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Old August 29th, 2014, 07:51 PM
mark_cairns mark_cairns is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2014
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Hello and Help

Hi. I'm a Pets Forum newby. We currently have a cat who's absolutely lovely, but we're strongly considering bringing a new pup into the fold. Which breeds are considered cat-friendly and how do you recommend we handle the transition?

Thanks!
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Old August 30th, 2014, 06:48 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Probably most pups will adjust if you get them young. Even strong prey drive dogs like husky breeds can easily adapt to their own household cat if the pup is young, say 8 weeks old.

Is your cat used to dogs? That would help. How does she react if a well behaved dog comes to visit? A confident cat will do best but you can't tell ahead of time how it will go. I have two feral cats who both love my dog. Scared of people when they came here but wouldn't you think dogs would have chased them? Why they each bonded with a dog is a mystery to me.

I'd try the usual things, puppy behind a closed door till cat knows puppy is in the house, then supervised introductions. I'd do these as soon as possible so puppy is still small and in awe of a cat. I would not wait the week you might wait with another cat, by then a large breed dog will be bigger. Make sure cat has safe places and escape routes to get to them that puppy can't access.

Something I do is make sure I speak to, pet, feed, play with the animal who was here first, first. I try to establish a hierarchy the way I want it to be. I think this works especially with a dog, who is a pack animal and instinctively recognizes a pack order.

All that said, when I brought an 8 week old Lab pup in my cats were older and though well used to a polite dog had no tolerance for a puppy. Two of them boxed his ears regularly and the third hid for a year. By a year I'd convinced him cats were not his toy to chase and the third one is now his friend.

Oh, cut cat's claws short.

Have fun.
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Old August 30th, 2014, 08:41 PM
Barkingdog Barkingdog is offline
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I agree with this "confident cat will be best" , I had a border collie mix and got a kitten that a friend rescues , the poor kitten was left on the road in a paper bag . He was a very confident kitty and tried to nurse on my female dog to no luck . The two become good buddy , my dog was border collie mix.
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