dogs and cats together?

[stilllovingmysleep]

Wanted to ask the following question as I'm wondering (thinking towards the future). I really would like to get a dog and have been researching, reading and thinking about it for some time now (more than a year). The rest of the family is on board too, but we're not quite there yet financially or time-wise so we haven't taken the leap and still have cold feet.

However, recently we have been exploring whether having a cat (raised from a kitten) might be a first step to having a pet instead, as we love cats too--particularly my DH and DC, while I like them but have my heart set on a dog (DH & DC also love dogs).

Obviously having a cat would be easier in many ways--it would have space to roam around, there are many supportive friends around that could help with feeding her/him if we're away (we've been helping friends too with feeding their cats) etc, and it would fit in much more easily / quickly / at less cost with our current lifestyle.

I was wondering though, as I really have been wanting and planning for a dog for such a long time, would having a cat already at our home create an impossible situation if we do get to a point (say in a year) that we can get a puppy? Can a cat already living at a home co-exist peacefully with a puppy? I have my doubts, so wanted MN opinions.

I have 2 dogs (has been up to 4) and 15 cats. It can be fine with training and choosing the right dog

Should be no problem. I have always had both.

Cat was about 2 years old when i brought first labrador pup home. Introduced them and as expected, pup got very excited. Cat gave him a thorough whacking and walked away. Within a week, cat was sleeping curled up in dogs tail! They ' played' together. Cat would hide behind door and leap out when dog appeared, would chase and be chased and when he had enough would just jump up to somewhere dog could not reach.

Lab pup two was introduced, and exactly the same thing happened. At the moment, there are 4 dog beds around the house. 4. Two fully grown labs and the cat all sleep together, piled up, on one bed in the kitchen.

Cats and dogs are fine together 😊

sounds optimistic! Thanks for the responses so far (I would be keen though to also hear negative stories if there are any, as I think it's important to plan ahead a bit with this). Costa your pets are lovely

So you don't think it's a massive problem to leave, say, a puppy in a crate for a couple of hours (while still training) with a grown cat at home, in terms of scratching / becoming injured? (Sorry if question is daft, but a quick google mentioned pets getting injured when left alone together even briefly).

Our cats were 4 when we got our puppy.
They hated him and one still isn't keen but both tolerate him ok, although I think we see less of them than we did before he arrived.
He's quite large and would like to play with them but they arent interested - none of them has ever injured the other though.

None of ours have ever hurt each other but young kittens are closely supervised and put in cat pens when I'm not around. I'd just have them in separate rooms when they were alone, until you were confident they were OK together

I do know someone whose dog suddenly attacked their cat, and sadly the cat died a few weeks later

Costa that sounds awful! Having them in separate rooms sounds sensible. In our case, we would be getting a kitten first, establishing him/her, getting them used to us, allowing them to grow and then would get a puppy (if we do which I hope we will eventually!)

Our cats were 13 and 5 when we got our puppy. Our old girl used to sit in front of his crate when he was having a nap, giving him a death stare , the younger one had had bad experiences with dogs in Dubai so spent a week being terrified of him but then whacked him hard when ddog got a little too enthusiastic and suddenly realised he was no threat .

Our dog simultaneously adores and is terrified by the cats - he's very respectful and won't go past them in an enclosed space just in case. The cats tolerate him (and nick his bed) - there's occasional mutual nose-sniffing but for the most part ddog's love for them is unrequited

We have a 2 year old cat and a 4 month old springer pup, initially at first the cat was disgusted that we had bought a smelly dog into her our house. She was equally terrified, and spent a week or so puffed up and hissing every time they saw each other.
We have a long way to go (only had pup 2 months) but currently the cat knows how to avoid the pup, if very hungry will walk into the 'puppy area' (babygated lino floored room) to tell me she's being starved to death, she keeps out of pups way but isn't scared.
The puppy thinks she fascinating and wants to play with her all the time, but her 'sit', 'leave it', 'come here' commands are getting to be habits now and she is less inclined to jump up at the cat.
Hope that helps. I remain optimistic that one day they will cuddle up together, but for now we have a system that works ok.
Pic is of the cat telling me it's teatime, dog is looking at me as if to say 'please oh pleeeease let me play with her'

My dog and cats are fine together now but it took a lot of work. Everyone said not to worry because the cats would whack the dog on the nose and that would be the end of it. Unfortunately my cats didn't, they just ran away which made the dog chase them more.

I spent many many hours clicker training the dog not to chase the cats.

They're great now and we have no problems but I was despairing for a while!