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I'm wondering if anyone has some suggestions for my new little boy, Oliver. He's a black domestic long hair, about 7 months old. He's not neutered.
I moved in with my fiance recently. My fiance has a West Highland Terrier, Sake. (Sake, incidentally, is also not neutered. He's almost 3 years old.) Sake and I get along wonderfully - he's the friendliest dog I've ever met. He just loves EVERYONE. And he's really eager to meet Oliver.
Unfortunately, Oliver is not interested at all in Sake. He's pretty freaked out by Sake, in fact. He hisses at Sake if he gets too close.
Oliver has a guest bedroom to himself in my fiance's house. We put up a baby gate so that, when the bedroom door is open, Sake and Oliver have a chance to look at each other, but Sake can't get in. Oliver is able to leave if he wants to, but he really stays in the room, for the most part.
This is driving Sake a little crazy. He waits outside of the bedroom door, whether or not the door is open. He'll just sit, and sometimes he whines.
I know they probably won't ever LOVE each other, but I'd like for them to get used to each other...enough to where Sake doesn't spaz when he sees the cat, and enough to where Sake will listen to us, even if the cat's in the room.
When my husband & I first moved in together he had a 9 year old male DSH and I had a 130 pound dog. For the first month that cat hid under the bed and I even put his food & water under there because I was not sure he was coming out at all. Eventually his curiosity overcame his better judgment and he started coming out a little. Sometimes I would put the dog in the yard for a little while so the cat could wander the house. After a few months there was an uneasy truce, and eventually he learned to ignore the dog completely.
When we sent that dog to Rainbow Bridge he walked around looking for her for days on end. When we got Shadow he went right back under the bed and discovered she was small enough to follow. So I got a baby gate. He spent many months making the "I hate you" face at me. He would go out of his way to smack her when she was sleeping or when her back was turned. Once Shadow stopped being an annoying puppy he decided she was worthy of being ignored, just like the dog before.
It is important for you to spend lots of time with your cat right now, and make sure to bring him out when the dog is not in the house.
I used to have three cats, Basil, Nigel and Tootles as well as two dogs who were about the size of cats, their names were Chelsea and Cinders (I still have Cinders). The loved each other, they would sleep in a group together, it was a touching scene.
Cats and dogs CAN in fact get along. It just takes time.
One thing you can do to maybe hasten their introduction w/b to rub a blanket over the dog and then rub one over the cat and give the dog the one w/ the cat's scent and give the cat the one w/ the dog's scent, that way even if they don't see each other, they'll know in the back of their minds that they're not the only furkid in the house. We dont have any cats here but maybe one of you can hold the dog and the other can hold the cat so they're on the same level would work (would probably do that after the westie has had some exercise and is kind of tired and may be in a mellow mood <G>, maybe give the dog treats so he knows the cat is a good thing).
One thing you can do to maybe hasten their introduction w/b to rub a blanket over the dog and then rub one over the cat and give the dog the one w/ the cat's scent and give the cat the one w/ the dog's scent, that way even if they don't see each other, they'll know in the back of their minds that they're not the only furkid in the house. We dont have any cats here but maybe one of you can hold the dog and the other can hold the cat so they're on the same level would work (would probably do that after the westie has had some exercise and is kind of tired and may be in a mellow mood <G>, maybe give the dog treats so he knows the cat is a good thing).
That's so funny -- have you been emailing my fiance?? He had the same idea of walking Sake for a long time, getting him obedient and calm and tired, THEN taking him to see Oliver. When Sake sits and stays with Oliver in the same place, we treat him.
THANKS, EVERYONE!! I really appreciate all the help.
BE PATIENT! That's the best advice I can give, since it's the only thing that worked in my household. I have 2 cats, and introduced a puppy when they were 5 & 9 years old... they were NOT having it at first, and literally hid in my bedroom for a month. I thought it would never work out, but slowly they emerged from the bedroom - approached him cautiously at first, eventually got closer & closer, and so forth. It took a good 3 months before they were really comfortable with him, and didn't run or hiss whenever he got too close. It's now been over 2 years, and the younger cat is best buddies with him... they rub noses, clean each other, play together, and even sleep together occasionally. The older cat, who's now 11 years old, still isn't his biggest fan. But she tolerates him, and that's about all she gives any animal (or human, for that matter) - so I can't expect much more, LOL. Anyway, just be patient & let them get used to each other. As long as nobody's in danger, and the cat has a "safe space" (baby gate is great) to escape to, you can let them work it out themselves.
Oh, and as another poster said, make sure you give the cat some extra attention... I gave them each a good cuddle/pet session every day, at least for the first month or so. That way they don't feel ignored, or like the dog will be taking all their attention. Good luck!
You have the right idea to slowly introduce while allowing the cat to feel safe.
Another thing to do is have floor time where both pets are being held but are close to each other . Because the cat is young I think it will work out if you take it slow.
Our cats and dogs did fine when I was young.
We have a 5 year old dog and brought home a kitten and I carefully introduced
and supervised and thought "this is never going to work" In a few months they were
best friends and now they sleep together and play. It is so cute to see the cat
hide and jump out at our dog. Our cat got lost and was gone for 2 weeks and when we found him our dog went crazy he was so happy.
So, we've made a little progress -- at least, with the cat. He doesn't automatically run and hide when seeing the dog. Sake (the dog), however, still gets WAYYYY too excited about the cat...EXCEPT when we treat him for responding to other distractions (us telling him to "sit" or "stay" or "lay down").
We let the cat outside yesterday and then "lost" him - we could hear him meowing and kept calling for him. Well, Sake helped us find him!! We went inside for a little while, still looking out the glass doors in case Oliver (the cat) showed up...and while watching TV, Sake went over to the door because he sensed something. It was Oliver!! He started getting excited, which I noticed and ran outside to get the cat. Sake saved the day!! We were so worried that Oliver would try and run away...but Sake would never let that happen.
In the mornings, when I feed the cat, I leave the door to his room open - but keep the baby gate closed....well, Oliver doesn't run when Sake wants to "say hi" anymore -- yesterday he came up and sniffed Sake's nose!!!
I realize it'll be awhile before they're licking each other -- but I'm VERY pleased with the progress. THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE!!
In April I adopted two cats, both females from the Boston area. Their owner passed away in November after a long battle with cancer. These two girls were wild as babies and as adults only their owner was able to handle them.
WELL they weren't used to dogs at all but my little dog Cinders is so placid about cats, they have accepted her as one of the group. They touch noses with her and move on, no problems. Cinders does get a little excited when she thinks we are going for a ride but the cats realize she is no threat to them.
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He had the same idea of walking Sake for a long time, getting him obedient and calm and tired, THEN taking him to see Oliver. When Sake sits and stays with Oliver in the same place, we treat him.
