life. The first time was a friends golden retriever who was 1 year old, and it was HORRIBLE!!!!!!! The second time was a 10 week old basset hound and that went really well. My cat stayed up high for 2 days and the basset did not even notice him. When my cat finally decided to make his presence known, the puppy wanted to sniff him and my cat let him know that he was boss. The puppy got the point and everything was fine. Sadly the puppy ended up having Parvo and passed away 2 weeks later. We have waited a year and sprayed our yard with bleach and feel we are ready to try again. I wanted to make sure that I got a young dog so that I would have more of a chance for the two to get along.

So after this long explanation, does anyone have any words of advice? We have a crate for our new little girl and plan on crate training her. Thanks in advance for your words!!!

[nellies mom]

Having had dogs and cats together I would suggest a place for the cat to escape to if needed. Mine always ended up getting along after the initial hissing and spitting.

[Samson]

What Danie said ! The cat will look after itself as long as it has a place to escape.

Puppies will try to chase the cat, and personally mine got told off if they went for the cat !

This recipe resulted in all of my cats loving the dogs - even to the point of sleeping with them although Dylan ( three years old ) will still run after my young tom cat though he knows that he shouldn't. Does it bother the cat ? Not a jot.

In a nutshell, let them sort it out themselves but watch for claws in the first few weeks as some cats may swipe the pup to put him in his place.

[Spike's Mom]

Hello

We are going to adopt a 3 month old lab on Thursday. It seems she was lost and her owners have not claimed her, so as long as the vet clears her we can adopt her on Thursday. YAY! I have one small concern. I have a very macho cat who runs the house. He is an indoor/outdoor cat. We have had a dog in the house 2 other times in his life. The first time was a friends golden retriever who was 1 year old, and it was HORRIBLE!!!!!!! The second time was a 10 week old basset hound and that went really well. My cat stayed up high for 2 days and the basset did not even notice him. When my cat finally decided to make his presence known, the puppy wanted to sniff him and my cat let him know that he was boss. The puppy got the point and everything was fine. Sadly the puppy ended up having Parvo and passed away 2 weeks later. We have waited a year and sprayed our yard with bleach and feel we are ready to try again. I wanted to make sure that I got a young dog so that I would have more of a chance for the two to get along.

So after this long explanation, does anyone have any words of advice? We have a crate for our new little girl and plan on crate training her. Thanks in advance for your words!!!

Ugh - I've done everything including having her claws capped (not a good idea for an outdoor cat) there are times that she will just tease the crap out of him and then get all pissy when he reacts (want to play). She tests him sometimes to see if he's calmed down. The best thing that worked here is a squirt bottle. I just have to say it at this point and they split up. Good luck!

[marmstr]

We're 6 weeks into introducing our puppy (now 4 months) to our cat. This is the cat's 3rd dog. 1st dog came before cat, cat was kitten, they were best buddies. 2nd dog was introduced after first dog died, 2nd dog was year-old rescue. Took cat a couple of weeks to adjust and dog to learn to leave her alone (cat is declawed). Eventually they were best friends too, slept together. The cat loved our dogs, she obviously ruled the roost. If she was on the bed first, the dogs would just sleep somewhere else. If the dog was there first, the cat would curl up with them. My brother's labs are terrified of our 11 lb declawed cat!

Our 2nd lab died last winter and the cat has moped around ever since acting like she wanted another dog.

Apparently Artemis is 'not the dog I asked for'...she's too wild for the elderly (13 year old) cat. BUT the dog is catching on ('leave it' and 'off' are important commands) and the cat is more tolerant, less hissing and running. I expect them to continue working it out and eventually become friends.