Is there such thing as a cat friendly greyhound/Lurcher?

[Lovemusic33]

Fallen in love with a rescue dog, he’s a Lurcher (looks like greyhound x saluki), it says that he’s ok with cats but I’m a little worried. I have a very friendly cat who was brought up around my old staffie so he’s quite dog savvy but I worry as sight hounds tend to have natural instinct to chase small furries. Has anyone got a sight hound that’s ok with their cat? Can’t they happily live together?

[Grotesque]

I have a rescue lurcher who adores cats! He was found straying so his history is unclear but the amount of scars he's covered in suggest he was worked a lot.

At first the rescue refused to cat test him but I pushed a little after spending a lot of time with him and it went perfectly. In 3 years he's never once chased them. He shares his bed with one of them quite happily. I think he is just glad to have a warm bed and sofa to lie on!

We're just about to adopt a greyhound who was worked and, after careful introductions and a few home visits, so far he's been fine with cats when in the house but outside he does want to chase (though hasn't yet, just gets very excited). But I'm very confident it's workable issue, even with unknown cats we may see on the street.

[Sexnotgender]

I’ve got a greyhound and 2 cats. Not had the hound too long but there’s an uneasy alliance. He’s not particularly interested and hasn’t tried to chase them.

[Lovemusic33]

Thank you, that gives me some hope. I’m worried about how my cat will react to a new dog, we had another dog to stay for a bit last year and the dog chased my cat (and barked at it), the cat then refused to come home. My cat was really close to my old dog, shared a bed and were best friends so I’m unsure how introducing a lanky Lurcher will go 🤣.

[Grotesque]

I would just do slow and steady introductions & make sure the cat always has somewhere to escape to and the dog can't follow. It may take a while for everyone to get used to each other.
What I did last time (and will probably do again this time) was keep the dog on the lead and with me at all times for the first few days, that allowed me to control and monitor all interactions, watch for excitement and so on. We also had some issues with him being clean inside the house to begin with (after being in kennels for so long and living who knows where before that) so being with me all the time meant I could work on that too. But that may not be the right approach for your guy and the rescue will have the best method that works for him.

[Lovemusic33]

Great idea keeping him in a lead for a few days, he’s also crate trained so I can always let the cat sniff around him whilst he’s in his crate?

I’m getting a bit ahead of myself as I don’t know if we will be getting him yet 🤣

[CMOTDibbler]

I have 3 cats, 2 lurchers, and an every changing cast of foster lurcher puppies.

We have a baby gate on the kitchen so the cats have an easy route out and get to eat their food in peace. Until we were sure of the dogs, they were always crated at night and when we were out so the cats had free reign of the house.

With the pups, we do zero tolerance on barking at, or running after the cats, but it can take time for the cats and dogs to get used to each other.

Quite a lot of the other fosterers for the rescue have cats and lurchers too, so it really isn't that uncommon - a lot of lurchers come to rescue as they aren't good at running after furries

[Lovemusic33]

Doesn’t look like we are getting him. The rescue has messaged me suggesting another dog, one that I don’t like the look of, of course all dogs are lovely but I don’t want to the one they have suggested.

Finding a dog seems to be much harder than years ago. I don’t really want a puppy and even if I did there only seems to be a certain breed that everyone seems to be buying at the moment.

[CMOTDibbler]

Do you like the look of Apricot? EGLR frequently have puppies, and as we foster, they know a lot about them. In the last week two puppies have gone to their forever homes from my house, and both would have lived with cats

[Lovemusic33]

She’s gorgeous 😁

I think the rescue think I’m being fussy. Our last dog was a staffie, the only other dogs she really liked were Lurchers and greyhounds so I am fond of them. I think we would either like a staffie or a Lurcher/greyhound. The biggest problem seems to be the cat as both breeds tend to chase them. It’s also important that they travel well as we like to go camping and would like the dog to be part of that.

We are in the SW and I’m not sure if a rescue further afield would let us adopt?

[CMOTDibbler]

Its certainly no problem for EGLR - one of mine recently was rehomed to a home on Exmoor, and we've even rehomed into the north of Scotland

[79andnotout]

I have a greyhound and two cats. The grey was young when we got her -18 months. She was interested in the cats but more interested in food. Once she realised she got cat biscuits if she sat on the sofa waiting quietly while they were fed, she accepted them. They've lived together in relative harmony for years now. She still chases cats outside the house though. I would love to get another grey, such a lovely breed.

[Purplecatshopaholic]

I have a sighthound (rescue Spanish Podenco - similar to a greyhound/whippet/lurcher). I was refused a dog from Dogs Trust because sighthounds cant live with cats apparently. Nonsense! My boy sleeps on the bed with me and at least one cat, often two (I have 3) and is an absolute delight. Maybe have a look at smaller charities - my boy is wonderful (albeit he had his issues to start with) and is lying at my feet right now...

[userxx]

There are definitely greyhounds that can live with cats as proved on here, our old girl would have been fine with one, she loved everything and anyone. Maybe have a look at the greyhound trust in your area. They are brilliant dogs who sleep a lot!

[Lovemusic33]

Thank you, we are still looking and are in contact with several rescues. There’s also lurched pups for sale locally. We often see greyhound rescue at local events and dd1 loves stroking the dogs.

[Tawdrylocalbrouhaha]

Ive seen greyhounds and lurches live happily with cats (in one case best friends). But...my friend's sister has a number of rescue lurched/greyhound type dogs, and they killed the neighbour's cat, who was in the habit of coming onto their land.

I think without knowing the dog's full history, I would be cautious.

[Scattyhattie]

Neighbours cats outside are often viewed differently to the family cats by dogs of all breeds.
Worth being aware, to make sure all are safe, although with roaming cats coming into your garden as a dog owner there's only so much can do, I opened back door for my dogs once to find cat there.

[tardyheart]

Not a Lucher but our Whippet lived quite happily with several cats.

One unfortunate smack in the face from our elderly no nonsense she-cat stopped any problems.