5 month old rescue.

[Plantpot75]

Hi, I love with my 8 year olds and 2 cats. 10 days ago we rehomed a 5 month older rescue boxer from the RSPCA. They said he was cat tested and good with cats and children. He is great with children but just wants to chase the cats when he sees them. He has terrible separation anxiety. I have made the upstairs for the cats so they have a safe space (although one of them is still not coming in) and the dog is not allowed upstairs. I have to close the door to stop him coming up so he will repeatedly throw himself at the door and claw all the frames. I worry that he will hurt himself. I spoke to the RSPCA and they suggested a crate which could make I’m feel safe. This has had mixed results. Last night I came upstairs to bed and I could hear him panting and trying to get out. I went back down and he had managed to get half out of the crate by banging it (he’s very thin) I put him back in the crate, slept on the sofa and he slept absolutely fine. I don’t know what to do. The rspca told me not to sleep with him and start as I mean to go on but should I be? I have to leave him sometimes and what do I do then? I don’t have weeks and weeks to get him used to it before I can leave the house. I mainly work from home but about once a week have to go to the office for 2 hours and once a week for 6 hours. On the day I go for 6 hours he is booked in for doggy day care when my annual leave finishes. And I’ll need to go to the shops sometimes. Or do the school run without him. And I feel sick and sad about the cats, I feel like I’ve ruined their life. I’ve bought some Adaptil diffuser but don’t know if it will do anything, it’s not arrived yet. I’m sorry this is incoherent. I have hardly slept since I got him. I want to make this work, I don’t know how. If anyone replies, I will try to answer but I am at work today (from home) and might not be able to. I have also name changed as I didn’t want post linking to other posts but not sure if I’ve done it right so if it reverts to my usual name that’s why. Thank you for reading.

I have tried all the usual make the crate nice and inviting, feeding in there and giving treats.

I feel sick most of the time, can’t eat and just have a constant ball of anxiety. I really regret getting him. I’ve had rescue dogs before and thought I knew what I was doing but I clearly don’t.

At 5 months I would guess he just wants to play with the cats more than do them any harm really. It will take time for them all to adjust, especially with a high energy dog like a boxer. As for the crate , my suggestion would be to cover it with a blanket on top but leave the door open and spend some time getting him used to it during the day time. It can take up to 3 months for a new pet to settle, more for a rescue if theyve been mistreated.

It’s very early days, it takes 3 but I’d say 6months to get to know your rescue.

Do you know much about his life before you? He may have had bad crate experience. I fostered one aged 8 months who’d broken out of 3 crates. She settled in her crate here within a couple of days. Yes, feed, treat etc in crate, door open unless it’s bed time or you’re getting her used to a few mins at a time. I leave the radio on low, heavy dark cover over the crate at nught
Most important is build the bond with you so play, walk, consistent, calm and routines. Pups and dogs thrive on routine.

Good luck

The door is open all the time in the day, he has his meals in there and his toys in there. I don’t think he would hurt the cats but they don’t know that when he chases them. The crate does have a blanket partially covering it. That helps to hear it can take 3 months to settle thank you.

Thank you. Should I be sleeping with him until he gets used to the crate? Or will that make it worse when I stop sleeping with him?

It's only 10 days. He's a baby! Like PP said it takes months to settle. You need to remember he's a baby! He's playing.

@Anotherlovelybitofsquirrel I know he’s a baby. Is it better for me to sleep in the same room as the crate or follow the rspca advice and sleep in a separate room?

I would sleep in the same room. Could you move the crate to the side of your bed?
I would focus on building your bond with him and increasing his confidence. For him right now out of sight means your gone forever. Once he has grown in confidence you could start working on short periods alone and build it up.

Thank you @Girlintheframe. I can’t have the crate in my bedroom as that’s the cats space but I can sleep on the sofa in the same room as him.

This was me 3 years ago when we got our 6 month old rescue who was "cat safe" . I have 2 cats that she just wanted to chase CONSTANTLY! We had a lot of baby gates up in the house for a few months initially. Lots of training for her to be calmer around the cats. The cats stayed out of the living room and up in high places for a long time. I felt absolutely terrible and that I'd ruined their lives. I'm not going to lie, it took a long time for my dog to calm down around the cats and it was stressful at times. I got a trainer in to give me tips. You have to cut off your dog before she gets into chase mode, if possible, by limiting his ability to do it by opportunity initially. Then work on him being calm around the cats (we would give our dog a lickemat in the same room which occupied her). You will get there but I'm not going going to lie, it takes time and effort. Now, she doesn't chase them, one of the cats is quite friendly with her, they sleep adjacently sometimes. Other cat has an understanding that if dog gets too close, she'll get a swipe and dog is respectful of that. I never thought I would get to this stage and I'm so happy.

With regards to the sleeping, I'm afraid we had our dog in the bedroom with us from the start so can't advise. She never had bad separation anxiety though we're just soft. Good luck!

Mine was a 5 month rescue when he arrived (about 3 months ago)

He spent the first few weeks tied to me on a house line so he couldn’t chase the cat. That way I could stop him doing it and reward him for doing what I want without having to catch him first.

Separation anxiety, tbh, at that age and being a rescue it’s kind of to be expected. I just let him be with me for quite a while, till he settled in a bit, then slowly started working on leaving him - I can now go the bathroom alone and leave the room briefly without him panicking, but not much more than that yet.

I’d second getting a trainer...

@Balaur and @tabulahrasa they are both really helpful posts and give me some hope thank you. At the moment it’s just awful and I feel exactly the same as you did @Balaur like I’ve ruined the cats lives. How did you manage having the dog sleep with you upstairs with the cats? Or do the cats sleep somewhere else.
I’ll have a look at houselines @tabulahrasa

I’m finding that one of my cats will hardly come in the house and I’m worried about him. The other is a bit braver and she will come in and out and upstairs. Did either of you struggle with your cats coming in?

Can you put a baby gate on the stairs? Ddog can see the dcats and they can see him. He won't be so frantic to get them.
We did this with dpuppy and dcat. They get along fine now. Dpuppy was 14 weeks but pony sized!

My cat has her own bedroom, lol

It’s technically DD’s room, but she moved out... so...now it’s the cat’s.

I find it takes about 6 weeks for her to accept that there’s a new dog about, she’s still not happy about them, but thats when she starts being more normal. (I foster as well, so she gets more than the normal amount of new dogs)

The first 2 or 3 weeks she pretty much hides in her room and only comes out for food and water and then only if she thinks she won’t meet the dog and then gradually she gets more normal.

I prefer a house line over a stair gate because that way I can stop chasing in the same room rather than just that the cat can get out and the dog can’t.

10 days is nothing in cat time tbh... feliway diffusers help, also I buy things like cat soup and she gets that when she is in the room with the dog, to encourage her to hang out.

And before we moved to this house, yes, she’d stay out more - currently she’s not going out much anyway because one of the cat flaps made a noise and she doesn’t like it but there’s a definite difference (normally) when she can see that the doorway is clear of dog, she doesn’t like not being able to see where he is... so if you can leave your door open? It might help.

Our dkitten has been holed up in dd's room also!! Just recently been leaving the door open to she can venture out at her own pace.
Dpuppy is camped out (hiding) on the sofa!!
Dkitten is 3kg..
Dpuppy is 25kg!!

@Plantpot75 our cats didn't sleep in our bedroom anyway but the way I saw it, having the dog in with us meant they had free run of the downstairs at night, if the dog was in our room with the door shut. Having her in the bedroom helped with bonding imo.

Like people are saying, it's very very early days yet with your new puppy. Mine is an exuberant, excitable type breed too, and I think that made the process longer/slower. I was so anxious about it too, I really empathise with you. You really will get there eventually but it's a journey

Thank you everyone for your advice. I’ve got some hope from many of the posts so thank you. I think part of the emotion is just feeling so tired and not knowing if I’m doing the right things with him. I’ve got to leave him for 2 hours on Friday and I’m really anxious.
I’ve just put up a stair gate as I think that’s a good idea so that they can see each other. I’m more worried about one of the cats more than the other. I ordered some Adaptil, has anyone used it before with any success? I’m using the Feliway diffusers for the cats. Please forgive any rambling/nonsensical bits, I’m usually a pretty calm together person but finding this a real struggle. I feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew as a single parent to a boy with additional needs, 2 rescue cats and a rescue pup. But it honestly does help to hear that people have got through it and that reminder that we are o Bly 10 days in which is nothing in the scheme of things. I’ll keep you posted!

Hi, I just thought I would update a bit as I had some really helpful advice. It’s not quite been 3 weeks yet but things are better than they were and we are making slow progress. I decided to sleep on the sofa so have been there for the last 10 days with him in his crate next to me to help him feel more secure. I will have to stop doing that at some point though! I can now go to the kitchen and he will stay in the living room if he is asleep and he is able to stay in the front room (not in crate) while I put my son to bed every evening. The cats are still not happy but one is doing ok and will come and sit with me at night time once pup is in his crate. The other one I manage to get

I didn’t mean to press post then!
The other cat is coming in a bit more but I have to carry him upstairs and tempt him in with dreamies. I put a stair gate up rather than shutting the front door all the time. So all in all I’m feeling a bit more hopeful.

Great! I hope things continue to improve.