Acquainting Older Cats with New Older Dog?

Question

Our family has been lucky to be chosen as the primary care takers of a wonderful dog (half Doberman half Lab so he's a big boy!). 'Oscar' has been in the extended family for five years, so he's an older dog. He's well behaved, but he's never been around cats. This problem is that we have three cats in the home. There are two males (both fixed, thank God, or we'd be smelling territory wars!) and one female. They are between 2-3 years old, are indoor/outdoor cats, and have only known our home.

The dog met two of the cats, and was mostly curious and cordial, he didn't try to attack, just wanted to smell, but the cats of course hissed and instantly went into attack mode. I realize this will take weeks before either of them are truly acquainted, but is there any advice on how to make for smoother introductions? I also worry my cats will remain outside permanently...as we have a window they go in and out of at their discretion... any advice is much appreciated! Thanks!

Answer 1

Let them work it out on their own under your attentive, watchful eye. I adopted a dog  2 years ago without knowing much about her except that she is a lovely dog and needed a home. She was a 2-year old Brittany and I already had 3 grown male cats (all neutered and of varying ages - all over 5). I let them inspect each other and yes, the cats hissed and arched their backs and put on quite a show. The dog was merely curious. I didn't let them be around each other unsupervised for months. I kept (and still keep) a close watch for any hunter/prey behavior on the part of the dog and just let them go about their lives. If the dog showed any "overly interested" behavior, I made a distracting noise to interrupt the behavior. She is an easily trained dog and now I am likely to find one of the boys (cats) sharing her bed...although not particularly cuddled up next to her. Outside she leaves them alone unless they run and then she thinks they want to play and will chase. She still gets my disapproving "ahn ahn ahn" noise to let her know its not okay to chase kitty.

Oh, and BTW...neutered cats will spray as will female cats (intact or spayed)...it isn't as strong of a drive, but cats are always territorial and can spray (that ability isn't hampered by neutering). My cats were all neutered very young, but under certain circumstances they still spray, albeit less often and not as strongly odored as an intact male. I really hate the behavior, but my kitties are worth the trouble of keeping a roll of paper towels and spray bottle of pet odor neutralizer on hand. They only spray a couple of times a year and usually when the neighbor cat has come over into our house and tried (via spraying) to make it his territory. They never sprayed as a result of bringing a dog into the house...luckily!

Congratulations and good luck with the new dog and with keeping the kitties happy. Yeah, they will look at you with disdain for quite a while, but they're cats..they are paid to be disdainful!

Answer 2

Well, one I am not a big fan of the indoor/outdoor cat.  Cats should always be in the house- not roaming around outside even if you live in the country- it's dangerous.

Cats should just adjust and get use to the dogs.  Cats are stubborn and normally don't give up their terriorty for anything!