Visiting dog, yes or no?

[NecklessMumster]

Hi, my dad comes to us for Christmas each year, he's in his 80 ' s and lives 120 miles away, near my sister. He has a black lab who normally goes to my sisters but she is getting a new puppy soon and says she can't have dog due to jabs etc. We have a 5 yr old cat and I don’t know how she would be with a visiting dog, it'd be for about 5 days . Any views?

[DorynownotFloundering]

Eek sounds like it could be a recipe for disaster depending on how the lab is with cats? And the layout of your house?

In the past we have put the cats litter tray upstairs & food somewhere they can get to easily, but out of dog reach.

It took some farce-like co ordination of doors/windows open & shut at times , but basically we all survived, the cats just sulked upstairs for a few days but got lots of fuss & the visiting dog had someone with him all the time down so it was OK.

Lots of long walks helped to keep Ddog tired too!!

Good Luck

[lavendersun]

Totally depends on the dog, is it used to cats?

We inherited a very butch farm cat at a house we moved into. Lavender Lab and this cat became the very best of friends, believe it or not they used to play chase, the dog wagging her tail and the cat absolutely loving it.

At the end of the game they would come in the house and snuggle next to a radiator.

Even if it isn't used to cats you should be able to manage for a few days.

[NecklessMumster]

He's not used to cats, he's not well trained but getting on a bit so more placid now . I guess I was thinking about the cat's temperament more than the dog . She doesn't have a litter tray but we could move her food upstairs, but she needs access to cat flap in kitchen so maybe a gate on kitchen be better

[Hoppinggreen]

We occasionally dog sit and we tend to keep the kitchen door closed so the cats can be in there and the utility room and have access to the cat flap. We also don't take the dogs into the back garden' which is where the cats also hang out. The cats aren't too keen on it but they get over it pretty quickly, we had a dog here for a week recently and then we're back to normal in a day or 2 after he left.
The dogs who come here are pretty well behaved though and don't really chase the cats - one tried once but fell over on the wooden floor and then got slapped in he face by the cats!!!

[NecklessMumster]

thank you