Kitten-Dog Integration Question

[Messalina]

I got two kittens, a 12 week old brother and sister, 2 weeks ago. We
let them loose in the house while we're home, and confine them in the
bathroom with their catbox during the day. This is because we have a
9 year old lame pug who still intimidates them a bit (they jump if he
makes a false move, and hiss at him). This is not chester's fault,
mind. He pays little attention to them, at most watching them
passively from his doggiebed as they play. He'd like to get into the
catbox, but we have one of those doorway fences that are secured with
tension; we put it in place a few inches off the floor so the kittens
can go under but the dog can't.

My question is this; how soon can I trust everyone together when I am
not at home? The doorway fence gives the kittens a dog-free zone, but
I'd still feel more comfortable if they were much bigger when that day
comes.

Please advise.

Mez

[Alison]

"Messalina" > wrote in message
om...
> I got two kittens, a 12 week old brother and sister, 2 weeks ago.
We
> let them loose in the house while we're home, and confine them in
the
> bathroom with their catbox during the day. This is because we have
a
> 9 year old lame pug who still intimidates them a bit (they jump if
he
> makes a false move, and hiss at him). This is not chester's fault,
> mind. He pays little attention to them, at most watching them
> passively from his doggiebed as they play. He'd like to get into
the
> catbox, but we have one of those doorway fences that are secured
with
> tension; we put it in place a few inches off the floor so the
kittens
> can go under but the dog can't.
>
> My question is this; how soon can I trust everyone together when I
am
> not at home? The doorway fence gives the kittens a dog-free zone,
but
> I'd still feel more comfortable if they were much bigger when that
day
> comes.
>
> Please advise.
>
> Mez

Hi Mez,
Can't you leave the kittens in your bedroom with the door shut? If
you let the littens loose I would be worried that later on they would
pester your pug and pounce on him, as kittens do, and its not fair to
Chester.
I have a dog that's smaller than Kim my cat and sometimes she likes
to chase him which he finds scary.
Alison

[Alison]

"Messalina" > wrote in message
om...
> I got two kittens, a 12 week old brother and sister, 2 weeks ago.
We
> let them loose in the house while we're home, and confine them in
the
> bathroom with their catbox during the day. This is because we have
a
> 9 year old lame pug who still intimidates them a bit (they jump if
he
> makes a false move, and hiss at him). This is not chester's fault,
> mind. He pays little attention to them, at most watching them
> passively from his doggiebed as they play. He'd like to get into
the
> catbox, but we have one of those doorway fences that are secured
with
> tension; we put it in place a few inches off the floor so the
kittens
> can go under but the dog can't.
>
> My question is this; how soon can I trust everyone together when I
am
> not at home? The doorway fence gives the kittens a dog-free zone,
but
> I'd still feel more comfortable if they were much bigger when that
day
> comes.
>
> Please advise.
>
> Mez

Hi Mez,
Can't you leave the kittens in your bedroom with the door shut? If
you let the littens loose I would be worried that later on they would
pester your pug and pounce on him, as kittens do, and its not fair to
Chester.
I have a dog that's smaller than Kim my cat and sometimes she likes
to chase him which he finds scary.
Alison

[Messalina]

> om...
> > I got two kittens, a 12 week old brother and sister, 2 weeks ago.
> We
> > let them loose in the house while we're home, and confine them in
> the
> > bathroom with their catbox during the day. This is because we have
> a
> > 9 year old lame pug who still intimidates them a bit (they jump if
> he
> > makes a false move, and hiss at him). This is not chester's fault,
> > mind. He pays little attention to them, at most watching them
> > passively from his doggiebed as they play. He'd like to get into
> the
> > catbox, but we have one of those doorway fences that are secured
> with
> > tension; we put it in place a few inches off the floor so the
> kittens
> > can go under but the dog can't.
> >
> > My question is this; how soon can I trust everyone together when I
> am
> > not at home? The doorway fence gives the kittens a dog-free zone,
> but
> > I'd still feel more comfortable if they were much bigger when that
> day
> > comes.
> >
> > Please advise.
> >
> > Mez
>
> Hi Mez,
> Can't you leave the kittens in your bedroom with the door shut? If
> you let the littens loose I would be worried that later on they would
> pester your pug and pounce on him, as kittens do, and its not fair to
> Chester.
> I have a dog that's smaller than Kim my cat and sometimes she likes
> to chase him which he finds scary.
> Alison


Thats the current situation. Kittens confined together, dog has run
of the place. They only are all free together when my husband or I are
at home. What I'm asking for is advice on how long I should wait
until letting them be together in our absence.

No need to worry about Chester, tho. At 21 lbs, he's a fireplug with
feet. I actually got the kittens hoping they would make his life a
little more lively during the day, as he lost his co-dog to cancer
awhile ago.

Mez

[Messalina]

> om...
> > I got two kittens, a 12 week old brother and sister, 2 weeks ago.
> We
> > let them loose in the house while we're home, and confine them in
> the
> > bathroom with their catbox during the day. This is because we have
> a
> > 9 year old lame pug who still intimidates them a bit (they jump if
> he
> > makes a false move, and hiss at him). This is not chester's fault,
> > mind. He pays little attention to them, at most watching them
> > passively from his doggiebed as they play. He'd like to get into
> the
> > catbox, but we have one of those doorway fences that are secured
> with
> > tension; we put it in place a few inches off the floor so the
> kittens
> > can go under but the dog can't.
> >
> > My question is this; how soon can I trust everyone together when I
> am
> > not at home? The doorway fence gives the kittens a dog-free zone,
> but
> > I'd still feel more comfortable if they were much bigger when that
> day
> > comes.
> >
> > Please advise.
> >
> > Mez
>
> Hi Mez,
> Can't you leave the kittens in your bedroom with the door shut? If
> you let the littens loose I would be worried that later on they would
> pester your pug and pounce on him, as kittens do, and its not fair to
> Chester.
> I have a dog that's smaller than Kim my cat and sometimes she likes
> to chase him which he finds scary.
> Alison


Thats the current situation. Kittens confined together, dog has run
of the place. They only are all free together when my husband or I are
at home. What I'm asking for is advice on how long I should wait
until letting them be together in our absence.

No need to worry about Chester, tho. At 21 lbs, he's a fireplug with
feet. I actually got the kittens hoping they would make his life a
little more lively during the day, as he lost his co-dog to cancer
awhile ago.

Mez

[Purplecat]

I'd wait until everyone is comfortable with each other. We had the fun task
of introducing an 8 mth golden retriever who had only seen the cats she
chased from her previous back yard, and an 18mth cat who had never even seen
a dog. It worked.
Our trick was teaching the dog to more or less ignore the cat (there's
plenty of time for building friendships later, but for now you need to
create a situation in which the kittens feel comfortable to explore and
check out the dog). I've always found food works best. We kept the dog lying
down calmly around the cat (challenge at first!) using food rewards, and at
the same time hand fed the cat her dinner, slowly bringing her closer and
closer to the dog until she was eating bits of food of the dog's body (you
need good verbal control of the dog for this to work! :) But even if you
cant keep your dog calm enough to have a couple of kittens eating off it, at
least try and keep it settled enough that the kittens get a chance to check
it out. They'll adjust - you just need to give them plenty of time and
positive experiences (food's always a good one - especially if you leave it
a bit longer between meals so they're really hungry. They'll start to
associate being around the dog with getting dinner. Doesn't get much more
positive for that as far as animals are concerned).

We've since introduced our dog to two other cats using this method, and they
now all smooch up together. Given they're kittens, it shouldn't take too
long. Maybe a couple of weeks? But I wouldn't leave them unsupervised until
everyone's really comfortable, otherwise the kittens' fear will go unchecked
and they might not bond with the dog at all. Also, you want to be *really*
confident that there's absolutely no prey drive in your dog towards the
kittens lame dog or not, you don't want to let prey drive induced habits
develop. Bare in mind that little kittens tearing all over the place can be
pretty facinating and exciting to a pooch. We don't even leave our dog
unsupervised with the cats yet because we feel she's still too young and
excitable (20 mths now) and could get worked up by the cats. It's all play,
but she's a *lot* bigger than a cat.

Purplecat

"Messalina" > wrote in message
om...
> I got two kittens, a 12 week old brother and sister, 2 weeks ago. We
> let them loose in the house while we're home, and confine them in the
> bathroom with their catbox during the day. This is because we have a
> 9 year old lame pug who still intimidates them a bit (they jump if he
> makes a false move, and hiss at him). This is not chester's fault,
> mind. He pays little attention to them, at most watching them
> passively from his doggiebed as they play. He'd like to get into the
> catbox, but we have one of those doorway fences that are secured with
> tension; we put it in place a few inches off the floor so the kittens
> can go under but the dog can't.
>
> My question is this; how soon can I trust everyone together when I am
> not at home? The doorway fence gives the kittens a dog-free zone, but
> I'd still feel more comfortable if they were much bigger when that day
> comes.
>
> Please advise.
>
> Mez

[Purplecat]

I'd wait until everyone is comfortable with each other. We had the fun task
of introducing an 8 mth golden retriever who had only seen the cats she
chased from her previous back yard, and an 18mth cat who had never even seen
a dog. It worked.
Our trick was teaching the dog to more or less ignore the cat (there's
plenty of time for building friendships later, but for now you need to
create a situation in which the kittens feel comfortable to explore and
check out the dog). I've always found food works best. We kept the dog lying
down calmly around the cat (challenge at first!) using food rewards, and at
the same time hand fed the cat her dinner, slowly bringing her closer and
closer to the dog until she was eating bits of food of the dog's body (you
need good verbal control of the dog for this to work! :) But even if you
cant keep your dog calm enough to have a couple of kittens eating off it, at
least try and keep it settled enough that the kittens get a chance to check
it out. They'll adjust - you just need to give them plenty of time and
positive experiences (food's always a good one - especially if you leave it
a bit longer between meals so they're really hungry. They'll start to
associate being around the dog with getting dinner. Doesn't get much more
positive for that as far as animals are concerned).

We've since introduced our dog to two other cats using this method, and they
now all smooch up together. Given they're kittens, it shouldn't take too
long. Maybe a couple of weeks? But I wouldn't leave them unsupervised until
everyone's really comfortable, otherwise the kittens' fear will go unchecked
and they might not bond with the dog at all. Also, you want to be *really*
confident that there's absolutely no prey drive in your dog towards the
kittens lame dog or not, you don't want to let prey drive induced habits
develop. Bare in mind that little kittens tearing all over the place can be
pretty facinating and exciting to a pooch. We don't even leave our dog
unsupervised with the cats yet because we feel she's still too young and
excitable (20 mths now) and could get worked up by the cats. It's all play,
but she's a *lot* bigger than a cat.

Purplecat

"Messalina" > wrote in message
om...
> I got two kittens, a 12 week old brother and sister, 2 weeks ago. We
> let them loose in the house while we're home, and confine them in the
> bathroom with their catbox during the day. This is because we have a
> 9 year old lame pug who still intimidates them a bit (they jump if he
> makes a false move, and hiss at him). This is not chester's fault,
> mind. He pays little attention to them, at most watching them
> passively from his doggiebed as they play. He'd like to get into the
> catbox, but we have one of those doorway fences that are secured with
> tension; we put it in place a few inches off the floor so the kittens
> can go under but the dog can't.
>
> My question is this; how soon can I trust everyone together when I am
> not at home? The doorway fence gives the kittens a dog-free zone, but
> I'd still feel more comfortable if they were much bigger when that day
> comes.
>
> Please advise.
>
> Mez