Advice please

[princessTiasmum]

I lost my lovely little dog in August to dementia, she had a lovely nature and turned out to be older than i was told, but she was great with my cats, mainly just ignored them ,but never a problem
Here is the problem
My daughter suggested i advertise for another dog that needed a new home,as that was how i got my first one, stipulating that the dog MUST be used to living with cats

First of all i got a message among others, [which were mainly to buy very expensive] this was for a Bichon, the lady sent me a photo, and i sent a deposit, [stupid i know] but i don't drive and was happy for her to brig it
To cut a long story short, it was a scam, she is now being investigated by the fraud squad [, apparently i'm not the only one ]
Anyway, saw an ad for a poochon, laid with a cat so enquired, supposed to be housetrained clean sleeps on the bed,good with cats,so i bought it, didn't really want to pay so much but happy if my cats were

The first night i had my cats upstairs and left the dog downstairs, had taken him out a few times, expected crying or barking but none.which makes me think he didn't sleep on the bed,
The morning after came down to 3 puddles and 2 piles of poo
Also cats were so frightened they messed in my bedroom, never happened before,even though i have always a tray upstairs

The dog is young, and lovely nature really,but as soon as he saw a cat through glass doors went berserk
Any advice please, i can't bear to leave the poor cats upstairs,they are miserable

Sorry it's so long, forgot to say the dog has never stopped scratching and looks to have lost a bit of fur on legs
Appointment with vet tomorrow

Divide the house for now... and train the dog.
I'd assume you were told a load of bull and have an untrained dog who isn't used to cats... and more to the point your cats aren't used to THAT dog even if they were used to your previous one.

One of my cats is currently still living upstairs since we had the puppy.. but she is gradually relaxing, she comes in and out an upstairs window, sleeps on the beds as normal and will come to the kitchen..she just won't come in the living room. I think she will eventually, in her own time!

But they need to be separated for now and the I guess start from scratch with toilet training (perhaps sleep with the dog for now?)

Thanks for your reply, i can cope with training him, and he almost pulls my shoulder out of its socket when i take him out,he pulls , but my last one did to start with i soon got her out of it,he lunges at any dogs or people he sees, but not aggressively,he is 17 months old and because of his breed i though they were calm dogs
The scratching is a worry, my vet has suggested i ask the previous owner for permission to get his health records from his prec=vious vet, no reply to request yet
The dog might have been fine with his cat if brought up with it,
I think you are right i have been told a lot of bull, as i was told he went to London for him as a pup, but the breeders name and address is lancashire, he is up to date with vaccinations though

I am hoping the dog might calm down when he is neutered as he isn't
I think at the moment he is very excitable ,which freaks the cats out because they don't know what he wants to do,play or attack

Baby gate.
Saved our sanity when we had puppies!!

It’s very sad if your cats are so frightened and distressed because of a new dog. Can you rehome the dog? What if the dog actually attacks the cats?

Dcats have very good defences ime... A cat scratching post would be a safe vantage point. We have 2 dcats and ddogs. As puppies they learned very quickly to be respectful!

I dont think this dog is a good idea. Adult cats rarely accept a dog. it is better to have a dog from a puppy and then introduce kittens. Too late now. A rescue is a lovely idea but definitely often come with issues. Sadly I would rehome the dog to someone with no cats

Also if the cats are actually urinating etc that’s a very strong indication that they are extremely frightened. It’s cruel to expose them to that

How did you introduce the dog and the cats in the first place? We got a puppy when our cats were 2 and 3 but we never left them unsupervised and had baby gates up from day 1 so the cats could eat and toilet away from the dog. We also made sure we had plenty of high spaces (tables, scratching posts, bookshelves) so the cats could keep up out of the way but still be in the dogs space.

I think you need to go back to basics with the dog and treat him as a puppy. Set alarms and take him out several times a night as well we during the day and don't force the cats to be around him at all at this stage. Get the dog settled and then consider introducing the cats.

We've had our dog eighteen months now and he gets on really well with our younger female cat. They play chase and cuddle and sit nicely together too. The older male cat took a big longer to accept him (but he's quite nervous anyway as he was rescued from an abusive situation) but now they're fine. They're never going to be best friends but they'll sit on the same sofa and eat in the same room without a fight breaking out (and even if it does, the cat wins every single time!)

Good luck

Adult cats rarely accept a dog.

I don't think that's necessarily the case, it's just too many people don't do it properly. Most people tend to have cats first and then get a dog in my experience, as cats require far less input and are much easier pets to fit around full-time work and children!

I had completely forgotten i had posted this, but things seem not too bad now
I have taken the dog upstairs on his lead a few times, and yesterday he looked at one cat on my bed.the cat just looked back,didn't move or hiss,
I then took him into the next bedroom where 2 female cats were on the bed,he just looked,they looked back.one of them hissed and all was fine,
I brought him back downstairs and he settled down
My first dog was a lot older and they didn't mind at all, they ignored her and she ignored them really but would still lay all together
This dog is much younger, and i think it is because he is quite boisterous, that they wee freaked out,they are using their trays again, and eating normally etc
If there was any kind of aggression,i would have to rehome the dog,as obviously the cats were already here,
Maybe it just is a matter of time and patience
The dog is lovely and calm down here and very affectionate and well behaved
Outside is a problem as he pulls, but is getting better, but i think because he's entire he is sniffing the ground .obviously can smell other dogs,and maybe females
Also he often wees in the night, but not always,i take him out or let him into the garden after his first meal, and then take him about 3-4 walks a day
I wouldn't let the cats suffer of course,i am just hoping it wont take long for them to get used to each other,as he is lovely

Pulling and sniffing isn’t likely to be altered by neutering , pulling is a training issue and you need to just work on it and some dogs are more nose led than others .

I thought he was possibly sniffing the ground because he could smell where other dogs had walked or had a wee, he is improving with the pulling, keeping him on a short lead, and will respond if i say here,i tried saying back when he pulled but he took no notice,he will also respond to wait