Introducing a puppy and 2 cats.

[andy5898]

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We are having a puppy move in with us a week on Friday which whilst is really exciting is also nervous because of my cats.

Our cats Pebbles is 3 and Milo is 6. We have gone for a puppy and the puppy is a lot smaller than both Pebbles or Milo this was done deliberately as I didn't want Pebbles or Milo feeling put out, or they were being replaced. Pebbles recently defended our daughter against a dalmation dog (despite our 2 year old daughter wanting to play with it) she stood in between our daughter and the dog and hissed, growled and fluffed herself up against him. In the end the dog ran off much to my daughters annoyance but Pebbles stood firm. So does this seem a good thing that Pebbles is confident enough to sort out a puppy who is smaller than her. I am confident Milo will be fine he is a big lad and has lived with a dog in the past.

Any ideas on introductions would be welcome I have feliway at the ready so I am hoping that Pebbles and Milo understand they are not being replaced and a lot of thought has gone into the puppy as we have turned down probably 10 - 15 rescue dogs which my wife, daughter, son and I liked but felt Pebbles and Milo would be scared by them. Then this pup was advertised and her seemed ideal hopefully.

 

[eingana]

Hi Andy, and welcome to DogForum

I think Pebbles sounds fabulous I work in German Shepherd rescue and every foster home I know that has GSDs and cats has at least one cat that has a 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough' mentality, one of those tom cats with that particular glint in his eyes. Those sorts of cats teach even quite big dogs that cats are creatures to be very wary of because they have sharp bits on 5 of the 6 ends. Any cat brave enough to defend her human from a big scary dog is a cat to be reckoned with

I think it's very likely that your puppy will grow up being very seriously aware that its place in your pack is well below the cats, which is not a bad thing in the grand scheme of things. My dog Molly was clearly brought up around cats as in our house 40kg of GSD is bossed about by 5kg of my head tom, Billy. If he wants the bed, she sleeps on the floor. If he wants her food he either stands between her front legs and eats it under her chin or he bosses her about and has the bowl all to himself while she paces up and down, fretting because she can't get to her food. I trust her absolutely when it comes to the safety of the cats, since she's fostered somewhere between 50 and 100 kittens (we've lost count) from 3 days old, and never harmed a hair on any of them.

I'm sure that you'll have a few days of hissing, spitting, growling and generally getting annoyed with each other, but it will pass as soon as they mutually realise that the other is not a threat. Good luck

 

[poppy2714]

I am also struggling with this problem, I am bringing my puppy home at the end of the month and I am taking her to go and meet the in-laws four cats. Two of them are rescue cats that are indoor only cats so have never met a dog/puppy in their lives so I am hoping they will be ok but the older two are outdoor/indoor cats that I am not sure how they will react.

What is the best way to introduce them and how much contact should I have in their meeting? As I am aware that my puppy need to learn to leave the cats alone but I dont want her to get hurt.

Any suggestions?