So today we adopted a cat (elle) and her Kitten (star) and we have a dog (boofhead)
now im thinking wait a few days but let him sniff me after i've cuddled them ect.
He's a JR and 13 months old. he was exposed to our old cat Cougar who was bigger then him. Elle and Star are used to dogs. boof wants to be friends (wagging tale and sniffing) so...how do i do it? i get that it might be a little full on at first. and that Elle might just beat boof up (she has a kitten after all) but i want to make it as friendly as possable.
Make sure the cats have an easy escape route from the dog and whatever you do, don't hold them yourself. With an older dog I would be inclined to let the cats roam the house without the dog around so he gets used to smelling them in his space -put the cats in a room by themselves once they've wandered. Then I would sit on the floor with boofhead and let the cats out, keeping the dog calm. They will no doubt hate him to start, but given time (and so long as the dog doesn't get aggressive) they will all learn to get along.
My cat was seriously unhappy when we got a puppy last year but now the dog will lie flat on his back while the cat walks all over him, licks him etc. No doubt who rules the house here!
We did it so dog was restricted to one room with a baby gate with the cat free to come and go to that room if that makes sense? Then when they were used to each other thru the gate, let the dog in with supervision.
at the moment the cats are in their own room. and boofs with us.
he sees the cats as a game. but i'll lock him up tomorrow and let the cats wonder around. down the track DH will make up a bit of wood so they have their escape to a safe place.
the baby gate is a good idea - but boof can jump ours already!
We introduced ours at the animals shelter before adopting (at the request of the shelter). When we got home, the cat come in first and we showed her where to go to the toilet & where her food was. Our dog was then allowed inside. We just watched them carefully at first but we soon worked out that the cat was not going to take any crap from the dog & the dog is a little scared of her! Our dog is predominately outside though & the cat stays inside. When he does come inside he avoids her even though she'll come right up to him.. he tends to cower away or come sit near us! I think our dog wants to play with the cat but he is a little socially inept so can't work out what to do without the cat swipping him! I am sure all your animals will be friends though, sounds like your dog is a big kid!
we adopted this cat and her kitten from a friend of a friend - free to a good home - and it all happened in 48hrs. i think we'll just let elle and star get used to their room (which we put a heater in cus its COLD!) Elle is talking a little bit and star..well... star is happily scraching the scraching post! and boofhead has his nose slightly out of joint. but ill be fixing that tomorrow with a run with him so he knows he's still *my* baby
getting a dog introduced to cat and her kitten
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