Hi All, I'm not sure if this is the correct thread to post this on, but here it goes. My husband and I will be bringing home a new puppy (yellow lab) at the end of April (we can't wait). We are concerned about our 7 year old indoor cat and introducing the puppy to her. We have read other web sites (there is a really good wiki-how on it), but I was wondering if anyone has gone through something like this and could give some practical advice on introducing the two. We do intend to keep them separated for the first few days (hello baby gate).
Hello and welcome to the forum. We brought home our labrador pup to her two established, indoor only, Bengal brothers. We also followed the how to-s and the advice on this site. What was most prominent for us was that it was the cats house. They are 6 and 8 years old and they have been our only pets for years. Prior to getting Harley we had a tragic attempt at rescuing a stray pup but she had to be PTS due to unmanagable mega esophagus. She only lived with us for two weeks and throughout that time she needed to be crated for most of it, due to her condition. So we knew that our cats would not FREAK out at the introduction of a dog and we also knew that they are confident but not aggressive cats. They are very well socialised. When we brought Harls home we were prepared with a baby pen and the cats spent the first few days and nights pretending she doesn't exist. She was outside during the day, and at night she was always within our eyesight. So we prevented any unpleasant situations from developing from lack of our management. Once Harls was a little older and spent more time out of her baby pen, unsupervised constantly, when in the house DH made the cats barrier that went across the door of what ever room we were all in. See picture below. This allowed the cats to get away from her without having to jump over anything, we found that that type of behaviour excited everyone in the house. Harley thought it was too good not to chase and the cats because panicky. Luckily my DH is incredibly handy and technical and he built this quickly from some cheap wood we had about the house. Because Harley was at that stage small enough to get through the hole and the hole needed to be a certain size for our "healthy" boys, DH put the temporary piece of pip across the top. I must emphasize that this worked well because of two reasons: 1) Early defensiveness was not required from the cats because we allowed them to gradually get used to Harley and her enthusiam. But I must also point out that we only tolerated so much "drama" from the cats before we told them to stop being silly. Cat people will know that cats can really over react. 2) Harley is a wonderful pup, she has never tried to push the barrier over or jump over it. Same as she still sleeps in the same baby pen even though she could easily escape. She just isnt that type of pup so your pup may push "boundaries" a little more than Harls and you will have to manage that in a positive training manner. The boys have their own room and the barrier is now always across the door. It also prevents Harley from getting to their food and litterbox (eeuw!). In the rest of the house the three of them cohabit in mostly peace with the occasional bop on the head for Harley or hiss to remind her that she is a stinky dog. Neither cat has ever bitten or scratched her. I also need to mention that it has taken WAY more time than I thought before Harley and the boys started really being okay together. I posted a video of our oldest boy and Harls on the bed last night. It has taken about 3 months for them to be able to touch noses and walk passed Harley without behaving like she has "cooties". Our two cats are very indulged and opinionated boys, the breed is not easy to introduce new animals to and they have been very fixed in their lifestyle for a long time. They are also "jealous" over attention and stuff like toys that Harley gets and will often take her toys. Again, we are really lucky that Harley is a gentle pup. Good luck and don't lose faith, it may take a few months but hopefully you can have a peaceful household, if not best friends. This is the barrier: as you can see it has a "foot" on the one side so that it doesnt get bumped over and the other side fits into the doorway. It can stand independently, if needed but then can fall over if bumped Here our oldest boy is demonstrating. We dont have the pipe there anymore, Harleys is WAY too big to fit through now After three and a half months this is exciting to see Last night our oldest cat started making some play advances to Harley. But poor Harls is as skeptical as a lab pup can be: If I can add some last novice advise. The biggest learning point for me with Harley has been that I couldn't leave her to figure things out for herself. They know nothing. And the same with our cats. DH and I are the stable factor in all of this. So when the three of them interacted we encouraged everyone to be nice, in soft voices. With Harley watching we wouldstroke the cats and say "gently", and visa versa with the cats and Harley. We tried to model behaviour and we tried, as much as possible, to prevent situations that could lead to negative interactions, like big spaces for Harley to chase her brothers etc. Okay, now I am really done.
Thank you so much for the advice and pictures. I think (hope) everything will go as smooth as possible since the cat (her name is Little Girl) is queen of the house.
The golden rule is to not allow the puppy to chase the cat - at any time. Use baby gates to allow your cat to escape from being around the puppy. I put my cats food on the landing together with their litter tray so they came downstairs when they wanted and disappeared upstairs again when they wanted away from the puppy. Golden rule number 2 is not to allow puppy unsupervised access to the cats. If the cats entered a room I was in with the pup I engaged with the pup and spoke quietly to the cats. Tip no 3 is to have a Feliway diffuser plugged in and have a spray available to use in other rooms as necessary. Life was a little hectic for a couple of weeks, especially as my OH was away, but cats and pup settled well together and neither have had any cause to bop pup on the nose.
I have had various combinations of cats, kitten, pups and older dogs over the years. I find how the get along with each other is very variable depending on their personality. Some are besties, some tolerate each other. The cats usually have the final say. As long as there are plenty of safe bolt holes for the cats....stair gates, dog free zones...they will all figure it out in the long run. Just make sure no cat can ever get cornered...as that never ends we'll....usually for the dog . I currently have a kitten, cat, very old dog and young ish dog that all live together quite happily.
We have 2 cats and three dogs. Numerous baby gates dotted around, although they all get on really well. The best buy was a stair gate with a built in cat flap. We have that one at the top of the stairs, so when our little nervous semi feral cat needs a break she has somewhere to go where she knows the dogs can't follow her.
Omg I love it!!! I hope ours gets that way someday. One of three only just braved coming down from the third floor. There is hope! Sunny
3 months on and the cats still are unsure of our puppy. He's just waaaaaay to excited for them. They grew up around a boxer cross lab and when they were born the breeder had collies so they are used to dogs, in fact they were good friends with our previous dog - licking him, curling up with him. They do come down the stairs now, but not into the living areas just to the stairgate and I have had them all in the same room but they get stressed very easily (they're not very sociable with anyone except me lol) and bolt. My boy cat and the pup do seem to be calming towards each other VERY slowly. I'm a little gutted that their love of the previous dog didn't carry over to this one but I guess it'll take time and may have to get used to the idea of they may not ever like each other to the same extent. Good luck
