new kitten & dog?

kmei

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Okay so a couple weeks ago, I saved a stray kitten near a family member’s house. The vet said she was about 10 weeks old (so now about 12). I decided to keep her but didn’t exactly think it all through. I also have a 6 year old Weimaraner. She’s very nice and sweet, but pretty hyper with a lot of energy (still kind of like a puppy). So I came back home with the kitten a few days ago and I’ve had her in my room with food, water, litter, etc. My dog could smell her and would constantly sniff the door and just lay facing it. So I decided that they should start being around each other since they’ll be living under the same roof. I let my dog in my room to sniff around when I put the kitten in another room, and also put the kitten in my dog’s crate when she was outside, and I’ve done this multiple times. So the switching-smells thing hasn’t exactly done anything. Then, I had my mom put a harness on my dog and hold her down and I held the my kitten and walked slowly towards her. I put my kitten on the ground about 3-4 ft in front of my dog, and she kept hissing and laid in a ball and very still, and I tried moving her a little closer but she started scratching at me. Then tonight, I tried putting my kitten in a medium-sized crate and brought my dog out on a leash and had her sniff the crate. But my kitten jumped and scratched and hissed at my dog and my dog kind of jumped back towards her and started shaking uncontrollably. I think that my dog just wants to sniff my kitten and see what/who she is and that she really doesn’t want to hurt her. But my kitten’s really scared of my dog and feels threatened so she won’t even let my dog near her. And I almost feel that if my kitten scratches at my dog, my dog may get mad/excited and paw back or bite at her. Any advice on how to have them interact and start getting comfortable around each other?? 
 

jcat

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TCS has some articles about introducing cats and dogs that may help:
Caring for Cats and Dogs
Introducing Cats to Dogs

There are also quite a few threads on the subject: http://www.thecatsite.com/newsearch?search=Cat+and+dog+introductions&type=35 that you can take a look at while waiting for responses.

Most of my family members have both cats and dogs, and the length of time needed to introduce a new feline or canine to the other household pets has really differed - in one case it took over a year for a new cat to decide to come out of her "safe haven" (a bedroom) and interact with the dogs, so a lot of patience is needed.
 
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