Other-pet-friendly dog -- is there such a thing?

[ATailOfTwoKitties]

We have an elderly moggy (only one left despite the nickname); children over 10; and a cageful of guinea pigs in the kitchen.

DH admitted about six months ago that he's always hankered after a dog, but was somehow lumbered with my cats instead and assumed the two weren't compatible.

Could a dog be trained to leave cats and guinea pigs alone, assuming we didn't go daft and look at terriers or greyhounds?

Would a rescue place laugh us out of the water if we asked to rehome a cat-friendly dog? I'm home-based and likely to be so for some years yet, the kids are over 10, the garden is large and already wrecked like the house but we would be novices at this dog-owning lark.

Oh the other thing was that they definitely took to the dog intro better than the Bengal intro, when the kitten was introduced, one cat left home and moved in around the corner (house with 2 dogs, 3 children), for weeks, others urinated indoors etc. with the pup I had none of that with them.i introduced in same way, swapping bedding, seeing each other through glass door, meetings of 10 mins, slowly spending more time together etc.

My cat was 15 when we introduced the greyhound. I did worry about it a bit but because the dog was very calm and gentle it was fine. It depends on the personalities of both I think. The cat spends most of her time sleeping anyway, as does the dog in actual fact, so they mainly just ignore each other. Although recently she has taken to trying to goad him into playing with her when she has her occasional bit of friskiness. Which we discourage

My dog is desperate to be friends with the cat. She's just not interested in him.

It's entirely possible.

Ancient cat has just come home with her second mouse of the day, so clearly not on her last legs just yet. Sigh.

I hesitated posting it on here but I am going through this at the moment. I would say trust your instinct, is your cat very sensitive and timid do you think she will cope?
My cat is 13 nearly 14. I have always wanted a dog but partner never keen until i started dog sitting and he decided he would like one. Our cat loved being outside so dog sitting did not really effect her until we looked after the dog for a week and it barked at her (settled in too well and found feet) she did seem freaked and stressed. We had at this point already put name down for puppy. Two days after dog went home and one day before we had puppy she had a seizure. She had a 2nd one a week later. I immediately throughout stress but vet did not seem to agree. Nothing showed on bloods.
I took her to vets on the thursday last week but she reacted badly to going was really off with me ,staying outside and has not eaten or drunk since. Not that I have seen.
I coaxed her upstairs with me when I went to bed last night and she is still there refusing water,food There have been a lot of tears this morning but I don't want to stress her out going to the vets again.
At times we have all been sat cozy in front of fire puppy and cat ,she does not seem unduly stressed by the puppies presence but cats are very territorial. Have tried so hard to make even more fuss of her than usual and people keep telling me she will settle but in hindsight I wish we had waited because if she does not I will always blame myself.

Thanks, Kerstina. Sorry to hear about your cat.

Certainly not going to rush into this. I might see if we can borrow neighbour's lab puppy for a few minutes at a time and test the waters.

Kerstina, sorry to hear that. I'd think about getting a Feliway diffuser and putting it upstairs with her to see if that helps.

I had a greyhound that was fine with everything, cats, chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, chinchillas, ferrets. I did ask the rgt for a cat friendly dog.

Currently have a terrier type who was harder to convince to ignore the cats but it took a week before he got the message. He'd have the chinchillas or guinea pigs given half a chance.

Just wanted to thank Wynken for mentioning the Feliway I have got some this morning. Will try anything, she turned her nose up at the co ops finest butter basted turkey this morning

No worries Kerstina, I hope it helps. Is she doing any better today ?

She is actually Last night I tried again hand feeding the turkey and she had a little bit. The first food she had in 7 days. Then again today she had a tiny bit more turkey and a tiny bit of her usual sheba sachet. She was in my bedroom most of yesterday so I left the feliway on in there then when she came down into the lounge (where the puppy is most of time) I switched it to the plug down there. So happy just that she has eaten something at least.

Excellent news, really pleased

Another one here with a greyhound and cats, definitely doable. No idea about guinea pigs would depend on temperament of the dog I would guess :)

I have a terrier and a labradoodle and two cats and they're all fine. In fact my big ginger cat taught the terrier to catch rats.

I also have chickens, which the terrier is fine with (labradoodle pup still tries to herd them) and we also have guineas which are just a bit too rodent like to trust the terrier with. He wouldn't do anything if I was there, but I wouldn't trust him at all with them!

I've just watched that cat video, I'm a cat person and I feel sorry for those dogs.