Introducing rescue dog to our cats

[DaysofHoney]

Hello all,

We will be bringing home a rescue dog on Sunday.

We have two cats (also rescued over a year ago) and I’m looking for any tips on introducing them to each other. I know we need to go slowly, but any practical advice would be much appreciated.

We are new to dog ownership. He is a saluki mix type dog, almost a year old. He will have a crate upstairs on the landing outside our room, and the cats will sleep downstairs.

In the first few days I plan to have dog in the lounge which can be closed off, with access to the garden via French doors. I’ve been told to allow cats the opportunity to smell the dog through the doors etc, before letting them sniff around his crate etc.

How long should we leave it before they can “meet” face to face? Presumably dog should be on a lead for this? For how long etc?? When will we know they’ve accepted each other?

totally new to this so any help very welcome!

Depending on where they’ve lived before, some rescues (even older ones) will regress a bit when they first move in and might have accidents in the house and wake up at night if they’re scared or unsure. My dog took about 3 months to crack toilet training when we brought him home, despite the foster having started toilet training him. He was just petrified of the outside world and didn’t want to wee or poo out there so would hold it and then go as soon as he got back in the house 🤦🏼‍♀️

Rescues are a mixed bag and all will have their own little foibles. I wish you all the very best of luck in finding your dog!

I live in the middle east where salukis are common, they are beautiful dogs. They have a very strong prey instinct, it's what they're bred for. I'd be very wary of having him around cats unless he's been really well tested.

I love salukis, one of my own dogs is a saluki cross (and lives very happily with cats), and I have fostered a lot of salukish lurcher puppies as well as two full salukis.
I would not recommend one for you and your family. They are stubborn, self willed dogs who have a reputation for being stand offish - but actually they will choose one person to bond with and that is Their Person. You can't control who it is, and though they will accept love from others, there will be one who they just want to stare adoringly at 24/7. They can also be neurotic and suffer with separation anxiety. For an older dog who may have been used for hunting or trained for it, cats can very much be an issue - most puppies can be taught to ignore, but even then you need long term safety thoughts for the cats (and this applies to all dogs sharing a house with cats).

I’d go further and say a dog isn’t suitable at all.

All dogs deserve the chance to get good walks whenever possible - not just at the weekend.

‘Some what limited’ implies 10-15mins at best.

Our saluki cross is terrified of 1 of our dcats...
Has quite an acceptable relationship with the other one. We have had ddog since 14 weeks old though..
We have 2 Lurchers, 1 was an adult when we got her.. Dcat virewd from high vantage points and built up slowing at dcat pace. All good now. Dcat must have escape routes.. Remember they have sharp claws.. Ddogs all know this... With experience..

Please do not go ahead with this. I used to be a Rehoming officer for a welfare charity and there is honestly I would put an untested Saluki into a home with cats.
Beautiful as they are, a Saluki is a sighthound. They have massive prey drive.
So many rescues just want the dogs rehomed and do not have the staff resources or finances to cat test properly.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saluki

Also please exclude all other sighthound breeds and X breeds, ie Greyhounds Lurchers, Whippets.

You may get the odd person who will say that their dog is fine with cats, but it's likely been brought up around them from a puppy and considers them part of their pack. A rescue is too high a risk to you cats in this scenario.

Good luck.

Sorry but these will not make a hapeth of difference in OP's scenario.

*no way I would put'

typo - sorry

Okay thanks all. Good reality check here, and noted.

We go ahead with this dog.

By limited walks, 30 mins around neighbourhood in the morning and an hour in the evening/afternoon - is this not enough? Part of the reason we are looking at rescue is because this set up is surely better than the shelter??

TYPO!!

we will NOT go ahead with this dog.

If the kids want a dog they can wait until they have houses of their own without cats.

You don’t have to provide a dog because they want one and you’ll end up doing all the care.

My cousins DD wanted a dog and they said no we dont have the time for one even if dad has retired.

We’ve had a terrier hound and now a working terrier with cats but both came in as puppies (one older one baby) and there was some hefty training required! Current working terrier still needs supervising but it’s more play than prey. She’s a bit silly with our very laid back cat but with lots of rewards for being calm around him is getting there.

We’ve also had a failed adoption with a ‘cat tested’ terrier. That nearly ended in disaster despite our experience. No way on earth would I bring an untested sighthound in with cats.

It is really hard to adopt with cats. Really hard. It’s why we eventually went down the puppy route.

That's crazy to not even test the dogs before placing in a home with cats especially with a novice dog owner, kids who may leave doors open and cats not used to dogs so may not be calm or stand there ground, avoid this rescue and look elsewhere. @DaysofHoney What country do you live in ?

Lots of dogs will see cats as prey but sighthounds move much faster (greyhounds can do 0-40mph in 6 strides) and primed to movement triggers (sight) for hunting so your cats maybe scared and run this can trigger a chase and for dogs chasing things is a fun, rewarding activity.

It's often assumed ALL sighthounds can't safely live with cats but plenty do, even adults who had a successful racing career or a PP ex-worker hunter, it's more about the individual dogs behaviour. Hunting sighthounds can be trained to be safe around farmers livestock and may work along side ferrets to clear rabbits. The prey drive is more complex than expected, outdoors many dogs will an show interest in chasing cats but indoors can be react differently, so if there's low interest outside its more likely they will also be same indoors. How the cat behaves is also a factor and many dogs that accept cats as family members will still chase stranger cats when on outside.

Most sighthound rescues tend to only home dogs that either have proof of living with cats already or show very low interest on testing and they expect adopters to follow a training plan to safely introduce, not just take home and let loose. Some that fail are workable but would requires more trust in the adopters experience/common sense to do that extra training. It's just not worth the risk with dogs that are undistractable and showing all the signs of wanting to hunt kitty, some experienced crazy people have managed to integrate this type with their cat but can easily be disastrous. https://www.hectorsgreyhoundrescue.org/greyhound-information/cats-and-small-dog-testing

I did see a rescues on TV use a robotic cat to test and prayed they actually followed this up testing with a real cat. Weirdly it was one where they also rehome cats, some rescues just don't have a stunt cat available to test the dogs.
https://susanmckeon.co.uk/how-to-train-your-dog-to-live-with-cats/ greyhounds so an assumption already muzzle trained.

https://www.bluecross.org.uk/advice/pets/introducing-dogs-and-cats

90 minutes a day should be absolutely fine for most dogs, but just be aware that half an hour in the morning may not be enough to get the dog to settle properly during the day.

Could you also afford to pay for a dog walker if necessary?

We have a rescue saluki and he is absolutely not safe around cats. I have a 10&13 year old and I still don't trust him around the younger as if he is loud the dog gets incredibly anxious. He's a great dog with a very bad past but we've had dogs for 20 years and the kids know how to behave around him. If I bought a cat in it would be a blood show