Question for Those with Multiple Pets

[SteveH]

All of our dogs over the years have been playmates. And for the most part we've always had two. They seem to do better being alone during the day with a partner. Our first two were Skippy & Sierra. Sadly we had to put Skip down as his chow aggressive side showed up. Sierra was lost without him.

Then we added Scout Master (my 3rd Wire Fox) and those two quickly became best friends. Sierra did NOT retrieve anything, thankfully Scout did.


Before Sierra passed we added Sarge to the mix and Scout quickly took him under his wing. Sarge also was a good friend to Sierra, and I think helped her have peace by keeping Scout busy.


The loss of Scout was hard on us as well as Sarge. We didn't wait long to pick up another Wire Fox, Sully and it was wonderful to see how he treated Sully. They run, play, snuggle and like any dogs they fight sometimes too.




The one thing all the Wire Foxes agreed on was they don't like cats... which is fine with me

 

[RangerPooh]

We have four large logs, 2 German Shepard, 2 Malinois. The two GS get along with our male Mal. The female Mal gets along with the male Mal and male GS. The female Mal and female GS do not get along and have to be kept separate. They all give the cats space, because they know the cats will get mad.

 

[tasha99]

I have two Ragdoll cats who are sisters. They're bonded and like to groom each other. By tail language, one was always happy, the other one less so.

My son moved in with his 2 cats (bonded brothers), and the unhappy cat perked up soooo much. My happy cat is a typical Ragdoll, but her sister is more like a regular cat, and loves the company of other cats. Her tail is up or in a question mark all the time now, and she has a bounce in her step that she never had when her only feline companion was her lazy sister. Now, the cats groom with their siblings, but the two boys and my non-Ragdoll Ragdoll run around playing a lot during the day while the other Ragdoll does otter impressions on the kitchen floor.

 

[mom2rtk]

I've only ever had 2 cats that were super close. They were also (not coincidentally) our only litter mates.

We currently have a 14 year old tabby adopted as a 1 year old from the pound. She had been abandoned in an apartment for an extended period of time before being rescued, so probably destined to be a loner.

When we adopted 2 more 2 years ago, we wanted litter mates, but our vets office had a couple litters dumped on their porch and was looking for homes. We got a kitten from each of the 2 litters. Same age, same life experience, but very different cats. One really social, one really skittish, always lurking on the edge of things.

Wouldn't change a thing, but at some point down the line I'd still like to have another set of litter mates.

 

[indimom]

We had a black lab Rocky (passed away earlier this year) and a pit mix Lucy. They were buddies, got along fine, cuddled together, never fought over anything.... Rocky would try to steal Lucy's food once in a while if she didn't hurry to eat it - she learned to eat quickly. Lucy would try to take toys from Rocky just to hoard them for herself, not to play with. He just tolerated it and let her have whatever she wanted.

After our lab passed, Lucy definitely missed him and sat by the back door for days.

We are currently dog sitting for our daughters pit Georgia. She's a young rescue (maybe 2) and Lucy is 8-9. At first, there was a little uncertainty, but they get better every day. Lucy has always been a little high strung, so she struggles with Georgia's high energy play, but they don't fight or anything. They have started to cuddle occasionally.

Lucy has turned the tables and now tries to steal food from Georgia who is more of a grazer. We have to monitor her dog bowl or Lucy will eat it. I think Lucy is going to be very sad again when Georgia goes back home.

 

[TCRAIG]

I don't know that either of your scenarios is more typical. It is what it is.

I do know that if you have both cats and dogs in the house, the cats make it clear who's in charge.

That’s why dogs have masters and cats have staff..,

 

[cedricandsophie]

we have two rescued black cats, brother and sister. He adores her, she lets herself be adored. They play together a few min a day and sometimes sleep together but for the most part she ignores him.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

He adores her, she lets herself be adored.

Great phrasing


Fun story, for years I worked in a shelter that had a community room for adoptable cats. One cat, Clambake, LOVED other cats and would greet perfect stranger cats by trotting up to them and licking their faces. She would get the weirdest looks from new arrivals because licking strangers in the face is not normal cat body language (or human either, generally). Clambake was adopted into a home with multiple kitty friends.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We have two cats, mother and son (but they were both adults when we got them) and it really depends on the day and time as to how well/not well they get along. Sometimes they're the best of friends, sharing window sill space; other times they quietly hate each other, pushing each other out of the way on the same window sill. Here they are, sharing. By the way, the bigger one (on the left) is the son-the runt of the litter.

 

[NFLDERS]

I was just curious what is the relationship like between the pets?

I ask because the previous two dogs we had rarely interacted much. They got along fine and just kind of peacefully co-existed.

However our current two dogs are actively friends lol. They interact a lot, play everyday, give a lot of attention to each other.
My husband joked that the first dogs were like forced roommates while these two are absolute ride or die best friends

I'm not sure which dynamic is more typical? If you have multiple pets, how are they with each other?

Ours are inseparable. He was a rescue pup though, and she a year old when we found him. He followed her everywhere. He still does, except when water is involved!