Does your dog get along with your cat?

[cheekygirls]

We have a puppy who is 6 months and a kitten who is 1 next month.

They seem to get along ok. Puppy gets excited and climbs on the cat, the cats soft as shit and they just roll around mouthing each other. Until this morning the puppy jumps on the cat and the cat was squealing. I pulled the puppy off him and checked him over (he seems fine) but the puppy was still excited and wanted to play.

Puppy's a Yorkshire terrier so only a small breed and not aggressive at all.

How do I try and get the puppy to stop doing this? My demands of NO seem to go unheard it's like she can't hear me.

[adaline]

My puppy and our smallest cat rough play all the time - that includes the puppy mouthing the cat, the cat whacking the puppy, them chasing each other all over - it's just play.

[cheekygirls]

That's what they do lol, he whacks her one and runs off 🙈 she trapped him at the bottom of the stairs last night while he was trying to jump over the stair gate, and humped him to within an inch of his life 😬 poor cat! He's probably thinking "take her back" 🙈

[elloelloello]

Our dog and cat loved each other eventually.

Dog was a bit of a pest as a puppy, but he learnt the hard way that cats are scratchy and bitey and left well alone

They were really good buddies over time - to the point the cat would chuck any bits of food left out of dog’s reach onto the floor for him

[Cuttingthegrass]

Ours loved each other. A few hiccups as you’re encountering during the ‘toddler years’ aka 6 months age puppy. Maybe cat was feeling under the weather last night hence didn’t bat back? Perhaps keep an eye on him for a few days

[Aprilshowersarecomingsoon]

A boy knocked on my door once to tell me a ddog had my poor dcat cornered in the street. One poor Boxer with blood down his face and dcat giving him hell!! Your dcat has claws for a reason!!
Took our dkitten a month to brave claiming his spot on ddog's bed!

[steppemum]

We had a cat, aged 8, and adopted a rescue springer spaniel He spent the first few month schasing the cat, and we spent those months providing safe havens etc.

Then at the end of the summer, the cat obviously decided it wanted its place by the fire back, and stood up to the dog. Dog is 3 or 4 times the size of the cat. Cat sat on the back of the sofa and hissed. Dog retreated. Dog got braver and got a swipe down his nose. Dog has now given the rule of the house over to the cat.

The cat will assert itself, don't worry

[cheekygirls]

Yeah I'm sure the cat will put her in her place soon. I just feel bad for him, he used to come sit on the sofa with us in the evenings, now he knows best too because she doesn't leave him alone 😬

[adaline]

They'll be fine eventually, all three of mine cuddle up together now the puppy is one.

I think in our case the puppy is just far too boisterous, plus he's loud so he likes to tell the cats off he thinks they're in his space!

[pigsDOfly]

My cats were 17 years old when I got my dog as a puppy.

Didn't see any tricky behaviour from any of them tbh.

Male cat and puppy seemed to love each other from the outset, female cat took a little longer to thaw out.

I suspect she put the puppy in her place as some point though as she (cat) was a very regal type of animal and would not have stood any nonsense from any upstart puppy.

All in all it worked out very well.

Two very young animals will play quite roughly, as you've already found you'll have to step in if it gets too rough.

When the two cats were kittens they would create havoc; never managed to get to the bottom of how two tiny kitchen were able to knock over a heavy solid wooden dinning room chair.

[Doggydoggydoggy]

I would be careful.
Definately step in if there’s any harassing going on or if it’s getting too rough.

It makes me very uncomfortable when I hear things like ‘the cat will show him whose boss’ ‘one swipe and he’ll learn’ etc.

The cat isn’t always victorious, some dogs will fight back.
I have one of those dogs, my mums cat thought it was a good idea to swipe her once unprovoked, it wasn’t!

[Myranium]

I'm with Doggydoggydoggy and wouldn't be leaving it up to your cat to sort things out.

Make sure your cat always has somewhere they can escape to that the dog can't get to. If baby gates aren't working then providing high up areas for the cat might be better option. Reward the puppy for calm behaviour around the cat and prevent them getting too boisterous with each other.

If you're on FB I'd recommend joining the group Dog Training Advice and Support and reading their excellent guide to keeping dogs and cats together: Dogs and Cats/Small Furries.

[adaline]

I do think resident dogs and cats are much more likely to get on than ones who don't live together though. My dog grew up around the cats and although they rough play he wouldn't actually hurt them. And my cat is much smaller and quicker than him and well able to jump out of/stay out of his way if she wants to!

But I wouldn't trust him with a strange cat he doesn't know, which is an entirely different scenario. I don't think they make the link between "be nice to resident cat" and "be nice to all cats".

[pigsDOfly]

I agree adaline. As I said my dog got on really well with my cats but up until recently if we saw a cat when we were out she seemed almost afraid of them and would growl and get very agitated. I've worked very hard with her on these issues and she's calmed down a great deal with strange cats now.

Both my cats got very old and had to be pts some time ago so she isn't used to having cats around now anyway and although we can pass most cats now without too much trauma she's far more calm around ginger cats than any other colour - my two cats were ginger and I do wonder if she still has a tiny idea at the back of her head that those sort of cats are safe.

[LittleLongDog]

April, that photo is darling!

At the moment we’re using baby gates that the cat can jump over to give the her the option to stay away from the puppy.

She definitely prefers to be separate from him although she doesn’t mind him so much when he’s asleep!

There’s been lots of hissing when the puppy gets too close but she doesn’t stay and stand her ground yet. She’s a nervous little one anyway but I hope she’ll come around.

[Aprilshowersarecomingsoon]

We acquired an adult Lurcher who has submitted to dcats being her bosses. She is very gentle and they accept her kissing (tasting?) them.
We had a table in a study doorway to start with when dcats were tiny. Ddog could have moved it but didn't. Took them a week to leave the room, another week to get to the kitchen where they ate ddogs food under her bloody nose!!
And a month to make a friend.
Dcats are 7 and have 3 more ddoggy pals!!
Heart warming to see them all interact.