I need a little advice about introducing two cats into an environment where a dog already controls all of the territory. Being a college student I'm always on the lookout for places that are cheaper and closer to campus then I already am and this year I've found the jackpot. The place in question is a bedroom in a house only a block from campus at a rate that is currently cheaper then my current apartment. The only major problem is one of the current tenants that I'll be moving in with already has a dog. If all goes well I won't be moving in until June (late August if things go poorly, I can't find a summer job, and I have to move back in with my parents) so I have plenty of time to try and plan my way through this.
The dog in question is an Australian Shepherd who does seem a little barky. As soon as I entered the apartment to view it the dog became friendly, but he's never lived with cats before. For my cats, I currently have two. The older one, Pip, is a bit strange when I introduced him to my Grandmother's dogs for a visit. Her chihuahua would charge at Pip, barking hysterically, and even though he was bigger and heavier then Pip (the dog is a very big chihuahua and Pip is a very little cat) Pip wouldn't budge. He wouldn't even flinch as the dog circled him, growling. By the end of the visit (which was two weeks) the chihuahua seemed a little afraid of Pip, (I never saw Pip attack the dog) although he did still think my other cat, Jaders, was a good thing to chase. As for my other cat, Jaders, she's a little afraid of dogs. Not so terribly afraid that she can't interact with them at all, but she does occasionally attack my parent's dog unprovoked (my parents own a little King Charles Spaniel that she's approximately the same size as). Both cats are kept completely indoors.
Geeze, the more I think about this, the worse it sounds.
As for my plan, the house is two stories with the dog's owners having a bedroom on the first floor. The room I would be renting would be on the second. I had been planning on buying a tall pet gate (how high can Australian Shepherds jump?) and placing it at the top of the stairs where there is a fairly large 'common' room. I would then request to my roommates that they not let the dog up into the second floor until the pets were safe together. While I was home and able to watch the cats I would let the kitties out onto the second floor and lock them both up in my bedroom while I was away at class. I was also planning on doing scent switching with blankets and occasionally bringing the dog up for supervised 'on leash' visits until things got settled.
Since almost all of the advice I've been finding on the internet involves bringing dogs into a cat house, is there anything that anyone can suggest to aid in bringing cats into a dog house? The main thing I'm worried about is the dog getting upset over having a big chunk of his territory taken away. Since the dog is also a fairly big dog (I've been raised around toy breeds) I have to admit that I'm also pretty worried that the dog may hunt the cats. Since it's a shepherd I've read that they typically will chase small animals, but not try to kill them, but I'd be devastated if anything happened to either of my kitties.
So can I do it, or is this so difficult that it'll be a deal breaker? I still have more options if this doesn't work out, but I gotta say that this is, by far, the cheapest and closest option so I sort of want it. But not enough if people honestly think it's a bad idea and that it'll make my kitties suffer.
Be honest! Remember, disappointment at not getting this place will be a billion times less then the devastation and crying that will occur with cat injuries!
The dog in question is an Australian Shepherd who does seem a little barky. As soon as I entered the apartment to view it the dog became friendly, but he's never lived with cats before. For my cats, I currently have two. The older one, Pip, is a bit strange when I introduced him to my Grandmother's dogs for a visit. Her chihuahua would charge at Pip, barking hysterically, and even though he was bigger and heavier then Pip (the dog is a very big chihuahua and Pip is a very little cat) Pip wouldn't budge. He wouldn't even flinch as the dog circled him, growling. By the end of the visit (which was two weeks) the chihuahua seemed a little afraid of Pip, (I never saw Pip attack the dog) although he did still think my other cat, Jaders, was a good thing to chase. As for my other cat, Jaders, she's a little afraid of dogs. Not so terribly afraid that she can't interact with them at all, but she does occasionally attack my parent's dog unprovoked (my parents own a little King Charles Spaniel that she's approximately the same size as). Both cats are kept completely indoors.
Geeze, the more I think about this, the worse it sounds.
As for my plan, the house is two stories with the dog's owners having a bedroom on the first floor. The room I would be renting would be on the second. I had been planning on buying a tall pet gate (how high can Australian Shepherds jump?) and placing it at the top of the stairs where there is a fairly large 'common' room. I would then request to my roommates that they not let the dog up into the second floor until the pets were safe together. While I was home and able to watch the cats I would let the kitties out onto the second floor and lock them both up in my bedroom while I was away at class. I was also planning on doing scent switching with blankets and occasionally bringing the dog up for supervised 'on leash' visits until things got settled.
Since almost all of the advice I've been finding on the internet involves bringing dogs into a cat house, is there anything that anyone can suggest to aid in bringing cats into a dog house? The main thing I'm worried about is the dog getting upset over having a big chunk of his territory taken away. Since the dog is also a fairly big dog (I've been raised around toy breeds) I have to admit that I'm also pretty worried that the dog may hunt the cats. Since it's a shepherd I've read that they typically will chase small animals, but not try to kill them, but I'd be devastated if anything happened to either of my kitties.
So can I do it, or is this so difficult that it'll be a deal breaker? I still have more options if this doesn't work out, but I gotta say that this is, by far, the cheapest and closest option so I sort of want it. But not enough if people honestly think it's a bad idea and that it'll make my kitties suffer.
Be honest! Remember, disappointment at not getting this place will be a billion times less then the devastation and crying that will occur with cat injuries!
