Anyone rehomed a dog when they already have a cat?

[Besom]

I'm confident we could find a dog who is fine with cats, but I don't want to completely freak the cat out. She is old. She isn't bothered when my friend's dog comes round but would it be a different matter living with one?

Perhaps I should post this in the cat section!

yes :) we got our dog when we'd had the cats about 9 months and 3 months. Had no idea whether two of the three cats would be ok with the dog as we had no history. We also had no clue as to what the dog would be like with cats (also no history). They were all rescues, not from proper rescues that home checked though! (this was 15 years ago)

we've also fostered a dog and dog sat for a friend with the same cats (but much later so we knew they could cope)

I think as long as the cat has somewhere dog free it can get to and as long as you're careful introducing them, you should be ok :) the fact that your cat is ok with visiting dogs is very encouraging :)

Thank you!

I probably need to get myself along to a rescue centre and talk to them about it as well.

Sadly I know several people who have taken on a dog/ puppy when they already have cats and in my experience most find that the cat ends up either staying out a lot more than it used to or living upstairs . In one case they all seemed to be getting along until 6 months on when the dog attacked the cat , fortunately the cat survived but the dog had to be rehomed. If your cat is elderly I doubt he would enjoy having a nosey puppy around . I do appreciate that you will also find loads of other people who say that they have had a successful introduction. One of my friends would also say that but to me her cats (3) quality of life has definitely suffered.

I wouldn't think of getting a puppy, was thinking more of a disinterested dog. But yes, I know this doesn't necessarily mean the cat wouldn't be worried by it. And it is her age which is the potential problem I think. I grew up with various cats and dogs who all got on OK, but they were all young when introduced. Right am talking myself out of this now.

Flora - was the dog that attacked the cat a rescue?

No it was a Patterdale that they had from a puppy which is why it was of particular interest to me as I have a terrier who is mainly Patterdale . Obviously the type of dog is extremely relevant as although we have had ours from 15/16 weeks (was a rescue) he is not safe around anything small and fluffy ,apart from dogs.

It would have to be a dog that wasn't going to actively bother her. She is so sleepy that she doesn't even notice half the time when my friends dog comes round. But I do need to give the old lady a peaceful last few years.

I've introduced elderly and not so elderly rescue dogs to our cats and it's all been fine. We got one rescue that had to go back the next day as she was a killer and would have dismembered a cat if she'd caught it . I then had a puppy who had the strongest prey drive I've ever seen, she is 8 now and is fine with the cats in the house but when they are outside she considers them fair game.

I really have to say that in my experience it all depends on the dog - a good rescue organisation will cat test the dog - the best rescue, in cat terms, we got was an old mutt from the RSPCA who was a devoted and adoring follower of one of my cats. She was a bit to start with, until she realised it was just adoration . OTOH that same dog had to be muzzled when out as he attacked any dog he didn't consider part of his 'family' .

catsrus, that's so sweet!

Thanks for telling me about your experience. I would def go through reputable rescue people if we decided to go ahead with it.

I've done it several times with the same cat and at different dogs (and at this point I should point out that I foster and have collected a few dogs of my own over the years. I don't keep killing them or anything untoward like that )

Whether it works out depends on the individual dog and cat. My terrier (ex poundie) has a massive prey drive. He actually tried to climb down the sea wall a few days go going after something that ran into there

My cat was a massive interest to him when he first arrived. We managed to train him to leave the cat when he was in the house. As another poster said outside the house the cat is still on the menu

We then had a Whippet pup dumped on us, who adores the cat and is regularly found curled up with him.

After that we took in a JRT from a family who needed him gone quicker than they could find rescue space, despite never having clapped eyes on a cat in his life he was fine and totally ignored the cat.

After this we had a 'cat friendly' Greyhound. She never harmed the cat at first but she would bark at it a lot unfortunately the barking rekindled the terriers interest in the cat. When the terrier went for the cat, the grey joined in. Luckily the cat escaped unscathed. He moved out for a while and then came home but lived upstairs. After a few months I managed to persuade him to move back downstairs and retrained the terrier to ignore him.

We now have a lurcher, who is interested in the cat, but not so much that he cannot be called away/distracted from the cat. He is the same colour as the Greyhound who attacked him and the cat will not walk into the same room as him. However he has not left home again and will come downstairs, he just makes sure the lurcher is out of sight before he enters the room.

My cat has been around various dogs since kittenhood and is fairly confident with them so long as they are not large, black sighthounds.

A decent rescue will make sure you get a dog who will ignore your cat and will be willing to work through the introductions and any problems that might arise with it. Even dogs raised with cats can one decide the cat looks tasty, so they must never be left unsupervised together.

We've had a series of rescue dogs and cats over the years and lots of lovely experiences. The family never really feels complete unless we have one of each. But you have to take great care when choosing the dog (most rescues will have tested the dog to see whether he can go with cats) and making introductions. IME it's easier to introduce a new cat to a resident dog than vice versa, because a new dog is likely to be excited and less attuned to your commands. It's helpful if each pet has a clear "safe space" to retreat to if they feel anxious, and feliway is often useful for any cat transition.

Our current foster dog doesn't interact much with our cat, but after about a week we noticed that the cat will accompany the dog on each of his night time walks. It's a nice start!

Thank you for your posts. I shall be back on here to you people for advice if we decide to go further with this.

That is a good point, would need to keep them apart at night and while we're out. But that's doable.

Cat friendly can mean different things as well, my puppy is very friendly to the cats, but he's annoying them like you wouldn't believe because he's so desperate to make friends with them, lol

They've lived with a dog before though and other than telling him off they're fine.

With an older cat who hasn't lived with dogs, you want one that won't bug her at all.

Yes I need cat neutral rather than cat friendly.