My OH wants to adopt a kitten at some point. We have a (just shy of) 5 month old puppy. I don't want him to accidentally hurt the kitten while trying to play. I have no idea what he'd be like with it. He's very sweet and gentle, but, he's a puppy so he has his boisterous moments, and he'd outweigh it by 15 fold Thoughts?
We bought home a kitten nearly 3 wks ago to join our 7yr old Lab who'd never encountered a cat before. We've found stairgates across a couple of doorways a godsend, kitten can escape without dog following. The kitten stayed in one room for the first week, then walked out and took over! Lol! They're now the best of friends, although the kitten is very much in charge! I think it would be fine to introduce a kitten as long as you're sensible, watch them carefully, separate if things are getting rough and have plenty of escape routes.
Hi, I have always had dogs and cats. I think your dog is more ilkley to get hurt from the cat. A cat will take a swipe and can catch/scratch with a claw. A cat can look after themselves usually so as long as they don't get cornered ...you should be fine. They will end up best buddies
I've always had cats and dogs too. My cats were adults when we got Oban, one hid for a year, the other two put up with him if they had to. You would have to be careful of both puppy and kitten. A kitten could be badly hurt by a boisterous pup and likely would be too small to fight back. With careful supervision they could turn out to be best friends too.
I've always had cats and dogs, and the cats have always been in charge until Ripple . He's just too boisterous for the cats I've got now, the eldest one is beginning to come round, she sits out in the garden and shares the squeezy cheese with Ripple. But most of the time he still lunges at her and she runs off. The youngest cat still won't be in the same room as Ripple (unless he's in his crate) after over a year - I don't really know what to do about integrating them .
We had an older cat when we got Hattie and then introduced a kitten when Hattie was still a young puppy, the cats soon put her in her place Hattie lived with ducks, chickens, rabbits, a cockerel, guinepigs and never ever touched them at all, they were all free range in our garden with Hattie always amongst them Just be careful your puppy isn't too rough with the kitten as they can be easily hurt. Good luck x
Cats *screams internally*. I've got three - two 11 year olds and my elderly 16 year old. I spend a great deal of time click/treating for calm because they drive Xena wild with excitement. I messed up their early interactions and now I'm trying to remedy it. Here's what I'd do if I was getting a new kitten - I'd stack the deck for success. I'd find a kitten who'd been raised with dogs and who was confident around them. I'd then click and treat for calm from the second I walked in the door. It's going to take a long time before a) Xena doesn't freak out with excitement whenever a cat walks in the room and b) my two younger cats aren't terrified by the over-excited dog.
Thanks all, appreciate the feedback. I can see my lab going ape with excitement over a kitten, he does with our other dog. He's starting to settle down more when we ask him to, which we'll have to be really diligent about, so that he learns impulse control around other animals. What do you all do about holiday arrangenents for your cats? We have home-away-from-home style boarding for our dogs, do they have similar for cats? Or are cats too feisty to freely mingle with strange cats? I'm a complete cat noob if you can't tell. I had a look and all I could find are catteries with individual enclosed pens. Is that the best option?
We had a the same problem. It has taken a year but there is now light at the end of the tunnel. what i do is when i am feeding the cats if poppy sits and gives me nice manners she gets a bit of cat meat ( Best thing Ever) . Now she come in, sniff's and has kisses with the girls then sits. Slow and steady won this race. Good Luck
When our dog was 2 my wife bought home a rescue kitten, we had two weeks to see if it could fit in with us and the dog. The kitten was and still is a bit wild and does not mix well with people. I don't think any of our family and friends believe we have a cat because she darts off and hides whenever anyone approaches the door. Anyway we kept her separate from Chelsea for the first couple of days and hten introduced them but the kitten just freaked out whenever she was around the dog. With time running out I needed to be sure so I started to just pick up the kitten and place her on top of Chelsea, Chelsea didn't flinch and would just ignore her. The kitten slowly came around and within a couple of days was snuggling up to Chelsea and looking for a teat. So we kept the kitten and now you will find them cuddled up every day or playing until Chelsea gets a bit to excited then the cat bolts. So now we have a cat but its the dogs cat and we just feed it and get the occasional cuddle.
That's too funny! And speaking of cats, one sauntered in through our open back door this morning! Maybe it's a sign
This is the only option I've ever seen/heard of. Most domestic cats are solitary assholes and hate other cats. Catteries let them have a "free run" individually, not in groups. Having somebody come over daily to feed/water the cat is also a good option, depending on your cat's personality (if they don't like strangers and don't need exercise/stimulation). Having a cat sitter is another option, especially if you've got a friendly cat who needs a play and daily interaction. So...it depends on your cat really, they all have different needs.
