Old cat, old dog. Introductions.

[OnNaturesCourse]

Long story.

We have a old cat, about 13-15 years of age. We are having to take in a old dog for a while - family emergency.

How can the introductions be done? Well aware this dog is coming into my cats home, and that the dog isn't a cat fan (barks at them, has never attacked)

Separate rooms? Pet gates?

Separate rooms, definitely. But try and keep your cat's life as normal as possible (so don't shut the dog in his favourite room, for example). How long will you have the dog for? If only a short while I would just keep them separate and not try to introduce them to each other.

Give your cat lots of attention as he will have his noise put out of joint.

Separate rooms to start with. Let them get used to the smell of each other for a while. Keep dog on a lead when they're introduced face to face and make sure the cat has somewhere high to escape to in each room. Taking it slowly is key. We introduced DH's 19-year-old cat to ddog over about a month and it worked well.

We're limited to where our old man (cat) can go due to where his litter tray etc is based. Dog will have to be in the livingroom which might upset the cat but needs must.

The timescale is uncertain at the moment. I'll keep them separate as long as possible just to see how they go. I have a tall baby gate that I could put up between the rooms when the introductions start progressing, if that would work?

Babygate a good idea. It should be fine so long as the dog doesn't want to kill the cat - which sounds the case here if he only barks. The only unsuccessful intros I've done were when the dog had a VERY strong prey drive. Be patient, they should get there in the end, most do.

The dog is pretty well trained, but has chased a cat before... But came off worse for wear. My worry is the dog will want to play and my old cat will have none of it - I just hope it's not all too much for him.