So my doggy comes home from the shelter tomorrow, and the only thing i'm a bit nervous about is how my cats are going to deal with their new brother. I've introduced new cats before but never a dog... i have a slight idea on what to do, as far as keeping the dog in a closed room... but realy i need words of experience. I'm sure some you animal lovers have gone through this... so please give me a hand here. thanks alot
Have they ever met ANY dogs before? I personally have two dogs and two cats, but the dogs came first. We have introduced other dogs into the family on a temporary basis since then, and the cats usually just run and hide. In my experience, though, cats can do a LOT of damage to dogs when they want to. And since you have three, and you're just introducing the one dog (and a little one? didn't you say cocker spaniel?) keep a close eye out. Worse case, you'll end up pulling claws out of a tender nose and the new member of the family will have a healthy respect for kitties. If you give it a little time, things will settle down and get normal...
the odds are that the first few days or weeks will be a bit of a struggle. your cats might show their distain by peeing on your sofa or somthing. i always say that its best when introducing them to give them all special treats. that way they associate each other with something postitive and at the same time have a little distraction from their initial reaction of fear or hesitance. but i think if you just ride it out for a bit it will be fine. one of the strays i care for would not come within twenty feet of my dogs. plus my dogs are very interested in her and not because they want to be friends. but now it's been a while and she will actually get right up next to them. just give them a bit of time to get used to each other at their own pace. good luck
Well, in my experience, it's all about the individual dog or cat-some dogs get along well with cats, and vice-versa. I had a dog, and she got along super well with my cat-I even have a picture of the cat laying on top of the dog! The little cat actually fell over and died suddenly (years ago) while she was playing with the dog (my dog died just last month). They were best friends from the very beginning. However, some dogs hate cats, and vice versa, and some cats and dogs take a while to get used to each other. They're all different.
Oh, dont worry. After some time everything will be fine. It is normal not to deal with their new friend at first. I had two cats and I bought fish. First, my little cat was trying to eat it Now, she only want to watch it swim. Or... Sometimes when I forget to give them water - they are drinking from aquarium And yeah, now I have only one cat (the onld one died) and my golden fish
When we adopted our cat, she stayed in her room for 2 weeks straight. Then she started drinking from the dog bowl. They aren't best buddies or anything but they don't have problems. The dog is actually afraid of the cat. Cats can hold their own. I am sure they will be fine. One thing you can do is reward both animals when they are near you.
As the consensus has said, they will work it out between themselves. I bought my dog into our house with two cats at 12 weeks old. At first the cats were very wary him (even though they'd both been bought up with my old dog and lived with her for 10 years), after a few hours the new pup made the mistake of eating from the cat food bowl and both of the cats attacked him. The end result was one very scared pup, with a nasty scratch above his eye, getting stuck behind the fridge trying to escape from the cats. From that point onwards he knew his place in the pecking order (and now only ever sneaks their food when the cats are outside).
