Love my cats....am I letting them down with puppy?

[Grrrrlife]

Hello

We have 2 male cats who are nearly 2 yrs old. We rehomed them as adolescent kittens from RSPCA. We all love them so much but especially me. They are sociable and the best of friends with each other. They are brothers. I work from home so we all hang out together and cats often sleep on our or my dd' s bed.
My kids want a puppy. This is not a new thing! We like dogs but I have never owned a dog as an adult and not with cats. I don't want my lovely cats to run away or feel displaced. Does anyone have any experience of this good or bad. Thanks

We had ddog 1 then got dcats x2 brothers. Then ddog 2+3 and dcats weren't impressed tbh. One accepted them soon after but the other took 4 years before he would share the same room!! All good at last though!!

Watching with interest. We are considering this, but we have a 13 yr old overlord and we don't want him to feel pissed off, or the theoretical dog.

The cats would need to have territory that the new puppy doesn't have access to. So to start with, the puppy would need to be kept well away from the cats' important resources such as food, water, litter tray.

Then the cats would need to be able to move around the room high up, out of reach of the puppy, so they never get cornered. You could use cat trees and strategically placed shelves.

Then the puppy would need to be at least partially obedience trained before being allowed access to the areas where the cats live, so you could prevent it from eating their food or messing about in their litter trays.

Agree dont let the dog or puppy in certain cat spaces. Cats need to have their place. Dogs also need to know that cats are above the pack (in the family heiracht) to them. It's hierarchy and it counts with our pets. Personally I wouldn't do it. I think it changes the dynamics too much and you miss seeing the cats personalities. I think they slink away more with a boisterous dog/puppy around IMO.

The cats will be disgusted and will hate you for it initially, but they'll come round if you give them time and a safe space. We use stair gates so that the cats can go upstairs but the dogs can't. Eventually they all mix in (dog obviously has to be trained to not chase the cats) .

I use stair gates so the cat can get away from the puppy constantly wanting to chew his ears and chase his tail.

Bloody cat just jumps back over and they carry on. I have given up trying to separate them.

PS, I agree that food and litter trays need to be well away from dogs.

I found lighting the log burner meant all battles were off and everything piled on the settee in front of it!

We have 4 dogs and 3 cats, they never really interact with each other tbh and the cats are more outdoor cats. The period of training the puppy will proberly be the hardest
We had dogs before we had the cats though, I dont know if that makes a difference.

Thanks everyone. Your pets sound lovely.

It will be much easier with a puppy rather than an older dog, as it will learn to adapt to the cats, who will be above it in the hierarchy. Most dogs accept that.

We have a large breed of dog who can be aggressive towards other dogs but he will sleep on the floor if the cat has the sofa (and the dogs were here first). They have all become one pack and curl up together, even groom each other, it's very sweet.

Just as long as the cats have their own space to start with. They can always jump up and away from dogs who become too boisterous.

Our pup has soon learnt the ropes...the cat is boss as you can see! It helped that our cat (3 yo) had had positive experiences with dogs at my parents’ house but definitely echo PPs who have said to give the cat his own space and Aby interactions on his terms.

I have 2 cats, 2&3 years old, and an American bulldog. Now the younger cat gets on with the bulldog, but the older cat is not interested, we had the dog begore getting the cats separately. We recently just got a jack russell pup a week into January and the older cat does not like him at all, i will admit he likes to chase her alot, we are in the middle of training him, seeing a little improvement, but he is only four months old. The younger cat puts him in his place alot, she tends to bite, not too hard mind, the fleshy part of his ear where it meets his head when he becomes too boisterous. Both cats have access to the kitchen, he does not as the bulldog is out there and we have been slowly introducing them. And both cats sleep in the pantry at night, due to them shitting everywhere and using wall paper and couch as scratching posts, even tho they had one. Their littler tray, water and food are all in the pantry and they have constant access to it and the puppy is not allowed in therw. Tbh i am surprised at my cats reaction because when i brought the younger cat intp the house the elder cat went ape shit, attacking me all thw time for weeks, till eventually we got up one day to older cat nurturing thw younger cat, waa gobsmacked at that sight. Elder cat is the tabby and younger cat is the black and white one.