How To Get Cats and Dogs to Get Along
According to family lore, when my husband was a little boy, his bedtime request was always the same: “Tell me a story about a doggy and a kitty who made friends.” Those of us who have navigated the doggy-kitty waters know that he was definitely onto something. This topic has drama, surprise, even a bit of danger – all with the potential for a gleefully happy ending. Luckily, in real life, there’s much you can do to short-circuit the suspense and get to the “happily ever after” as soon as possible.
1. Plan carefully for the first minute, and stick to the plan.
If you take away only one thing from this article, make it this: You don’t get a second chance at the first minute.
The time to think about facilitating a good canine-feline introduction is way before you add the new pet. The very first moments in the house together can set the tone for this new dynamic. If you’ve taken a spontaneous, “Oh, they’ll work it out” approach, and the all-but-inevitable giant chase scene takes place, you have already blown it.
That’s so easy to prevent with just a little upfront planning. Remember that you’re going to have a lot on your mind as you enter the house with that new pet. The most frustrating call I get is this one: “Oh, I meant to have the dog in the crate when we came in with the new kitty, but we were so excited we just forgot. There was a chase. Honestly, Rover just wanted to play! He didn’t mean any harm. But, um, Fluffy hasn’t come out from under the bed for two days. What do we do now?” You’ll wish you could get that first hour back.
2. Hold off on that introduction between cats and dogs.
The new pet in question, whether the dog or the cat, has a lot to take in at first: New people, new home, new vibe. It makes sense to postpone the much-anticipated dog-cat introduction until there’s been time settle in. For example, if a kitty is the newcomer to the home, you may want to keep her in a bedroom for anywhere from an afternoon to a few days as you bond with her.
In some cases, allowing the dog and the cat to sniff each other under a bedroom door can be a perfect start. Without that intense visual stimulus, the interaction is often calmer. You can exchange bedding materials to allow even closer investigation via the nose.
Once the new kid is a bit settled, it’s time for a formal introduction. Ideally, you’ll get a ho-hum reaction along the lines of “Oh, it’s the dude from under the door.”
3. Contain the dog.
There are two keys to the best introductions: canine containment and feline confidence. Think hard about how you can reinforce both at your house.
Typically, a dog is the more excited part of the new duo, which is why that’s the side you’ll want to contain. Please don’t assume the rules are different for a little puppy! People often discount the emotional trauma an exuberant (if physically harmless) puppy can cause. The bottom line is that if you want a dog and a cat to become friends, you’ll start by keeping the dog from getting in the cat’s space.
If your dog is comfortable with a crate, that’s the ideal place for him when he’s first meeting the cat. Alternatively, you can use gates or pens to establish a safe separation. Either option has the advantage of leaving you hands-free and able to move between the pets to manage the situation and deliver treats.
While keeping a dog on leash for the intro might be fine with a completely uninterested dog or the tiniest of puppies, it might be a challenge, and here’s why:
-
-
- Your hands are occupied with the leash, making it difficult to manage treats or petting.
- You get tired of holding on, which could lead to a slip-up.
- If you let your leashed dog pull you around after the cat, the cat will feel there’s no place that is dog-free, so her anxiety stays through the roof.
-
Tethering the leash to something fixed in place can mitigate some of these issues. Still, crates and gates will likely give you a better experience for the initial phase.
4. Give the cat a safe, high place to retreat to.
With the exception of the very young and the very old, most cats will be able to jump and climb up to spots a dog can’t reach. The faster the cat figures that out, the faster you’re on your way to a peaceful home. A high, safe perch gives the cat that all-important confidence that she’s got some control over the situation, which will allow her to entertain the idea of exploring a friendship.
Before the big day, ponder the possible cat perches in your house. The size and agility of the dog will determine whether that will be a chair, a table, a counter, or the top of the refrigerator! You may need to do a little rearranging to make sure it’s easy for the cat to reach and impossible for the dog to get to. Help the cat learn that this is her spot by putting a bed there and bringing her there often for treats and petting. (She can eventually learn that many tall spots will do the trick, but at first we want her to know about one for sure.)
If it’s in your budget and you can get over the impact it has on your decor, get a giant kitty condo tree. It’ll have a carpet grip that a scared cat can count on when seeking a climb to safety. The most fun ones have landings at different heights, too, so that as your cat gains confidence she can choose to hang out just a bit closer to the dog.
I bought a monstrosity from Chewy.com that I adore. (Goodbye, nice dining room.) It’s brought me peace of mind because Mr. Bojangles knows he can streak to his tall treehouse if some new foster dog decides to chase him. Bonus: We also feed him up there, which is a great way to keep the dogs out of the cat food.
5. Take a crash course in canine and cat body language.
Now that you’ve figured out how you’ll contain the dog and where you’ll encourage your cat to stay out of reach, it’s time to introduce the two. Sometimes, that moment will be such a non-event that you’ll feel off-duty almost immediately. More likely, though, you’ll be spending hours to days – and even weeks – watching body language and being ready to intervene.
Familiarize yourself with the big warning signs:
-
-
- If your dog stiffens and stares, take a break, because that’s what it looks like when his predatory behavior is kicking in.
- If the cat’s ears are pinned back and her tail swishes back and forth, take a break, because she’s very concerned. (Remember that the cat may be the one to do some harm!)
-
6. Introduce the cohabitants and reward calm behavior.
While you want to be ready to take action if you see too much intensity, also be ready to reward calm. Plan to have amazing treats ready near the introduction/bonding area. If possible, have a second person available for this moment, so that each pet has a handler throughout the session.
Here’s what it might look like: Perhaps your dog is in a crate with you sitting next to him, and another family member calmly brings the cat to her now-familiar spot up in her kitty condo tree. Or we’ve got the cat on her now-familiar kitchen counter area, and we bring the dog to the gate just outside the kitchen.
The moment the cat is in sight, offer your dog bites of hot dog, feta cheese, ham, or whatever is new and exciting to him. This is a three-prong strategy as you are:
-
-
- Distracting him from the cat.
- Rewarding him for doing something other than obsessively focusing on the cat.
- Building a positive association with the cat. “Oh! So the presence of this cat means I get amazing treats I’ve never had before! What do you know? I like this cat.”
-
Use tiny pea-sized pieces so you can keep up a stream of activity. If he’s too excited to take them, increase his distance from the cat. If he’s eating them, you can begin asking for sits, downs, spins, and touches to help take his mind off the cat.
Have one person standing near the cat, offering a sense of security, petting, and treats. If the cat realizes the dog can be in sight without being a threat, she may well go into “boring kitty” mode, which is ideal. The last thing we want is a cat who darts very provocatively – which is why you want to do everything you can to calm the cat without restraining her, which would set this whole scenario way back.
It may be that one 5-minute session is plenty for now. Help everyone go back to their separate areas of your home, and repeat this every few hours. Soon enough, both will anticipate what’s next. Ideally, your dog will run over and – rather than thinking “Oooh, a kitty to chase!” – he’ll think, “Oooh, time for me to sit for a hot dog!” As the cat sees the dog approach her perch, rather than thinking, “Oh no!” she should be thinking, “This is where he sits and doesn’t bother me, and I get those crunchy treats I never get any other time!”
HARD WORK PAYS LIFELONG DIVIDENDS
Make no mistake: These early sessions are a lot of work for the human. It’s fascinating, though, and in the end it can pay off dramatically with a smooth and relatively quick path to calm. As you witness both parties relaxing, it’s time to slow the stream of treats, and let them begin to focus on each other from time to time without trying to distract them.
If you’re lucky, your cat will decide it might be fun to reach down and experiment. You’ll know things are going well when the cat starts to dangle a tail, or a paw . . . You’re on your way to the two of them figuring out just how they can play together.
BRAVE CATS, CALM DOGS
Even if you do everything right, there are some dogs who will never be safe around any cat, and cats who will never be able to relax around a dog. When considering getting a second pet, think carefully about both personalities before you take the leap.
If you are in a position to choose the new animal (as opposed to, say, needing to take in your Aunt Matilda’s old cat) then you’ll want to stack the deck in your favor by picking wisely. The cat or dog who has already happily lived in a “mixed” canine/feline home is an ideal choice. Try to fall in love with that one!
If you don’t have a candidate who has demonstrated that she can live with the “other side” already, look for positive-indicator traits. The ideal cat will be confident and interested in new things. She’ll stand her ground, look at a dog calmly and say, “Nope, I’m not prey.” The nervous cat who runs is a disaster, because she’ll turn a dog who was otherwise inclined to be mellow into a drooling, chasing mess.
The ideal dog will be on the calmer side, exhibit some impulse control, and will respond to a few cues like sit, down, touch, shake, or spin.
DOGS AND CATS: HAPPILY EVER AFTER
With enough effort, a multi-species household can work out even when, on the face of it, the candidates don’t seem ideally suited for long-term cohabitation.
About 18 years ago, we had two dogs and a desire for a cat. On the face of it, it looked a wee bit ill-advised, since Shadow was a strong, athletic wolf hybrid (don’t ask) whose intensity around small running things indicated this could be dicey. On the plus side, though, our dogs were well-trained, and we knew Piper, the little yellow Lab, would be BFFs with the cat in no time.
I was wildly interested in this prospect from all angles, and I was the one who was home all the time to do the work.
So we headed to the shelter with the kids and asked those smart folks which of the 30 or so cats might be a good choice for us. They pointed out two. We chose one and headed home to start a months-long journey of gates and leashes and treats.
At first Shadow was a shaking, drooling mess any time he was near the kitty. But Fritzy the cat just looked at him calmly – almost rolling his eyes – waiting for him to become civilized.
At some point, the novelty wore off just enough, the treats smelled just delicious enough, and Shadow’s pack instinct kicked in just enough. His body language no longer worried me. Still, I wasn’t about to remove our gates. But then … Fritzy started leaping over those gates to be with the dogs – and Shadow paid him no mind. Once my heart returned from my throat, I realized we’d done it.
Soon they were the classic “doggy and kitty who made friends” curled up together on the bed, much to my grown husband’s delight.
Medscape Drugs & Diseases. safe and effective drugs are available.
amoxicillin 500 mg capsule
earch our drug database. Read now.
Get warning information here. drug information and news for professionals and consumers.
amoxicillin 500mg without prescription
Best and news about drug. Commonly Used Drugs Charts.
Get warning information here. Some trends of drugs.
amoxicillin script
Comprehensive side effect and adverse reaction information. Read information now.
First of all, thank you for your post. casinocommunity Your posts are neatly organized with the information I want, so there are plenty of resources to reference. I bookmark this site and will find your posts frequently in the future. Thanks again ^^
deep web sites dark web access
tor market url deep web markets
black internet darkweb marketplace
certainly like your web-site but you need to test the spelling on several of your posts.
Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome
to inform the reality nevertheless I will surely come again again.
Having read this I thought it was rather enlightening. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself personally spending way too much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!
I pay a visit day-to-day some blogs and information sites to
read posts, but this website gives quality based articles.
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging
for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your
site is magnificent, as well as the content!
Greetings! Very helpful advice in this particular article! It’s the little changes that will make the biggest changes. Thanks for sharing!
Good information. Lucky me I found your site by chance (stumbleupon).
I have saved it for later!
Ridiculous story there. What happened after? Good luck!
Hi would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re working with?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different web browsers and I must
say this blog loads a lot faster then most. Can you recommend
a good internet hosting provider at a honest price?
Kudos, I appreciate it!
This page certainly has all the info I wanted concerning this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
If some one needs expert view concerning blogging after that i propose him/her to pay a visit this website,
Keep up the pleasant job.
My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different website and thought
I might as well check things out. I like what I see so now i
am following you. Look forward to checking out your web page for a second time.
I’m curious to find out what blog platform you are working with?
I’m experiencing some small security problems with my latest website and
I would like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any recommendations?
My developer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from
PHP. I have always disliked the idea because
of the costs. But he’s tryiong none the less.
I’ve been using WordPress on numerous websites for about a year and am anxious about switching to another
platform. I have heard great things about blogengine.net.
Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it?
Any kind of help would be really appreciated!
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the layout of your website?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or
two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?
Its such as you read my thoughts! You seem to grasp a lot approximately this,
like you wrote the e-book in it or something.
I feel that you can do with a few p.c. to pressure the message house a little bit,
but other than that, this is fantastic blog. A great read.
I will definitely be back.
Greetings from Carolina! I’m bored at work so I decided to browse
your website on my iphone during lunch break.
I enjoy the info you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
I’m surprised at how fast your blog loaded on my mobile ..
I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, excellent site!
This info is priceless. Where can I find out more?
Hello everyone, it’s my first pay a visit at this site, and
piece of writing is truly fruitful in favor of me, keep up posting such content.
I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here. The sketch is tasteful,
your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get
got an impatience over that you wish be delivering the following.
unwell unquestionably come further formerly again as exactly the
same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this hike.
Every weekend i used to pay a visit this web page, because i want
enjoyment, as this this web page conations really good funny material
too.
Your style is very unique compared to other folks I’ve read stuff from. Thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I’ll just book mark this page.
Hello terrific website! Does running a blog such as this require a large amount of work?
I’ve virtually no expertise in coding but I had been hoping to
start my own blog soon. Anyhow, if you have any recommendations or tips for
new blog owners please share. I understand this is
off subject however I simply had to ask. Thanks!
Amazing! This blog looks exactly like my old one!
It’s on a entirely different topic but it has pretty much the
same layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!
Hi there, I log on to your blogs like every week. Your writing style is awesome, keep up the good work!
I’ll immediately seize your rss as I can not find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service.
Do you’ve any? Kindly allow me recognize in order that I may just subscribe.
Thanks.
Every weekend i used to pay a quick visit this website, for the reason that i wish for enjoyment, since this this web page conations
actually good funny material too.
Excellent post! We will be linking to this great content on our website.
Keep up the great writing.
Good day! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I truly enjoy reading through your blog posts.
Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums
that go over the same subjects? Appreciate it!
I visited several web sites but the audio quality for audio
songs present at this website is actually marvelous.
It’s not my first time to go to see this website,
i am browsing this web page dailly and get fastidious information from
here all the time.
When someone writes an article he/she keeps the plan of a user in his/her brain that how a
user can know it. So that’s why this post is amazing.
Thanks!
I am sure this article has touched all the internet visitors, its really really nice paragraph on building
up new website.
Hello, There’s no doubt that your site may be having internet browser compatibility problems.
When I look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine however, when opening in I.E.,
it has some overlapping issues. I just wanted
to provide you with a quick heads up! Other than that, fantastic website!
Your method of describing the whole thing in this paragraph
is truly good, every one be capable of effortlessly know it, Thanks a
lot.
You won’t uncover a real money blackjack app in iTunes or Google
Play retailers.
What’s up, yup this paragraph is actually pleasant and
I have learned lot of things from it regarding blogging.
thanks.
Hello, everything is going nicely here and ofcourse
every one is sharing data, that’s truly excellent, keep up writing.
I’ll right away seize your rss feed as I can’t find your email subscription link or e-newsletter service.
Do you’ve any? Please allow me understand so that I
may subscribe. Thanks.
This site was… how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally I have
found something that helped me. Appreciate it!
Hi to every one, the contents present at this web
site are really amazing for people experience, well, keep up the good work fellows.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for
your next write ups thank you once again.
What you typed was very logical. But, think on this, what if you were to create a awesome headline?
I mean, I don’t want to tell you how to run your website, however suppose you added a post title
that makes people want more? I mean How To Get Cats and Dogs to Get Along – ruffeodrive
is a little vanilla. You ought to look at Yahoo’s front page and
see how they create article titles to grab people interested.
You might add a related video or a related picture or two to get people interested about everything’ve
got to say. Just my opinion, it could make your blog a little
bit more interesting.
It is the best time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be
happy. I’ve read this post and if I could I want to suggest you
some interesting things or tips. Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article.
I want to read even more things about it!
Nice post. I was checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed!
Very useful information specially the last part 🙂 I care for such information a
lot. I was looking for this certain info for a
long time. Thank you and good luck.
This is a topic which is close to my heart… Thank you! Exactly
where are your contact details though?
I do trust all of the ideas you have introduced on your post.
They’re very convincing and can certainly work. Still, the posts
are very short for beginners. Could you please
extend them a little from subsequent time? Thanks for the post.
Ahaa, its pleasant discussion about this paragraph at
this place at this website, I have read all that, so at this time me also commenting here.
Exceptional post but I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this topic?
I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit more.
Cheers!
Wow that was strange. I just wrote an very long comment but after
I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr…
well I’m not writing all that over again.
Anyway, just wanted to say great blog!
Great delivery. Great arguments. Keep up the amazing work.
Your style is very unique in comparison to other people I have
read stuff from. Many thanks for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I will just bookmark this blog.
This wager enables you to fold your hand if you consider it is poor just before
it goes against the dealer.
Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The text in your post seem to be running off the screen in Firefox.
I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser
compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know.
The style and design look great though! Hope you get the issue resolved soon. Kudos