Anyone have a dog AND cats.

PatrickO

PatrickO

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We presently have two female cats both rescued after being abandoned. They are not buddies but tolerate each other with the occasional handbags at dawn, but never come to blows.

We are thinking of getting a dog as well. Just wondering if people have experience of introducing a dog into a cat household. Is it better to have a younger dog (puppy?) or a more sedate older dog.

Also any suggestion for breed or better to go for an allsorts.
 
Do you have friends with a dog? Prior to getting my lot I had 3 rescue cats, one was so terrified that she would hide in the wardrobe when family with dogs came to visit, and would only come out after riding round the house on my shoulder to make sure they'd gone, it wouldn't have been fair to her to introduce a dog so we waited till she had gone and then introduced the dogs and all was fine, I've always been told its easier to introduce a dog to a cat house, rather than the other way round
 
lizzy23 said:
Do you have friends with a dog? Prior to getting my lot I had 3 rescue cats, one was so terrified that she would hide in the wardrobe when family with dogs came to visit, and would only come out after riding round the house on my shoulder to make sure they'd gone, it wouldn't have been fair to her to introduce a dog so we waited till she had gone and then introduced the dogs and all was fine, I've always been told its easier to introduce a dog to a cat house, rather than the other way round
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Thanks lizzy , that's a good idea. I know a couple of people with dogs.
Love the image of the cat riding on your shoulder :lol:
 
We had a couple of moggies a few years ago,
and introduced a rescue pup (@ circa 18 months old)
Rotty x Alsation BTW.

The cats soon told the dog who was in charge ;)
It didn't take long for them to accept each other, and could
quite often be found curled up fast asleep together.

The introduction was quite painless all round really.
Oh and the dog always used to chase "other cats" out of the garden too.
:D
 
Not a problem at all!

I've always had dogs and cats together since my first house with my first partner. We rehomed a psychopathic terrier to join two very new kittens and I was amazed to see a tiny kitten snuggle up to a much larger dog. Pretty soon we'd find whenever we came home, three warm dents near each other on the duvet!

As Matt says, we now have two Jack Russels and six assorted rehomed cats and we foster feral kittens for a rescue centre and, inevitably, friends dump their dogs on us at holiday time.

By and large, they all muck in together - we don't give them a choice! Occasionally a dog will snap at a cat or chase one and occasionally a cat will hiss or swipe at a dog but while they're all reasonably confident and comfortable animals they don't bother to work out what species is what - it's just another animal in the house and just more company. It's far more usual to find both the cats and dogs sniffing at each other's noses or a cat rolling on their back right in front of a dog in play.

I suppose the most recent thing that brought it home to me was that we were asked to rehome an Exotic Longhair tom cat last winter, who'd always been an only pet. A couple of months later I saw him stretched out on the sofa with one Russell laying on his tail and the other laying on his nose. I think he was unpeturbed rather than pinned down! :lol:
 
We have had cats and dogs at the same time, they have got on really well and often would play together. Wouldn't hesitate to do the same again.
How you go about introducing them is up for debate, we had the dog on a lead in house for a few hours so the dog wouldn't chase the cat.! as soon as the dog understood the cat was to stay it was accepted and that was that.
 
We got a rescue cat 12 years ago, and 4 years ago got a rescue dog.
The dog always wants to play/sniff/lick , generally be nice to the cat, but the cat just doesn't want to know!
She usually greets his 'sniff' with a swipe of the claw (claws out!!).
Nothings changed in 4 years!!:lol:
Still, they're all different eh?:thinking:
 
Cheers Cobra, Jonathan, Trex500, Carlo. That all sound very encouraging.

Amazing how many people's pets are rescue animals. Presumably many owners are less than careful with their pet responsibilities.
 
PatrickO said:
Cheers Cobra, Jonathan, Trex500, Carlo. That all sound very encouraging.

Amazing how many people's pets are rescue animals. Presumably many owners are less than careful with their pet responsibilities.
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They're certainly more difficult to deal with/train, but well worth the extra effort. well...maybe not our cat!!! :razz:

when we went to the cat rescue centre, we chose Merle as she was so cute/playful/gentle, and generally lovely. We were quite shocked as the moment we got her home she changed into a wild/feral tearaway!! and hasn't changed much 12 years later!!
We thought at the time she was just 'acting' so some unsuspecting family would take her in, away from the prison like regime at the rescue center.
Now, we think she actually loved it there, and acted up as she was ****ed off with us for taking her away!! :lol::lol::lol:
 
my parents had a Dog first, then the rescue cats came to live in the house (3 of them) they all got on like a house on fire and actually the dog would protect them and heard them back inside if they were outside. but the dog unfortunately died from throat cancer, my parents said they would not have a dog again because it hurt them too much losing him, 6 months later they were looking for a new dog lol, anyway they found a rescue (another Rotti, no.4!) but when they got her home the cats HATED it with a passion, kept trying to swipe her and would constantly have issues, i think it didn't help that the dog was only a pup and so was quite mental, running around everywhere. But they couldn't be in the same room at all, with hissing if they even caught eye contact with each other. It got that bad that even though my parents loved the dog to bits they contemplated taking her back to the rescue centre as the situation didn't improve after a couple of months, well anyway 6 months later they all finally started to get on, i say get on, they could be in the same room as each other, and now they don't mind each other at all, just the odd occasion the dog decides she wants to play with the cats and goes chasing them.

So from my experience cats brought into a dogs house works well, but bringing a dog into a cats house was quite the opposite, even when the cats have been used to a dog before!
 
I used to home check for rescue, if someone wanted a dog in a home where there were already cats, we always made sure a cat friendly dog was used to check things out :thumbs:
Quite often my GSD who was pretty much unresponsive to cats in their own homes but it gave the prospective owners an idea of how the cats would respond
 
BTW, Patrick, you said you have two cats. Of our six rehomed cats, four came as two pairs and they fitted in and accommodated the other animals noticeably more easily than [at least one of] the solo cats.

After all, cats hunt alone but live in groups and cod-psychology would suggest that having a mate to cover your back and relate to, gives a cat confidence and reassurance.

That might explain my slightly different experience from Carlo's one dog and one cat.
 
we have 2 gsd's and 2 cats ...they get on well enough pretty much all the time ..only issue we sometimes have is the smaller of the cats (both toms..& brothers) sometimes has wee-man issues and tries to attack his brother .. it is kinda funny to watch tho :)
 
have a gsd and a cat. they don't fight is he best way to describe the relationship. dog get jealous of the cat if she is near food or jumps up
next to us. cat was 5 when we got the puppy but she was a kitten when out previous gsd was 5 so has known a dog all her life. I'd not bring another cat into the house but would bring another gsd puppy
 
We have two cats and a chocolate Lab. They've grown up together and get on fine, in fact I swear the Lab thinks he's actually a cat by the way he's always trying to get in through the catflap! But then choccies aren't exactly renowned for being the most intelligent of dogs. :-)
 
Works fine here, just as long as the dog remembers her place in the hierarchy. :)
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My nephew used to have 16 cats and 1 dog!

The dog was mothered by the cats and dare not complain! Lol
 
POAH said:
I think that it is you that has to remember your place in the pack lol
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Oh, I know my place all right. Especially when in comes to conducting walks in the rain and clearing rat innards from the hall... :gag:
 
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