Kitten or dog first?

[pighorse]

Hello, I'm after some advice please!
After losing our lovely dog in an accident a few months ago, we have adopted a rescue who will be arriving later this month.
We also want to get a kitten.
I think it might be better to get the kitten soon so he or she is settled before the dog arrives. On the other hand, maybe the opposite is better...what do people think, please?

It depends a bit on the background and temperament of the rescue dog - is he/she used to cats, do you know?

According to the rescue he is fine with cats.

Then I would probably bring the kitten home first - if the dog is used to cats, he should accept it as part of the 'set up' he's going into, and the cat should have gained some confidence and be aware of where it can go to get away from the dog if it wants to.

When you introduce them, restrain the dog but not the cat; and always keep them separated unless you can supervise them for the first few weeks - keep the face to face introductions short at first, but give them plenty of experience of each other's smell (swap bedding etc. between rooms).

My personal experience is that cat/dog introductions are much easier than cat/cat introductions .

Kitten first. I agree with everything Trusty says.

always keep them separated unless you can supervise them for the first few weeks

Sorry - rubbish syntax there - I meant, keep them separated when they're not under supervision, for the first few weeks.

Exciting times and good luck with the intros!

Let us know how it goes.

My tip would be to make sure kitten has secure bolt hole and cant escape from house until fully comfortable with ddog.

Thanks - we will try to find a kitten before DDog arrives!

If you're happy with the rescue's assessment that he's good with cats then go for it. I'd double checking why they consider him good with cats if you haven't already. If he's been living happily in a foster home with cats then great but it's worth checking they don't consider just waving a cat in a carrier in the dog's general direction as "cat testing".

There's a good article about keeping both dogs and cats/other small animals here. There's loads of great resources in that FB group actually, it's well worth joining.

My link doesn't appear to be working

It's the 'Dogs and Cats/Small Furries' article roughly halfway down this page.

OP - it would be lovely to see photos of your new arrivals once they've settled in .

Cat first I agree. Not sure it's kitten season right now if you are in the UK and mean a mog! Kittens are flighty little scratchy beasts. Maybe not a tiny baby kitten. (depends on the dog obviously too!)

We had cat first she was 8 when we brought last dog home as a puppy she went in the huff for a while but puppy won her round. We wouldn't get a cat with latest dog he would hate it

I would suggest kitten first. If you get a kitten after you've just settled a rescue dog it might unbalance things again for a while. Every dog is different (probably cats too but i dont know much about them as they intimidate me a bit) but when you bring a rescue home you can have a honeymoon period when everything is going great and then once they are starting to get a bit more comfortable the quirks come out. Add a kitten to the mix and it might get a bit stressful.