House training when you have litter trays for cats

[Prancingponies]

Pup is due home in just under two weeks time now and whilst I have read up everything like Easy Peasy etc, most of it goes no where near house training a puppy when you have cats with litter trays!

Has anyone done this? If so how did you manage it? It's complicated by the fact that I have four large breed cats, litter trays are vast and are in easily accessible places. Even then we have issues because we've just moved house and older cats are stressed and there are the odd accidents in certain places so we have the dreaded puppy pads down, because they will use those!

Am I on a hiding to nothing here? DDog is a small breed, so happily uses dog flap and indeed litter trays when he deems himself too delicate to go outside into the rain. But DPup is a samoyed!

I am doomed, aren't I.

To add, because MN: Vet has checked cats over and confirmed it is stress related, not physical.
They also have litter trays in said locations, but opt instead to pee on floor. We are doing what we can in this regards, with feliway diffusers etc, but not stressing it because beloved cats.

DDog ignores pee pads, as he has preferences!

No idea but zooplus sell massive top entry litter trays which would be an option to keep dog out of the trays.

Confine dog to smaller area?

we found it a real problem as all the puppy wanted to do was get in and eat the cat poo. It was only one tray and the cat only had a tray for a couple of weeks while we moved house. We ended up barricading it off with baby gates with a cat flap. It was stressful.

you can buy catflaps that only open with a microchip on cat. But I think you’ll have to create safe spaces for the cats anyway. We spent a long time training the puppy not to chase the cat. and the cat had retreat space. So they met and dog was on lead etc. we are fairly sure the cat bopped him too at some point out of sight.

we had a dog staying last week who would chase the cat on sight and that was stressful.

look at Facebook Dog training it has some good advice.

The main issue you'll have is the dog will want to eat the cat poo and the litter. Mine thinks the litter trays are some kind of fancy dog buffet 🤣

I know the cats are having accidents, but personally I wouldn't have puppy pads in the house as the puppy will just eat them and you'll have a real issue with toilet training long-term if he learns it's okay to pee indoors.

I would put the litter trays up high and out of the puppy's reach or use baby gates to restrict access if that's not possible.

Good luck!

Yeah, I’ve never had an issue housetraining puppies with litter trays, only with making sure dogs can’t eat the contents.

If your older cats are already stressed, do you think they will react well to a puppy being added to the household? Have they lived with a dog before?

Sorry didn't read the post clearly, I see now that DDog is your existing dog and that you are adding a puppy.

I would keep the puppy in one room initially (if possible) and toilet train the dog to that room.

This room will not have any puppy pads down and no cat litter trays in it.

This will also help the cats accept the dog if they know the dog will only be in this room initially.

When the dog is more reliable then you can introduce more areas as the dog will have a habit of toiletig outside. Each time you add in a new room be prepared to be extra vigilant of the puppy

Pup so far has the kitchen as designated room. It's been puppy proofed etc. And we have stair gates on a downstairs room with a cat flap on it, so that even when pup is out and about they have somewhere they can go where they normally spend a lot of time as their food is in there.

Also a gate on the actual stairs too, so we can break it into chunks introducing pup. After the comments about eating poo I shall definitely restrict those areas!

Thanks all.