Resident cat terrified of new dog

[SobaSoma]

We have a cat (female aged 10), gentle and affectionate. Today we brought home a 5 year-old rescue JRT who had been cat tested and had met our cat once before and it went fine.

The dog is a dream, calm and placid and seems obedient (don't know his back story as he's a stray). He barked at the cat when he first met her today but we tried another introduction and they seemed quite calm with eachother, just checking eachother out. Trouble is now the cat has got the terrors and won't come downstairs at all. I've put up a stair-gate so the dog can't get upstairs and she has her own room with bed, food and a litter-tray. I'm too scared to let her outside (she uses the cat flap and goes out regularly) so she's basically just staying in that room and also has access to the landing and if she wants to sleep on my bed tonight that would be great (dog will be in crate downstairs). She can get through the stair-gate so can come down if she wants but won't be able to get outside for the time-being as I'm terrified she'll just run away.

The dog is good with the cat, calm, keeps his distance and since the initial barking just seems interested in her. But with her, it just seems like sheer terror! I'm just wondering where I go from here? How long do I keep them completely separated and should I try regular introductions? Thanks!

bump - help please!

It sounds like you will need to give her time to get used to the new dog. To help things along a bit, you can take something that smells of the dog and put it in the room where the cat is now, so that she can get used to the smell. Also make sure that she has lots of high places to get to, where the dog can't reach, so she always has an escape route when she comes into the room with the dog. When she does come to meet the dog, have the dog on a lead so that you have good control over him and can make sure it goes well from the cat's point of view. It's a big change for the cat and a lot for her to get used to, but I'm sure it will settle down with time. How has it gone today, is she still in hiding?

Hi Redwing, yes I'm sure you're right. We did another intro with him in is crate, giving him treats because he was keeping calm and she was being held by my daughter and licking up some yoghurt which she adores and was calm also. Next time we might take him out and keep him on the leash and just keep moving on bit by bit. She still won't come downstairs but it's early days.....

It sounds like you are doing all the right things, just taking it slowly. There's no need to rush it. Good luck.

It will take time. We were in this situation this time last year. Rescue dog. Two cats already here. Both of them did the proper witches cat thing - arched back, every hair stuck out like a porcupine, hissing like water on a hot stove. This carried on for about 3 m and then they began to give way a little and by christmas they were totally cool with each other.

Our cat was about six months old by the time we brought home the dog. For about a year I was convinced we had ruined the cats life because she was scared of the dog and the dog was nowhere near as good with her as yours sounds! My poor cat would cower and hide and I was upset about it tbh.

Two years on and the cat dominates the dog she very much puts her in her place and is not phased by her occasional attempts at herding her (farm collie) BUT I'm not sure how it happened. I'm sorry, I know that's not helpful, but I wanted to post to say that it can get better!

Actually, I think what did help was just taking a step back and letting them sort it out between themselves. Obviously we never left them on their own together, but originally I was separating them all the time and it was stressful for all concerned.

I have a 13 year old cat, and we got a cocker pup at christmas. She hated him on sight. Far from being terrified, she laid down the law from the start and is still very much in charge. If the dog gets too close now she will hiss and spit and give him a slap. I was worried that I had ruined her life but I was watching them today in the garden, and she is much better with him. She will let him get within 3 foot before she gives him a warning growl, but that is very tolerant of her.

They will get better - my advice is don't seperate them - they have to get on with it and by seperating them you are avoiding the problem! Good luck xx

I just knew this would be you soma! Some good advice here, I hope they manage to get along eventually.

Great advice everyone and nice to see you on here Joey! We actually had them in the same room tonight and it was pretty calm. Dog laid-back and cat licking yoghurt off my fingers and actually went up quite close to have a look at him. She freaks out if he moves though, it's OK if he's just sitting there. I'm still paranoid about opening the cat-flap in case she doesn't come back. Am I just being silly?

And did you all have outdoor cats and let them out the moment the new dog arrived?

ps other problem I'll face when they're together is keeping their food separate - quite hard in our house as it's open plan. I could put her food up on a work surface but not terribly hygenic I suppose and we do have a utility room and I could fit a cat-flap to the door. What do you all do?

I would suggest that you make sure she can come back through the cat flap without being ambushed so she feels safe coming 'home'. Alfie may think of anything coming in as invading his territory until he gets used to her.

And give her tons of treats and nice food over the next few days, so that even if she does go awol for a bit, after a while of eating beetles she will get fed up and come back for the tuna.

Great idea friend Joey - there's a wonderful vid on YouTube called the "Engineers' Guide to Cats" where they refer to tuna as kittie cocaine!

They sat together in the same room last night and were quite calm, hopefully it's just a matter of time :)

We had a bad experience bringing a rescue dog home. Wish we had done all you are doing tbh as it ended up with the cat leaving home and we never found out where she went but are reasonably happy that someonne else just adopted her (or she adopted them) as we searched/advertised the whole area which is a smallish town and very compact so are sure we would have heard of any cats being run over or anything like that.
Sad thing was the dog (a medium sized Heinz 57 rescue about 6 yrs old) could not have cared less about the cat. No interest whatsoever, hostile,friendly or even curious. We think perhaps there were cats in his previous home,hence his indifference. So when we brought him into home - on a lead - and he went 'yeah a cat, whatever, wheres mi food bowl then ?' - we were really chuffed.
But as others have said it was the cat that wouldnt accept him, hissng, arched back, even air raids on his head with her retractable claws when he slept on a couple of occasions. Dog ,bless him, put up with this for about two weeks (we did always stop cat from doing all this when we caught her but she was so stealthy and sometimes would get within striking range if we were watching tv whatever before we realised). One day he must have just thought 'right' and jumped out of his bed and half heartedly chased her about three steps and gave one 'woof' and went back in his bed.
She would never come back in house after that, so we started feeding her outside or rather SS as it was his cat said he was doing but l have my doubts whether he bothered every day as it was a bit more trouble but thats a whole other thread and eventually she just appeared less and less until one week we just didnt see her at all.

Sorry that's not very optimistic from your pov but am sure a factor in our cats decision was not just the dogs arrival but a combination of that and lazy SS not bothering to feed her every day though l'm sure yours will be fine.

and another thing (you can tell I have too much time on my hands!) is it possible to leave the back door open for her to go in and out, the thought of sticking your HEAD through a small space would be off-putting, whereas if she can see its safe to go in, it will be less traumatic.

Glad to hear theyre getting along. Any pictures yet?

My cat goes out and I let her out almost immediately. I was confident she would come back though as she is too stubborn to leave home and basically would not give the dog the satisfaction. She is the boss, and she is not about to let a whipper snapper like the pup drive her away!!

Lots of treats when she returns, and you can always put her out hungry the first few times, so she is especailly grateful to come back!!