Has anyone's cat not got on with new puppy-what was the consequence?

[Duckegg271]

We’re planning on getting a puppy (a breed that doesn’t have a prey drive). We’ve got 2 cats and I’m worried about it all going horrible wrong! Any experiences/advice great fully received.

One of our adult cats left home to live with a neighbour who unhelpfully kept feeding him. One other tolerates the dog and the third loves him so you can never tell what will happen really. Make sure the cats have their own space away from the puppy which the puppy can't get to.

We already had a Rottweiler when we first brought our cat home. As such, FoolCat isn't afraid of dogs. When my dog died, we got a puppy. He's a high energy mixed breed and wants to play with everyone. Cat has bopped him a few times, but overall just moves away if dog gets too much.

Think it helped that when FoolDog (that's actually very fitting for him!) first came home, he was significantly smaller than cat.

Cats 1&2 tolerate the dog.

Cat 3 and the dog are inseparable - best friends forever etc etc

Cat 4 hisses at the dog and absolutely hates her. So much so cat will try and attack said dog 🤷‍♀️

You just never know unfortunately

Cats live upstairs, dog lives downstairs and a stairgate divides the two.
The cat who occasionally likes to go outside ninjas out when necessary. The other is content to lie on the window ledge.

It's not ideal but certainly manageable.

We’re planning on putting another cat flap through to the garage (integral,quite warm, it’s a nice space) with some beds on perches so they’ve always got that safe space to escape to and then kitchen will be there’s at night.

My cat protested badly and actually moved out.

We had to set up a live in area for her where she had a nice warm bed, a water bowl and food bowl outside.

It took a year but she actually comes indoors now and is very indifferent to the dogs.

They chase her if they can, but I stop them.

Her and my littlest dog will actually play together so she’s really done a full 180 degrees.

Set up one room just for the cats that the dog can’t go in. That will be their safety space.

*theirs

They will hate it , I would accept that to be honest .. ime it only works if the puppy comes before the cats .

Elderly female cat tolerated the much younger male dog for most of her life. Occasional hiss but the dog steered clear and we never had to keep them separate areas.
However as the cat got older, we would keep her in at night with a litter tray.
She used to crap in the dog's bed and sleep in her litter tray.
The vet said it was mild dementia but I'm sure the cat knew exactly what she was doing....

My cat also moved out and now lives a few doors down, merrily ignores me like he doesn’t know me. It was a bit different as my dog was an older dog and a rescue, so not a puppy, but the cat wasn’t impressed. It’s been 3 years now since cat moved out, I see him every day and miss him loads.

I did contemplate returning the dog, but he had such a horrific life before, that I felt like I owed it to him to offer a home for life, and cat now lives the life of luxury with a retired couple instead of a busy house with 3 children and an evil dog

2 cats here and a 6 month old puppy. Both cats had lived with our previous dog although she was elderly. Both cats avoided him totally to start with. Now our bolder more outgoing cat gets on great with him. They play and snuggle up together. She puts him in his place every now and then but they have a good relationship (currently both asleep on the sofa next to me). Other cat is still a work in progress. She very shy by nature and likes to hide away or be outside. She is curious of him and will come into the room if he is asleep or still but runs away if he moves too quickly. We don't allow the dog upstairs so she has space away from him. I hope that as he gets older and calmer she will gain confidence around him like her sister.

We had a rottweiler when we got 2 dkittens.
Then when dcats weren't quite 2, a Lurcher puppy. Dcats were fine.
Added a Husky and 1 dcat hated her for 2 years! All good now though...

Have a look at the Blue Cross guide to introducing cats and dogs. Stairgates and a longline on the dog. Never allow it to chase. Ideally you want to get the dog to look at you for a treat and ignore the cat when it comes close. Even breeds that don’t have a huge prey drive can chase and injure or scare off a cat.

We introduced an older dog to our two cats. Dog v meek. Cats rule. No problems here.

We always had a baby gate between in the early days.

I should probably add the cat moved out after months of us trying to integrate them and hours upon hours of training and trying. We followed all the rules from the rescue (greyhound) and the dog wasn’t the problem, he ignored the cat! The cat just objected massively and decided that dog life wasn’t for him. And the neighbour who he lives with now is more than happy to have adopted him, and knows the ownership will always be with me (chip still registered to me) as I couldn’t bear the thought of them ever moving and taking him with them. I’ll cross that bridge if it ever comes to it! But for now we have an arrangement that suits us all (well I miss him like mad but he’s happy so that’s the main thing)

Sorry but there is a good chance the cats will move out, as previous posters have said.

We had a neighbour's cat spending the majority of her time around ours. She had been unenthusiastic about 2 new cats but the puppy was the final straw.

She moved into our old cat's favourite garden space under a hedge. Kindly but stupidly we let her shelter in the kitchen for an hour during the most awful thunderstorm and she decided she was going to pretty much move in.

Before anyone jumps on me, we didn't feed her (well, apart from that sardine sandwich I didn't want that time) and we did repeatedly return her, upon which she'd get upset and scrabble to get out again.. The neighbours were aware and were more concerned about her being out in all weathers so didn't object if we let her in.

Sorry for the extra waffle you didn't need. I miss her.

We had cats first. The pups soon learn not to mess with them. Every single dog we've had has been scratched on the nose once. Just once. The current cat gets on great with the two current dogs, but there's absolutely no doubt who's in charge.

I also think a lot of this depends on the size of your house .. a normal house with limited garden is always going to be difficult but a large house and garden should be fine because the cat can get some space .

Our garden’s medium sized but we’ve got a huge field next door and the cats spend most of their time in there hunting for gifts for us.

Our house is a 3 story town house style. Plan is turn the spare bedroom into puppy quarters. The living room is also on the middle floor so pup will have access to that during the evenings. Cats will have free range of the kitchen at night (which is where they sleep now). During the day puppy will be in the kitchen with me (until reliably housetrained) and cats will be able to access the rest of the house via the garage so with a bit of planning their paths shouldn’t have to cross in the early days much at all.