Has anyone succeeded with getting their lab puppy and cats to get on without chasing? We have a nearly five month old lab, Murphy, since he was 8 weeks and two five year old cats who we have had since kittens. We set aside upstairs to be the cats' sanctuary and put in a child gate at the stairs. He doesn't go upstairs and they can jump over it to come down and back up of they need to escape. We followed advice on slowly introducing them. We made sure Murphy was in his crate when they came down etc and slowly they started coming down to go out when he was having a nap and occasionally in the evening to sit on our laps. However in the last couple of weeks as we have tried to be more consistent with Murphy and into a routine, we have hit an impasse - the cats seem to want to come down but mainly sit on the stairs while Murphy jumps up the gate to play with them, resulting in hissing from the more nervous cat. He's bumped noses with the more relaxed one but chases her as soon as she comes down so she runs upstairs. We know it will take time but just concerned we aren't maybe creating the best environment for them to move past this point. What should we do when he chases them? Or anything proactive we should be doin? Any advice would be hugely welcome. Thank you.
They do get there in the end and your pup is young yet. Maybe add some more safe zones. We had a stair gate on the kitchen, living room and bottom of the stairs. I have had various cat and dog combos over the years and they all end up good buddies. Just ignore, distract and watch the cats start bossing the dog around.
Probably not the recommended way of doing things, but the day we brought our girl home at 10 weeks, our grumpy old man cat (16 years at the time) swiped her on the nose (no claws). Pecking order settled immediately and they were ultimately the closest of friends, sleeping together etc. This seemed to be the cat's main 'go to' for putting dogs in their lowly place. He did the same thing with our previous dog (an 8 year old rescue). Baxter (cat) passed on this year at the ripe old age of 20 and our Lab looked for him and fretted for days.
Lola (the cat who is more relaxed) has given him a light punch with no claws but he is just desperate to play with her so his jumping and excitement seems to be making her wary but hoping they will become friends. I think the best we can hope for Poppy (the more nervous one) is that they tolerate eachother.
I would not let puppy near the cats for a few month. Just let the puppy and cats greet each other a quick sniff. I've always had dogs and cats but puppies are too boisterous and nippy until they are older.
