am I mad to want a dog with 2 cats and small children?

[AfishhCalledElvira]

I have 2 boys (3 & 5) and 2 cats and live in a fairly lively but harmonious house. The boys love animals and their grandparents dog. I work from home and am generally in and out the house all day. i've recently been thinking about getting a dog but i'd rather get an adult dog from a re-homing centre (my cats were adult rescues). Can cats ever get along with a new addition or is it only if they have grown up with them? One of them is very bolshy having been around the boys from a youngish age and likes to be out all night, the other one is quite shy and doesnt really like to the noise of the children, preferring to come inside once the children have gone to bed. Other than that they are both lovely cats. I dont want to open pandoras box if im setting myself up for an impossible task?

Just made the mistake of looking on a re-homing site and there was this gorgeous chocolate labrador good with small children and currently living with cats....arghhh

If you're only thinking about it,I'd wait and see if it turns into an urgent desire to have a dog.

Consider that you may have a dog with 'problems' and decide if you're able/willing to deal with that.What will you do if it the cats hate it?If the kids won't behave with it?If it's destructive,barks a lot or poops in the house.

If you're prepared to face these things and have a strategy for dealing with them,go ahead.

I'm not intending to be a harbinger of doom and it'll probably be fine,but it's not necessarily a bed of roses and will introduce an entirely new dynamic.

We have 2 cats, but ever since we moved 2 years ago the Tom has been making himself at home in at least 3 of our neighbours houses (much to their delight & my horror) so we see him every few days. Last year we decided to get a pup for DDs birthday and her and our other cat are the best of friends (play together constantly, & snuggle up together when they've worn each other out - but everyone who see it thinks it's very unusual).
Don't know if it made a difference getting a pup & the cats being able to exert their dominance over her but it works fine for us. The Tom tolerates the dog and just gives her a swipe if she oversteps the mark so they all seem to know where they stand. And DD loves her zoo pets

We have 2 cats, but ever since we moved 2 years ago the Tom has been making himself at home in at least 3 of our neighbours houses (much to their delight & my horror) so we see him every few days. Last year we decided to get a pup for DDs birthday and her and our other cat are the best of friends (play together constantly, & snuggle up together when they've worn each other out - but everyone who see it thinks it's very unusual).
Don't know if it made a difference getting a pup & the cats being able to exert their dominance over her but it works fine for us. The Tom tolerates the dog and just gives her a swipe if she oversteps the mark so they all seem to know where they stand. And DD loves her zoo pets. Good luck whatever you decide.

If you're looking to get an adult dog from a rescue, then I would think that the most sensible thing to do would be to talk to the rescue about finding an appropriate dog.

FWIW we had three cats when we got ddog, although he was a (oldish - 4/5 months) puppy. Two were semi-feral strays, the third a pet from birth IYKWIM.

The latter ignored him, the two strays tried to bully him out of the house but did accept him after a month or so - we just had to be really on the case making sure they weren't alone together in the early days.

Funnily enough after a few months the strays were actually really close to ddog & would sleep curled up with him, while the older cat still ignored him, though we did still have to make sure that they were out of the room when he was fed or they'd bully him away from his food.