New dog, upset cat

[HunterBoo]

Hello

We just got a new dog that we adopted from the shelter and we picked her up on Wednesday night. She is a beagle / border collie cross (from what we can tell). She is approximately a year old. She is a very sweet dog and pretty good considering she has just come from being in a shelter for almost four weeks and is excited about her new home. She can sit already, but other than that, she doesn't have any obedience training. So overall she has been really good ... our issue is that our cat has gone into hiding. The cat has come out at night but as soon as the dog is moving around the house she hides. Originally she was in the basement under the couch. The dog chased her this morning when the kids hauled the cat out. This sent her running into my daughter's room and she is up in the box spring hiding. The dog has gone in to see her and she is thoroughly peed off at this creature. She snarled and hissed and whacked her over and over, making noises we'd never heard her make before! The dog kept going back and was really excited. She put her paw up to her (to play) and the cat just snarled at her more.
I've tried reading online but was hoping someone who has been through this could help me out. Any suggestions? I know she needs time, but I feel so bad for the the cat. I don't want the dog going at her. I don't know of any history with cats, we took her sweet nature as a good sign she'd likely be ok. We had a dog before - for all of the cat's life - she passed away in November. She was old though and was always calm and very mellow. This billy goat is a bundle of energy! lol

Anyways ... what should I do? Right now we have the door to my daughter's room closed as the dog is getting too wound up so we've just shut it to keep her out and not put the cat in heart failure.

Thanks

 

[Tozzie]

Hello

We just got a new dog that we adopted from the shelter and we picked her up on Wednesday night. She is a beagle / border collie cross (from what we can tell). She is approximately a year old. She is a very sweet dog and pretty good considering she has just come from being in a shelter for almost four weeks and is excited about her new home. She can sit already, but other than that, she doesn't have any obedience training. So overall she has been really good ... our issue is that our cat has gone into hiding. The cat has come out at night but as soon as the dog is moving around the house she hides. Originally she was in the basement under the couch. The dog chased her this morning when the kids hauled the cat out. This sent her running into my daughter's room and she is up in the box spring hiding. The dog has gone in to see her and she is thoroughly peed off at this creature. She snarled and hissed and whacked her over and over, making noises we'd never heard her make before! The dog kept going back and was really excited. She put her paw up to her (to play) and the cat just snarled at her more.
I've tried reading online but was hoping someone who has been through this could help me out. Any suggestions? I know she needs time, but I feel so bad for the the cat. I don't want the dog going at her. I don't know of any history with cats, we took her sweet nature as a good sign she'd likely be ok. We had a dog before - for all of the cat's life - she passed away in November. She was old though and was always calm and very mellow. This billy goat is a bundle of energy! lol

Anyways ... what should I do? Right now we have the door to my daughter's room closed as the dog is getting too wound up so we've just shut it to keep her out and not put the cat in heart failure.

Thanks

Give it a bit if time, you have a new dog getting used to life outside of a cage and a cat with what she views as a beast in her territory. I went through this when I took my dads dog when he died. Let the cat stay where she feels comfortable, in the meantime let the dog get used to the house and being outside of a cage, then slowly introduce them. It should work out so that they will at least tolerate each other. Good Luck

 

[Coconut36]

It's pretty normal for the cat to go into hiding. Mine hid for 2 weeks I believe when we brought our first dog home and I think she was extremely ticked at us for it too.

I would however make every effort to keep interactions between them as mellow as possible. Kitty isn't going to be keen on cohabitation if the dog is going after her. Did you not have kitty and dog meet each other prior to adoption of the dog? That is usually important to understand how they will interact with each other.

So I would work with doggy on behavior around the cat because the cat is going to continue to hide and be defensive as they are going to be fearing the dog. Once things settle, dog is non aggressive then kitty will come out.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

I just gatta chuckle. this sounds like our cats when we got chance (a dog thats cat sized). Give the kitty lots of places to get up high and glare (er watch?) the dog. I wacthed a show called my cat from He double hocky sticks and thats one of the main things they mentioned, giving a cat lots of saftey spots. This gives the cat a chance to be safe when the dogs being a booger.

 

[JessicaR]

Give it a bit if time, you have a new dog getting used to life outside of a cage and a cat with what she views as a beast in her territory. I went through this when I took my dads dog when he died. Let the cat stay where she feels comfortable, in the meantime let the dog get used to the house and being outside of a cage, then slowly introduce them. It should work out so that they will at least tolerate each other. Good Luck

I agree. They need time to acclimate to each other. The cat will come around. Thank you for adopting - you rock!

 

[justhat]

Be glad the cat is just hiding and hissing. When we adopted a dog last year (just 10 days after moving into a new home and not having had our then 1yo cats for 2 months), our cats did the hiss/snarl, but then decided to start peeing on all of her stuff. Sigh. They eventually got over it (or so I think, been a few months anyway), but it took a year!!! Stupid cats.

Anyway, the chasing and stuff, our dog is a border collie mix (and we think part great dane, so she's huge!) too, so they have that herding in them. But she has calmed down a bit. She's 1.5yo now and can coexist with the cats for the most part.

 

[clh2]

When I was growing up - we got a kitten and already had a 4 or 5 year old dog. It took 6 or 7 weeks until they "accepted" each other. My parents and sister (it was her kitten) were thrilled...it was Christmas moring when the two made peace with each other. After that...they got along fine, and usually slept with each other after their adjustment period.

To the OP - do you have any baby gates around your house- maybe you could put up a couple by bedroom doors. then the cat can get come and go - but still have some "safe" places away from the dog?

And by the way - there is a DIS rule - you MUST post pics...it really helps us with our advice!

 

[Sorsha]

18 years ago, just after DH and I got married, we got a puppy. She was my sweet baby, and lived to be 14 years old. When the dog was about 6 or 7, my oldest DD got a kitten. The kitty grew up around the dog, the dog was incredibly sweet natured, and all was well.

After the dog died 4 years ago, we didn't get another doggie right away; we had a lot going on in our lives, and had loved her so much, we didn't want another one right away.

Last summer, we adopted a puppy from a rescue organization. He is a Brittany Spaniel/Irish Setter/Australian Shepherd mix, and a wee bit high strung. I am sure this is mostly to do with the fact that he is still just a puppy (about 9 months old) and had a bit of an unsettled babyhood.

DD's kitty is 11 now, and she has NOT taken kindly to the interloper. After our first dog died, kitty was Queen of the Castle and she is not at all happy about this Obnoxious Beast invading her territory. She mostly hides in DD's bedroom, and only comes out at night, when the puppy is in bed. If he approaches her (he only wants to play, honest!!) she hisses and swipes at his nose - more than once it has set him back on his haunches with an injured "OW - That Hurt!" look. I keep hoping that she will adjust, but it just may not happen - she may be too old. Then again, maybe once the doggie has matured a bit and settled down, she will feel better about him.

We've only had him since August, so I keep hoping...

 

[low-key]

the dog and cat will have to work through it, there both staying, cause thats the way its gonna be

 

[marie1203]

First you need to give the cat a space she can go without being bother by the dog. Where do you keep the litter box? I have a baby gate that has a little door for our cats they know how to open it and they have their own room. When we adopted our cat last year she was terrified. She came from a foster that had dogs but my dogs were not the dogs she was used to. She spend 3 days in the room and my pomeranian made it through the little door she attacked him . It took a few weeks until she was ok with it. I let her do it when she felt comfortable. She eventually will come to the gate and smell them then she will come out of the gate a little, go back in, etc. All our dogs are used to cats and I know they won't chase them or hurt them. Now she loves the dogs they sleep together and she rubs on them. My main concern will be to make sure the dog doesn't go after the cat since you don't really know for sure.

 

[HunterBoo]

Thank you! I am glad I am not alone! I am feeling so sad and guilty for the cat I figured she'd adjust quickly as she LOVED our old dog (who didn't love her all that much) and after I had first visited Charlee (the dog) our cat rubbed all over my legs purring at the scent. I thought that was a good sign.

I am hoping Charlee is just excited and wants to play. It doesn't seem aggressive, but after the vet told us she is definitely more beagle, no lab he could see, and likely border collie I am a bit more concerned, as beagles can have a prey drive. The cat had been "out" by a bit of force (as we had to unwedge her from the boxspring so my daughter could go to bed without the dog crawling under her bed to 'find' the cat). She was terrified. I did put Charlee in her crate and she was pretty good at calming down, but once out she ran like she was on a fox hunt. Took awhile to get that out of her. Finally did a 'caesar tap' on her neck and she looked at me like "woah, where did you come from?"

As for introductions, there was no way I'd get our cat into a crate to get her out to the shelter to meet Charlee. She freaks out over the crate! She always has. And unfortunately, this was a small shelter and they have no cats so I didn't get to see what her reaction would be to them. I don't see aggression here and hopefully I don't get that. I don't know what will happen then!

As for pictures I haven't a clue how to post one. Under my old screen name I had posted before and it was HUGE ... so I'm afraid I'd do the same! I do have one cute pic of her ... she likes to sniff the camera, so I can't get many shots yet!

Sigh ... I hope it gets better. Our cat is our baby too

 

[tzolkin]

Is your house just one floor? If not, gates may be a good way to give the cat some "private" space where the dog can't bother it.

Our cat just started coming downstairs the last few weeks. We adopted our dog in March.

Our dog will eat anything and the cat really didn't want to be around her, so we wound up moving her food and litter upstairs. She already had an 8ft cat tree upstairs and spent a good deal of time up there. Once we got the dog she would come down the stairs and just sit where she was eye level with the dog. The dog has never attempted to even go up the first step, but if she had we could put a gate at the bottom to keep her from bothering the cat.

 

[MichelleVW]

I would use baby gates for sure to keep the dog away from the cat. I would be annoyed if I were that cat too.

This part right here is why the cat is mad The dog chased her this morning when the kids hauled the cat out. This sent her running into my daughter's room and she is up in the box spring hiding. The dog has gone in to see her and she is thoroughly peed off at this creature. She snarled and hissed and whacked her over and over, making noises we'd never heard her make before! The dog kept going back and was really excited. She put her paw up to her (to play) and the cat just snarled at her more.

Poor cat...Why did you you let the dog keep going back to the already annoyed cat? That dog would have been told "NO" and been in the crate for harassing the cat. We have 3 dogs and 4 cats and the dogs aren't allowed to chase the cats!

 

[Planogirl]

I like the idea of baby gates and I also agree that I wouldn't let the dog chase the cat. The cat is already established and I would guess that she isn't too thrilled to suddenly have a strange dog chasing her or trying to "play". Give the cat a safe space and discipline the dog. I imagine that they will both likely settle down given time.

 

[DMRick]

I suggest putting the cat in it's own room, with a gate he can climb over, but the dog can't. Give them both a towel to sleep on, and keep switching it between them, so they can get used to the smell. Let them sniff at each other through the bottom of the door. Don't force the issue, don't pull the cat out from where it's hiding..let him come out at his own pace.

 

[cornflake]

At this point, honestly, I'd call the vet and ask what to do or if the vet knows a good trainer who has dealt with these issues who could come over and consult and assess them in the house.

Normaly, I'd just say let them acclimate but... given it's a herding/hunting dog and given that the cat was hitting him repeatedly and hissing and apparently making *very* clear she wanted him to back off and he didn't seem to get that signal or back off at all... that would concern me.

Usually a couple good hisses and a whack of the paw or a claw swipe and the dog realizes who's boss. That this doesn't seem to have happened I think means you should get a real expert's opinion.

 

[jam217]

Agreeing with the others that you need to give the cat a spot where she feels safe. We got our cat in April and up until about four weeks ago she was the only pet in the house. Then we got a five year old pit bull/shar pei mix. I was really concerned that she'd feel like her territory was invaded and go into hiding so we made an effort to gradually introduce the dog to her and the rest of the house.

For the first day, we kept the dog in the sunroom, locked off from the her. He could look out the glass doors and she could look in and see him. Then we brought him into the rest of the house on the leash. He wasn't allowed to go all over the house or chase the cat. He was constantly supervised. For the first week, he slept in the sunroom at night. When we went out, he went into the sunroom and she had the run of the house.

Are they best buds? No. But each day we're making progress. For the most part, her routine hasn't been disrupted. She isn't thrilled that he's here but she also isn't acting fearful. She seems to be setting the tone for the relationship. I agree that the two animals have to work it out but sometimes we can do things to help them ease into the relationship.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am not a fan of allowing a dog to have free roam right off the bat. You have to earn that.

I feel that leashing in house is key to teaching the dog the "rules of the house". I show them the rules, boundaries, what is allowed and what is not.

I would also have the dog crated or babygated somewhere to not allow free roam. Dog has to earn it. Chasing the cat will be corrected and not allowed. If the dog was on leash, you can do that.

Since it is a beagle/border collie mix, dog will pick rules up fast and train quickly. That border part of the dog is HUNGRY for the rules, trust me.

That is my suggestion.

 

[MichelleVW]

Since it is a beagle/border collie mix, dog will pick rules up fast and train quickly. That border part of the dog is HUNGRY for the rules, trust me.

.

Agreed!! I have a Border Collie/Corgi mix (strong working drive) and he is super smart and picks up on things super quick!

 

[HelenePA]

I have 3 cats and a dog... they all still hate each other 1.5yrs later... oh and 2 of the cats hate the other cat... its drama central around here... the dog stays downstairs, the cats up stairs the hated cat stays in my room only... at least all my kids get along *knocks on wood*