New puppy

[Confusedcatlady1]

We have 3 cats and are thinking of getting a puppy (a Shih Tzu) and I am asking for advice on how to introduce the cats and dog and any other tips.

I live in a 3 storey house and would use a baby gate so that the dog remains on one level, the ground floor, allowing the cats to have free roam of the other two floors. The cat litter and cat food would be away from the puppy too. Believe it or not I am worried that one cat in particular (a rather less agile British shorthair) would struggle to jump over the baby gate though. Has anyone’s cat experienced such difficulty jumping over the gate?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

My Persians would never be able to jump over a baby gate!

I have no experience of introducing cats & dogs. How old are your cats & will they be displaced? If so, that could upset them. Hopefully, they'll take to the dog without much fuss.

I've been through this lots of times - a chair next to the baby gate - arranged so that cat can get onto it and over but pup cannot. Be careful pup doesn't injure itself trying .

You might find the cats decide to train the dog - I had two sisters who made it their mission to whack new dogs right from the start! One of them ended up being best mates with a puppy she trained. They'd watch tv together and walk round the garden.

We have three cats aged between 5 and 7 so not old but not kittens either.

@Toddlerteaplease I think my BSH could end up just bulldozing the gate down if she wants to get through 😂

@catsrus if we go for the dog it would be great if they ended being mates. I think my two moggies would be OK but my BSH doesn’t like to be mates with anything so it could be interesting. Many years ago we already had a dog (a bit of a crazy Labrador) and we took my aunt’s cat in because my aunt was terminally ill. The cat had been an indoor cat all her life living with just one owner in a small flat and we wondered how she would cope in our busy family home with a dog. Well the cat soon showed dog who was boss and before we knew it the cat would sleep in the dog’s bed whilst the dog had to find a bed elsewhere!

We have three cats and a dog - one of my cats 100% has the ability to jump over a baby gate but he refuses and sits there shouting about it instead

When he was younger he would squeeze through the bars but about a month ago he tried it again (he's two now) and got stuck and I had to rescue him!

what worked for us what to go thru the senses as slowly as we could...

start with sound -- can hear but not see each other
smell - can smell but not see each other, they explore places others have been
very brief eyeballing each other
very brief in same room with each other (< 5 seconds)

slowly build up to more sight & same room with each other
over a week or 2

More important for the cats than the dog to take slowly, and yes, lots of places cat can get to but dog can't reach, too. As the cats learn that each way of sensing the other is not dangerous, they can more calmly experience the next sense/proximity hurdle.

My siblings pair of new kittens whacked the large family dog into submission very quickly.

We have a dog gate with a catflap!
Blue cross have some great advice. Dog must never be allowed to chase cat.