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Permalink Reply by Jessica on September 29, 2008 at 11:49pm

My puppy loves cats! Introduce the two outside of the house if you can, keep the dog in a crate so that the cat can smell him. Make sure that you try to still spend alone time with the cat too.

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Permalink Reply by Geri & Sidney on September 30, 2008 at 2:24am

We're lucky, our three dogs get along with our two indoor declawed cats. The only source of conflict is that Sidney always wants to chase our younger cat, Pippin (but leaves teh old cat alone). Pips always manages to outrun Sid and jumps up on a table or cabinet. I'm not sure if Sid wants to play or if he does not like Pips. Everyone else is very calm around each other.

Please let us know how it goes!

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Permalink Reply by Kitty's Corner on September 30, 2008 at 2:42am

I found that Kitty was pretty agressive with my 3 cats.She,mostly,wanted to chase them and eat their food.I used a gentle leader to control her agressiveness towards them and to stop her from eating their food.It worked really well.Now,she gets along with them beautifully. It just seemed to take awhile for everybody to get used to each other and get along.Hang in there...it'll work out.

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Permalink Reply by Lou Ann Lemaster on September 30, 2008 at 7:46am

When I got Duncan, we had two cats. One was a 12 year old tom cat, that spent most of his time upstairs and a 4 month old kitten and they were playpals. The old tom cat had never been around the dog, was a lover, not a fighter. So, he stayed upstairs most of the first year. When he did start coming down, Duncan thought he was another playtoy. I would just tell him to leave it...and he got to where he would just watch the cat go by. Eventually, the cat would let him sniff him, but they never were sleeping buddies.

The kitten and Duncan would run through the house and Duncan would nip at the cat's heels as it walked. They tousled and play fight, and no one got hurt. In fact, I caught Duncan dragging the kitten around on the floor like a toy, and the kitten was just laying there, not upset or anything. Oh, and neither one of my cats are declawed (although, the kitten, now full grown is testing my patience with his claw sharping on the wood in my house...grrrr)

With your cat being declawed, at least if Dr. Gonzo gets to bothering him, he'll just get a good bop on the nose. I would introduce them slowly. Dog in the crate, let the cat sniff. Then on a leash where you can control Dr. Gonzo and teach him not be chase it or be aggressive with it. As for playing too rough with the puppy, if it looks like the cat is going to, clap you hands or something to scare him out of that mode. Pretty soon, the puppy will be big enough to handle the cat. Who knows, they may become buddies!

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Permalink Reply by Alla on September 30, 2008 at 8:44am

Our cat really hated Charlie when we brought him. She is extremely jealous cat. So, in the beginning, we separated their "living quarters" with the dog gates. Then, we slowly introduced puppy to the cat.

Charlie is a very loving boy, and he tries to play with our cat, but she rarely allows him. It's being 1,5 months since we brought Charlie home. We don't use gates anymore when we are at home. But Marusa (our cat) still shows some hostile behavior. She likes to hide behind the corner when he plays fetch, and then suddenly she jumps out hissing and trying to get the ball. It scares Charlie. She also likes to drink out of his bowl and sleep in his crate, when we don't see it.

So.. may be the best way to introduce a puppy is to do it slow? And we don't let him to chase the cat.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on September 30, 2008 at 10:41am

My cat hated our 11 month old sheltie pup the first month. Now they play all the time. She actually likes him better than anyone else in the house. Charlie, our 6 year old corgi tries to protect her when Rowdy gets too rough with her. She will actually hold him down and wash his face sometimes. If he gets too wild she will jump up on the dining room table so he cant reach her. She also will hide in the basement when she wants some inside quiet time. The dogs wont go to the basement for some reason. She loves it down there.

Just take it slow and they will adapt in their own time. I have read that you can wipe them down with the same towel so they can get used to each others smell. I have never tried it but I think it should help. Enjoy Dr. Gonzo! He is so cute!

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Permalink Reply by Avyon on September 30, 2008 at 11:35am

We never owned cats but we lives in a small apartment building in VT with close friends who were neighbors. They both owned cats. Since they were declawed and Roxi at her breeders grew up with cats around her we just let her go free and after some roughing around and figuring things out they got along.


our uh.. only issue was Roxi found the yummy tootsie rolls in the sand box :) So a new place had to be figured out for those.

Coones are also great cats, a friend had one that loved to wrestle and do tricks. So I'm sure if they become friends they'll be great 'play' buddies :) Especially if yours is as big as his was, they may be close to the same size hahahahhaha.

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Permalink Reply by Krystal on September 30, 2008 at 11:53am

I think it'll take them both some getting used to eachother-- that's all.
I brought Kobi home a month ago, and my roomates kitty would just try to paw at his face and hiss while running away. All Kobi would do was sniff her and act sad that she didn't want to be friends... but anyway! Now he chases her and they wrestle (you can see them in my photos). Sophie actually enjoys it too, she tries to get her to chase him and flips on her back to get his attention.

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