Any suggestions for introducing a d*g to my cats?

Anbody have any suggestions for successfully introducing my cats to a large
(operative word being large!) dog? In a weak moment I offered to take care
of a friend's dog while she is selling her house and moving. It may be a
fairly long time (ie several months). I have had dogs and cats together
before but the dogs were either puppies or in one case a small dog that were
more intimidated by the cats than anything. This dog (Nala) is probably 80
lbs., a mixed mutt. She's elderly and so isn't very lively anymore. She
also has not been around cats much. She is very sweet and responsive but
she could do very real damage to a cat. My cats have been around several
dogs but Kellie just ignored them and Boku (a Boston Terrier we took care of
for awhile) was very very respectful of them.

Any suggestions for making the introductions any easier?

Bonnie

"22brix" wrote

Anbody have any suggestions for successfully introducing my cats to a
large
(operative word being large!) dog? In a weak moment I offered to take
care
of a friend's dog while she is selling her house and moving. It may be a

Grin, I'll give it a shot. I'm well used to intro'ing cats to established
cat homes and have some experience with adding a dog (currently doing that
just now).

fairly long time (ie several months). I have had dogs and cats together
before but the dogs were either puppies or in one case a small dog that
were
more intimidated by the cats than anything. This dog (Nala) is probably
80
lbs., a mixed mutt. She's elderly and so isn't very lively anymore. She

First I'll ask for a little more info. (yes, with puppies it's normally
fairly easy especially if the cat is a year or more old at the time). That
same method (depending on what you did) will be only partly applicable.

The personality of the dog is the most important part. Some 'breeds' have
tendancies but their own personality can over-mask that so personality is
the primary thing. Secondary is 'breed' but easier to explain, so if you
can make a rough 'guess' on breed mix (at least maybe be able to say 'she
looks mostly kinda labrador like') go to google and check what you see. I
think it was www.doginfo.com that had a rundown on which types were a bit
more apt to be adaptable. It's good to at least look it up and keep
whatever you find in the back of your mind.

For sake of arguement lets say you look at some pictures and with her owner
come up with the idea that she's mostly seeming a mixed collie with perhaps
a bit of shepard? Look up collies and shepards. See if they both seem 'cat
or small dog friendly' (no, I didnt look up those specifically, just making
a sample). If however the mix seems to lead that direction, it means it may
go a little easier. Do NOT 'assume' safety however! Personality is more
important and the breed info is just an average trend. Same thing if you
look it up and all mixes she 'seems' to match sorta, are described as 'cat
killers'. Her age and personality may make her quite cat friendly despite
that, but exercise more caution.

also has not been around cats much. She is very sweet and responsive but
she could do very real damage to a cat. My cats have been around several
dogs but Kellie just ignored them and Boku (a Boston Terrier we took care
of
for awhile) was very very respectful of them.

Any suggestions for making the introductions any easier?

Ok, now for some specifics based on what you've listed. Your cats are at
least, 'dog tolerant'. They have also been 'exposed' to dogs. (How many
cats BTW and rough ages?). The fact that the Boston Terrier is listed as
normally getting along well with non-canine other pets is a good thing and
apparently 'Boku's' personality follows the average.

How your cats reacted initially to Boku is critical. Did they run away
immediately or did they look him over while you held him to see the
reaction? How did you intro them then?

I do _not_ advise trying to hold an 80 lb dog and intro'ing the cats BTW.
If your cats have any brains, they will scatter the second them see her.

Forcing an introduction this time, is not (IMHO) a good idea. It should be
allowed to happen naturally, at the pace of the cats. Your cats will
probably be scared silly of Nala at first, if only due to shear size! Now,
if Nala walks in first time, and the cats scatter that's normal. If she
tries to chase them down, you might want to rethink this living arrangement.
If however she just looks interested and 'walks' around sniffing in corners
and places the cats perch on (getting their scent), then you probably have a
dog that can adapt. *probably*.

Specifics on what to do: Clear down any breakables/fragile items from the
room she will be in first. Close all exit doors firmly. Fragile this time
is based on what an 80 lb dog can do to your coffee table grin. REMOVE
the cats from the room before closing the doors.

Bring Nala in. If she goes 'ape' at the scent and starts trying to get past
the door where the cats are, especially barking like crazy, take her away.
Get more expert help than I can give but at this stage, I would refuse to
have the dog.

If Nala goes a bit ape but not hugely, finds the door the cats are behind,
then 'marks' on the door, you have a different problem (possibly the first
one too). Alpha leadership. If one of your cats insists they are 'alpha'
to the dog, there's gonna be a challange fight. I personally would not take
the dog with this action either, due to the size issue. Someone's gonna get
hurt and it's hard to say who. If you got a mega scrapper cat, you may have
a blind dog on your hands. Nor will it be safe for you to try to separate
them in a battle.

Do setup a 'cat safe' room. Even if your cats normally wander the whole
house, you need a room where they can 'hide' that Nala either cant get in
(small pet door she cant pass) or stuff in there way to heavy for her to
move that the cats can fit behind or under. Example: I have a low bed. My
cat can easily get under it, but my dog can not fit more than about 6 inches
of his head in. It's a king size bed. I also have several dressers my cat
can jump up on with ease, but the dog can not. In addition to all that, the
inner master bathroom has a small (cat sized) 'door' that the dog can not
fit through. I also have several spots in just about every room that are
'like that' in such a way that my cat knows she has an egress anytime to 1
or more spots where my dog simply can not 'fit'.

Do allow the cats to drive the meeting time and method.

I am sure others will have more to add!

Ok my 'DO NOT' list might be handy as well? I doubt you would do any of
these but I have seen folks do some unusual things due to lack of
experience.

Do NOT try to put the cats in a carrier and bring them by for the dog to
sniff. You will terrify the cat(cats) and unless you got a really *strong*
carrier, Nala if of the wrong nature will bust through and have lunch. Most
cat carriers have doors strong enough for a cat, but not for an 80 lb dog.

Do not attempt to force the meeting. This can not only lead to false
'safety feelings' on your part if it seems 'ok' but can be very dangerous to
the cats. This is the most frustrating step by the way as it can take
*weeks* or even 2 months before the cats decided to be calm about being in
the same room with the dog. (this is radically different from the puppy
with cats).

Do not attempt to get them to 'play together' or 'sleep together'. Let them
determine if they want to do that (if ever). Nala was not raised with cats
as a puppy and from what my experience shows, this normally only happens if
both were raised from puppy/kittenhood with the 'other furry faced type'.

Now the situational list. If Nala is crate trained, it is not a bad idea to
bring her in (with her normal crate and all her normal bedding, not too
recently washed!) and gently let her in her crate, then see if you can coax
the cats to come out. Perhaps a can opener might be a way that works
grin. As soon as the cats see Nala can *not* get out, you can get a feel
for the interaction by watching Nala. If she snarling and growling, and eye
tracking the cats, not a good sign. Do NOT put her in a crate this way if
she isnt long term crate trained. You'll scare and upset her. If Nala
tracks them with her eyes and just whines just a little, perhaps with a
slight tail wag, she may be very cat friendly and just not exposed much.
Caution on intro still needed, but a really good sign would be to have the
cats carefully approach the 'cage/den' and gently sniff at it and Nala to
take this well without even standing up.

If Nala is babygate trained and *reliable* at it, you setup babygates here
and there. The cats will learn right away that little 2ft or so barrier
they can easily leap, is a way to get away if Nala wants to play and they do
not. Obviously an 80 lb dog can eat that little gate if she wants to
grin.

That Nala has a sweet and responsive nature, is a good sign but not always
indicative of how they wil handle cats. It can be, but check carefully.

Details: My cat and my dog are both rescue pets from the local facility.
On a 1 (hates the other type of fur face) to 10 (oh, can we play or sleep
together please? Cats and dogs, living in sin), both are 10's. Both were
raised as far as any can tell, from kitten/puppy hood with the other sort.
The dog is crate trained (we thought that cruel til we learned more and how
to use it as a 'den') as well as extremely reliably baby-gate trained. The
dog was here, and in his 'den' when we brought in the cat, and let her loose
in the master bedroom. Door closed. Later that night when the dog was in
bed for the night, we opened the door and she investigated the house.
(finding a prefered safe-room, just as neat as the bedroom to her mind).
Within a week she was sahaying along when the dog was calmly resting. It's
been about 12 days now and for the past 2, at 'afternoon nap time' she takes
the top of the sofa, he takes the bottom, and she and he clean their own fur
in tandem and sniff gently at one another. Cat is alpha, dog is not grin.

On Mar 21, 1:57*pm, "cshenk" wrote:
"22brix" wrote

Anbody have any suggestions for successfully introducing my cats to a
large
(operative word being large!) dog? *In a weak moment I offered to take
care
of a friend's dog while she is selling her house and moving. *It may be a

Grin, I'll give it a shot. *I'm well used to intro'ing cats to established
cat homes and have some experience with adding a dog (currently doing that
just now).

fairly long time (ie several months). *I have had dogs and cats together
before but the dogs were either puppies or in one case a small dog that
were
more intimidated by the cats than anything. *This dog (Nala) is probably
80
lbs., a mixed mutt. *She's elderly and so isn't very lively anymore. *She

First I'll ask for a little more info. *(yes, with puppies it's normally
fairly easy especially if the cat is a year or more old at the time). *That
same method (depending on what you did) will be only partly applicable.

The personality of the dog is the most important part. *Some 'breeds' have
tendancies but their own personality can over-mask that so personality is
the primary thing. * Secondary is 'breed' but easier to explain, so if you
can make a rough 'guess' on breed mix (at least maybe be able to say 'she
looks mostly kinda labrador like') go to google and check what you see. *I
think it waswww.doginfo.comthat had a rundown on which types were a bit
more apt to be adaptable. *It's good to at least look it up and keep
whatever you find in the back of your mind.

For sake of arguement lets say you look at some pictures and with her owner
come up with the idea that she's mostly seeming a mixed collie with perhaps
a bit of shepard? *Look up collies and shepards. *See if they both seem 'cat
or small dog friendly' (no, I didnt look up those specifically, just making
a sample). *If however the mix seems to lead that direction, it means it may
go a little easier. *Do NOT 'assume' safety however! *Personality is more
important and the breed info is just an average trend. *Same thing if you
look it up and all mixes she 'seems' to match sorta, are described as 'cat
killers'. *Her age and personality may make her quite cat friendly despite
that, but exercise more caution.

also has not been around cats much. * She is very sweet and responsive but
she could do very real damage to a cat. My cats have been around several
dogs but Kellie just ignored them and Boku (a Boston Terrier we took care
of
for awhile) was very very respectful of them.

Any suggestions for making the introductions any easier?

Ok, now for some specifics based on what you've listed. *Your cats are at
least, 'dog tolerant'. *They have also been 'exposed' to dogs. *(How many
cats BTW and rough ages?). *The fact that the Boston Terrier is listed as
normally getting along well with non-canine other pets is a good thing and
apparently 'Boku's' personality follows the average.

How your cats reacted initially to Boku is critical. *Did they run away
immediately or did they look him over while you held him to see the
reaction? *How did you intro them then?

I do _not_ advise trying to hold an 80 lb dog and intro'ing the cats BTW.
If your cats have any brains, they will scatter the second them see her.

Forcing an introduction this time, is not (IMHO) a good idea. *It should be
allowed to happen naturally, at the pace of the cats. *Your cats will
probably be scared silly of Nala at first, if only due to shear size! *Now,
if Nala walks in first time, and the cats scatter that's normal. *If she
tries to chase them down, you might want to rethink this living arrangement.

In article ,
wrote:
On Mar 21, 1:57*pm, "cshenk" wrote:
"22brix" wrote

Anbody have any suggestions for successfully introducing my cats to a
large
(operative word being large!) dog? *In a weak moment I offered to take
care
of a friend's dog while she is selling her house and moving. *It may be a

Grin, I'll give it a shot. *I'm well used to intro'ing cats to established
cat homes and have some experience with adding a dog (currently doing that
just now).

fairly long time (ie several months). *I have had dogs and cats together
before but the dogs were either puppies or in one case a small dog that
were
more intimidated by the cats than anything. *This dog (Nala) is probably
80
lbs., a mixed mutt. *She's elderly and so isn't very lively anymore. *She

First I'll ask for a little more info. *(yes, with puppies it's normally
fairly easy especially if the cat is a year or more old at the time). *That
same method (depending on what you did) will be only partly applicable.

The personality of the dog is the most important part. *Some 'breeds' have
tendancies but their own personality can over-mask that so personality is
the primary thing. * Secondary is 'breed' but easier to explain, so if you
can make a rough 'guess' on breed mix (at least maybe be able to say 'she
looks mostly kinda labrador like') go to google and check what you see. *I
think it waswww.doginfo.comthat had a rundown on which types were a bit
more apt to be adaptable. *It's good to at least look it up and keep
whatever you find in the back of your mind.

For sake of arguement lets say you look at some pictures and with her owner
come up with the idea that she's mostly seeming a mixed collie with perhaps
a bit of shepard? *Look up collies and shepards. *See if they both seem 'cat
or small dog friendly' (no, I didnt look up those specifically, just making
a sample). *If however the mix seems to lead that direction, it means it may
go a little easier. *Do NOT 'assume' safety however! *Personality is more
important and the breed info is just an average trend. *Same thing if you
look it up and all mixes she 'seems' to match sorta, are described as 'cat
killers'. *Her age and personality may make her quite cat friendly despite
that, but exercise more caution.

also has not been around cats much. * She is very sweet and responsive but
she could do very real damage to a cat. My cats have been around several
dogs but Kellie just ignored them and Boku (a Boston Terrier we took care
of
for awhile) was very very respectful of them.

Any suggestions for making the introductions any easier?

Ok, now for some specifics based on what you've listed. *Your cats are at
least, 'dog tolerant'. *They have also been 'exposed' to dogs. *(How many
cats BTW and rough ages?). *The fact that the Boston Terrier is listed as
normally getting along well with non-canine other pets is a good thing and
apparently 'Boku's' personality follows the average.

How your cats reacted initially to Boku is critical. *Did they run away
immediately or did they look him over while you held him to see the
reaction? *How did you intro them then?

I do _not_ advise trying to hold an 80 lb dog and intro'ing the cats BTW.
If your cats have any brains, they will scatter the second them see her.

Forcing an introduction this time, is not (IMHO) a good idea. *It should be
allowed to happen naturally, at the pace of the cats. *Your cats will
probably be scared silly of Nala at first, if only due to shear size! *Now,
if Nala walks in first time, and the cats scatter that's normal. *If she
tries to chase them down, you might want to rethink this living arrangement.
If however she just looks interested and 'walks' around sniffing in corners
and places the cats perch on (getting their scent), then you probably have a
dog that can adapt. **probably*.

Specifics on what to do: *Clear down any breakables/fragile items from the
room she will be in first. *Close all exit doors firmly. *Fragile this time
is based on what an 80 lb dog can do to your coffee table grin. *REMOVE
the cats from the room before closing the doors.

Bring Nala in. *If she goes 'ape' at the scent and starts trying to get past
the door where the cats are, especially barking like crazy, take her away.
Get more expert help than I can give but at this stage, I would refuse to
have the dog.

If Nala goes a bit ape but not hugely, finds the door the cats are behind,
then 'marks' on the door, you have a different problem (possibly the first
one too). *Alpha leadership. *If one of your cats insists they are 'alpha'
to the dog, there's gonna be a challange fight. *I personally would not take
the dog with this action either, due to the size issue. *Someone's gonna get
hurt and it's hard to say who. *If you got a mega scrapper cat, you may have
a blind dog on your hands. *Nor will it be safe for you to try to separate
them in a battle.

Do setup a 'cat safe' room. *Even if your cats normally wander the whole
house, you need a room where they can 'hide' that Nala either cant get in
(small pet door she cant pass) or stuff in there way to heavy for her to
move that the cats can fit behind or under. *Example: I have a low bed. *My
cat can easily get under it, but my dog can not fit more than about 6 inches
of his head in. *It's a king size bed. *I also have several dressers my cat
can jump up on with ease, but the dog can not. *In addition to all that, the
inner master bathroom has a small (cat sized) 'door' that the dog can not
fit through. *I also have several spots in just about every room that are
'like that' in such a way that my cat knows she has an egress anytime to 1
or more spots where my dog simply can not 'fit'.

Do allow the cats to drive the meeting time and method.

I am sure others will have more to add!

Ok my 'DO NOT' list might be handy as well? *I doubt you would do any of
these but I have seen folks do some unusual things due to lack of
experience.

Do NOT try to put the cats in a carrier and bring them by for the dog to
sniff. *You will terrify the cat(cats) and unless you got a really *strong*
carrier, Nala if of the wrong nature will bust through and have lunch. *Most
cat carriers have doors strong enough for a cat, but not for an 80 lb dog.

Do not attempt to force the meeting. *This can not only lead to false
'safety feelings' on your part if it seems 'ok' but can be very dangerous to
the cats. *This is the most frustrating step by the way as it can take
*weeks* or even 2 months before the cats decided to be calm about being in
the same room with the dog. *(this is radically different from the puppy
with cats).

Do not attempt to get them to 'play together' or 'sleep together'. *Let them
determine if they want to do that (if ever). *Nala was not raised with cats
as a puppy and from what my experience shows, this normally only happens if
both were raised from puppy/kittenhood with the 'other furry faced type'.

Now the situational list. *If Nala is crate trained, it is not a bad idea to
bring her in (with her normal crate and all her normal bedding, not too
recently washed!) and gently let her in her crate, then see if you can coax
the cats to come out. *Perhaps a can opener might be a way that works
grin. *As soon as the cats see Nala can *not* get out, you can get a feel
for the interaction by watching Nala. *If she snarling and growling, and eye
tracking the cats, not a good sign. *Do NOT put her in a crate this way if
she isnt long term crate trained. *You'll scare and upset her. *If Nala
tracks them with her eyes and just whines just a little, perhaps with a
slight tail wag, she may be very cat friendly and just not exposed much.
Caution on intro still needed, but a really good sign would be to have the
cats carefully approach the 'cage/den' and gently sniff at it and Nala to
take this well without even standing up.

If Nala is babygate trained and *reliable* at it, you setup babygates here
and there. *The cats will learn right away that little 2ft or so barrier
they can easily leap, is a way to get away if Nala wants to play and they do
not. *Obviously an 80 lb dog can eat that little gate if she wants to
grin.

That Nala has a sweet and responsive nature, is a good sign but not always
indicative of how they wil handle cats. *It can be, but check carefully.

Details: *My cat and my dog are both rescue pets from the local facility.
On a 1 (hates the other type of fur face) to 10 (oh, can we play or sleep
together please? *Cats and dogs, living in sin), both are 10's. *Both were
raised as far as any can tell, from kitten/puppy hood with the other sort.
The dog is crate trained (we thought that cruel til we learned more and how
to use it as a 'den') as well as extremely reliably baby-gate trained. *The
dog was here, and in his 'den' when we brought in the cat, and let her loose
in the master bedroom. *Door closed. *Later that night when the dog was in
bed for the night, we opened the door and she investigated the house.
(finding a prefered safe-room, just as neat as the bedroom to her mind).
Within a week she was sahaying along when the dog was calmly resting. *It's
been about 12 days now and for the past 2, at 'afternoon nap time' she takes
the top of the sofa, he takes the bottom, and she and he clean their own fur
in tandem and sniff gently at one another. *Cat is alpha, dog is not grin.

I guess "pitbull" is low on the list of adaptablilty? :-)


Depends.

The one I used to have got along great with cats.

Even strange ones.

Of course, that was the happiest dog I've ever seen.

On Mar 21, 5:21 pm, wrote:
On Mar 21, 1:57 pm, "cshenk" wrote:



"22brix" wrote

Anbody have any suggestions for successfully introducing my cats to a


See, I think is all up to the dog really and how their "people" have
socialized them. Pitbulls are bred for one thing and then raised by
people to be mean and nasty. These are two separate subjects exactly
as "cshenk" pointed out.

We have a friend who has a doberman that is a total lap dog. You
couldn't find a nicer dog anywhere.

Pitbulls get a bad name because of stupid people who think it is cool
to keep them mean and nasty.

Actually, that last post was in response to twp1...

"Claude V. Lucas" wrote ,
wrote:
"cshenk" wrote:
"22brix" wrote

Thanks for quoting! I devolved to killing all mail from @gmail in
despiration with spam. Now and again, a valid user of their system gets
snipped.


I guess "pitbull" is low on the list of adaptablilty? :-)


Depends.

Yup! Personality of the dog is the most important factor. Also, if raised
from puppyhood with cats, just about any dog will get used to them.

The one I used to have got along great with cats.

Even strange ones.

Of course, that was the happiest dog I've ever seen.

;-) Cool.

"mc" wrote
wrote:
"cshenk" wrote:

Anbody have any suggestions for successfully introducing my cats to a

See, I think is all up to the dog really and how their "people" have
socialized them. Pitbulls are bred for one thing and then raised by
people to be mean and nasty. These are two separate subjects exactly
as "cshenk" pointed out.

Yup! I have a neighbor (about 2 blocks over) with thr friendliest pitbull
you've ever seen! Very well mannered too! Every day at 9am and at 4pm, he
takes his morning then afternoon stroll by our house. His name is 'BooBoo'.

We have a friend who has a doberman that is a total lap dog. You
couldn't find a nicer dog anywhere.

I've seen Dobies of both types. Like any large dog, it's a matter of
socialization and proper treatment.

Pitbulls get a bad name because of stupid people who think it is cool
to keep them mean and nasty.

Yes, and sadly once of a certain age, very very hard to fix.

As I have heard....there are no bad dogs, just bad owners.

S.
--
**Visit me and my cats at http://www.island-cats.com/ **
---
"mc" wrote in message
...
On Mar 21, 5:21 pm, wrote:
On Mar 21, 1:57 pm, "cshenk" wrote:



"22brix" wrote

Anbody have any suggestions for successfully introducing my cats to a


See, I think is all up to the dog really and how their "people" have
socialized them. Pitbulls are bred for one thing and then raised by
people to be mean and nasty. These are two separate subjects exactly
as "cshenk" pointed out.

We have a friend who has a doberman that is a total lap dog. You
couldn't find a nicer dog anywhere.

Pitbulls get a bad name because of stupid people who think it is cool
to keep them mean and nasty.

"blkcatgal" wrote

As I have heard....there are no bad dogs, just bad owners.

Fully agree, as well as some who make innocent mistakes (owners). 22brix
hasnt answered back but she/he (thinking she but not sure now) may just be
at work. Anyways, because 'she' already has some experience at this, some
of my advice was too simple for her needs, but I figured if I was gonna make
a long post, I'd add in the extra incase any others reading quietly might
need it.

I guess I must have hit the important points without forgetting any as i
didnt notice anyone adding anything.

I noticed myself though I forgot 2 items that 'she' already would know, but
a new person to this may not. Here they a

If the dog is a type that will eat until all food is gone (I call this
'clean your plate syndrome') then it is essential to move the cat's food to
where the dog cant get at it.

Clumping cat litter can be dangerous because some dogs will try to 'clean
the cat litter box' for you and that can cause severe intestinal blockage.
Daisy's pan is cheapest clay litter with a little baking soda and changed
every morning. Later, when they are trusted buddies, I'll put a cover over
the pan and maybe go back to other 'litter types' but for now I know better
than to create a spot where she could feel 'trapped with no egress' yet has
to go in there. Daisy would probably start messing someplace else if we did
that.