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Introducing my puppy to my cats

Pato

Member
What is the best way to introduce my 14 week old girl, Juno, to my two cats? So far they look at each other from far away. Well, really the cats look at Juno from a distance. Juno would love to get close to them but I do not allow her to do so for now. When she is not in her crate she is on a leash inside the house. The cats will get kind of close to her because they know I am holding her. The problem is that Juno wants to lounge at them in an excited way and scares them. She is still young and kind of impulsive and clumsy so the cats get scared.
My cats have always been the only pets in the house so I they are not very thrilled with Juno.
Any advice would be great!
 

Smokeycat

Well-Known Member
I let my cats decide how much interaction they wanted with the puppy. I also did a lot of praise and treats if he remained calm when they approached. Jiggers (Irish Setter x) was a very hyper puppy, now a hyper dog, and still requires reminders that he isn't allowed to pounce at or chase the cats. None of the cats like him. Kryten (EM) is a lot calmer and his laid back approach let's him interact with the cats more. It is a regular occurance to find Monkey giving him a bath.
So back to your question about training. I would teach her that being calm when around the cats is a good thing. Once she knows commands like sit and down you can use those to help by getting her to do those and break her fixation on the cats. Having her not focused on the cats will likely also help them get comfortable with her. The other thing that might help is making sure that the cats have a safe place where she can't reach them, be that a cat tree or shelves, where they can be in the same room but not the same space. Sometimes a well placed paw swipe by the cat can also help teach boundaries. I think that might be why I can only think of a couple of negative reactions that Kryten had with the 2 cats I had when I got him.
 
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rylandsmama

New Member
I raised my corso with my cat. Letting the cat dictate any and all interactions. Now my corso LOVES all cats and wants to befriend any she comes into contact with. It's actually pretty funny some times when we're at the vet and a cat comes in, she immediately wants to go say, but the look on the owner's faces is horror. Then I spend 5 mins showing them pics of my girl loving cats.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Yep, the cat is in charge... always make sure the cats have an escape route. Keep the puppy on a leash, bring the cat into the room, if the cat wants to leave - let them go. If you can have one person play with the puppy while another calmly cuddles with the cat, that can help them learn to be together, too. I've also used bribes (treats), to get the dog and cat to share space... but that was much later, after they agreed to coexist in the same house.

We always let our cat have sole control of the guest room as a safe refuge, but if she wanted to sleep with us, she had to brave the "dog zone". All our baby gates had cat-doors in them, so she could come and go, but the puppy couldn't.

Denna was the third and final puppy our cat had to train (she died 2 years ago, at age 18). She was NOT thrilled with puppies... but she never used her claws on Denna, we made sure Denna listened to the cat and didn't let her chase her, ever.

Here's one of their interactions... with Denna still not fully trained to the cat's standards, obviously.

 

ellabater

New Member
Indeed, having a pet is something very awesome because it creates incomparable energy and you start to attach yourself to him enormously. Personally, I have a two-year-old cat and I can't imagine my life without her. I started to adore her enormously from the first days and it can be seen that she likes me too. I always try to buy her everything she needs and take care to offer her the necessary amenities. For example, the other day I saw a big and beautiful cat tree on the internet and it attracted my attention so much that I ordered it and now she only sits on that tree and I am very happy that she likes it.