So I asked this question last night, and got three answers of “don’t do it”. I understand where these answerers are coming from, and will likely heed their advice and find someone to adopt the kitten, unless someone today has a brilliant answer about introductions.
Here’s last night’s question:
So I’ve adopted a kitten a few days ago. She was found out behind our veterinary hospital and is currently being treated with amoxicillin for some diarrhea. The diarrhea is clearing up marvelously, and she’s thriving and doing well. I’m very excited for her.
Right now, she’s staying in the bathroom upstairs where the dogs can’t get to her. She’ll be staying up there until her diarrhea is completely cleared up. She can’t stay in the bathroom forever, so my question is, how do I go about introducing her to my 4 dogs without freaking anybody out?
A little about the dogs, in order of size:
Ozzy Mae – 8 year old toy rat terror – often gets called “cat” for her cat-like behavior. Has been around cats before. She’ll ignore them if they don’t bother her. Slightly cranky, and will give a warning “snap” if annoyed, but I’ve never seen her actually bite anything or anyone.
Rumpelstilzchen – 12 year old dachshund – He’s a “hunter” and spent the entire 3 years that I owned rats trying to eat them. He’s lived with a cat briefly before and got along with him great, but only after that cat smacked the bejeezus out of him for being too overbearing.
Magi Lou – 4 year old great dane – former great dane rescue “homechecker”. She’d go with us to do home checks for the rescue, and often the homes had cats. She seemed to do very well with other people’s cats, and mostly wanted to play with them. Magi is a total lover and is very curious.
Je’Sus – 4 year old great dane – obnoxious but sweet. Spends a lot of his time barking at the neighbor’s lab. Loves to play and spin in circles until he’s dizzy. Might do OK with a cat once he realizes she’s not a toy.
I won’t say don’t do it, but I will say be very careful.
Especially with four dogs being introduced to one tiny kitten. I would let one of the dogs in the bathroom at a time, you holding the kitten. Let them sniff of her and watch their body language, make sure they don’t get too excited or try to snap at the cat. Give each one some personal time with the cat. It’s a lot easier to get one dog used to it than 4 at once, that may give the kitten a heart attack, hah.
See how those visits go and if you feel comfortable, bring the cat out into the rest of the house and walk around with it for awhile. Sit on the cough, let the dogs come up and sniff of it some more. If you see any defensive body language, I would remove the cat immediately.
Just do it slow and make sure to have the animals under full control. It would suck for one of the dogs to get over excited or their prey drive kick in and the kitten get severely hurt or killed.
Do not set the kitten on the floor either, not right now. Dogs, even gentle ones, try to play with them and end up killing them without meaning to.
Just test it out little by little and see how it goes.
I would slowly introduce the kitty to the dogs. One at a time, and introduce the alpha dog to the kitty first. Have the dog on a leash, and have someone else holding the kitty. Let the dog sniff her, but if the dog becomes too aggressive, pull him back.
Use calm and soothing tones when talking to the kitty and the dog, telling them both how good they are.
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Im sorry its not what you want to hear, but fio your dog does love hunting you do need to find it a new home. My beagle/GSP mix petey was a hunter, any cat in his path hes chase down. Regardless of how you socialized him with cats, he wouldnt mis behave in front of you, but the minuete you werent looking the cat was history…so for the kittens safety, just get a home for it. Prey instincts.
Petey would sit there and stare at the cat till we werent looking, he was sneaky..
EDIT: sounds liek the little hunter lived with cats before, then i think he will be fine. introduce them on a leash, and watch the dogs body language, tail, ferings etc. also, he may be fine when the cats just standing there but observe how he reacts when the cat starts to walk, cause when a cat moved thaats when petey bounced.
References :
owned hunter dog
I won’t say don’t do it, but I will say be very careful.
Especially with four dogs being introduced to one tiny kitten. I would let one of the dogs in the bathroom at a time, you holding the kitten. Let them sniff of her and watch their body language, make sure they don’t get too excited or try to snap at the cat. Give each one some personal time with the cat. It’s a lot easier to get one dog used to it than 4 at once, that may give the kitten a heart attack, hah.
See how those visits go and if you feel comfortable, bring the cat out into the rest of the house and walk around with it for awhile. Sit on the cough, let the dogs come up and sniff of it some more. If you see any defensive body language, I would remove the cat immediately.
Just do it slow and make sure to have the animals under full control. It would suck for one of the dogs to get over excited or their prey drive kick in and the kitten get severely hurt or killed.
Do not set the kitten on the floor either, not right now. Dogs, even gentle ones, try to play with them and end up killing them without meaning to.
Just test it out little by little and see how it goes.
References :
you said that your dachshund tried to kill the rats but they were originaly breed to hunt and kill rats and how do you know they wont get along if you never tried try then ask ok
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At best I am skeptical about this. It’s much better to introduce puppies to grown cats then the other way around. If you are sure you want to try this then it will take at least 2 people to try. Sit in a chair with the kitten and bring each dog in one at a time. Make sure someone strong brings the dog in. If the dog nor cat freak out then pet both at the same time. Both people must stay alert as you are one snap away from disaster. If even one dog has a bad reaction to the kitten then it’s bye bye kitty. If each dog is ok with the kitty, with you holding and petting both, you can see how they are nose to nose. Again this very risky for all concerned. Dogs and people can get scratched and Kitty could get much worse. If you try this be very alert and cautious. It will take time to be sure all is well. Good luck!
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I have raised several litters of foster kittens with my dogs, had a few foster cats, and owned 2 cats myself that lived with dogs. When bringing kittens into the home, I kept the animals separated incrementally. First, the kitten(s) would be in a separate room for about 24 hours, then, the kitten would come out for visits in a portable kennel…not too long-it can be pretty stressful to have strange dogs descend on you, but give them 1/2 hour or so to become acquainted. Do this several times the 2nd day. The third day, I would put them together and supervise. The kitten will likely find a safe place to hide from the dogs, and eventually, they’ll learn to get along. Always remove the dogs from the kitten’s environment when you are not around…put the dogs in another part of the house when you leave until you are certain that they are OK with the cat, and also that the cat is big enough to defend itself if need be. I’ve never had an issue with cats/kittens and my dogs, so I can’t tell you if you’ll have troubles, but I never have, they all quickly learned to respect one another.
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