Introducing 4 mo. kitten to my dogs?

Question

We were adopted by an adorable 4 mo. old kitten. She showed up on our property with a very bad wound (vet says she was attacked by a dog) And no, it wasn't my dogs. We have to keep her isolated for at least a month while her wound heals. Does anyone have any helpful tips on how to introduce our new little pet to the rest of the family when she is all better? I have two black labs right now and they are pretty laid back animals. They have never ben around a cat before.

Answer 1

Your kitten is adorable! As for introducing them: keep your Labs tightly leashed, and set the kitten down a few feet from them. Your dogs most likely will bark at the kitten, and the kitten will be frightened. No matter how tame your dogs are, their instincts are to bark at and chase the kitten. The dogs and cat will probably not be fond of each other right away (I have learned from experience from my own pets) and will need a few months to get used to sharing a household. Eventually, the dogs will not try to bark/chase the kitten and the kitten will see they mean no harm. My dog and kittens needed a year before they became friends, and now they love spending time together, and even sleep in the same bed.

One of my kittens looks similar to yours, and we named her Bijou ("Jewel" in French) because her enormous blue eyes looked like jewels. Your cat is similar with its beautiful eyes, and you said you like ethnic names, so Bijou could work. Hope this helped!

Answer 2

At first keep them in separate rooms, start by petting or hold the kitten and then going over to your dogs and letting them smell you, pet them as well. After doing this for a while the dog and cat's scents will mix, this will help calm the dogs as the cat's smell won't seem so strange them.

Next you can bring the cat into the same room. Have someone hold the cat and maybe sit on the couch or in a chair so that the cat is higher up than the dogs, it'll make the cat feel and be safe. Keep the dogs on their leash and see how they act. They may like the cat and want to get closer, let them but do it slowly. If they bark or jump at the cat pull them back until they calm down.

Do this for a while and then separate them again. Continue these meetings for several days and then let the cat wander around with the dogs on their leashes. Finally let all animals wander around freely while keeping an eye on them.

It may take a while but they should get used to each other if not you may have to keep they separate until they get older and calm down.