Introducing dog to cat....

drxcos

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jul 14, 2015
Messages
30
Purraise
1
Location
Minnesota
So my cat, Arya, has been living with my grandma for the past few months while I waited to go get her, as she'll be going to college with me in a month. I'm going to pick her up this weekend, and she'll be living with me at home for about 3 weeks before college move in.

At my house we've got a dog, whom I'm concerned about introducing. The options are to either keep Arya with me at all times and not let her leave my bedroom when I'm not with her (her litter box will be in there), or attempt to introduce them.

Background info: Arya, my cat, is pretty big for a cat (she's a Maine Coon), and gets along fine with my grandma's dogs. My grandma has 2 little dogs and 1 big dog, and a kitten, and the 5 of them get along quite well, with Arya occasionally smacking the big dog for no reason.

My dog at home, Snickers, is a 10 yr old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. She's a bit small for corgis, as she's the runt of the litter, and has an immune disease causing her to be constantly on medicine. She's nice, usually, but she can get an attitude and doesn't like to be held or anything. She also tends to bark at other animals and try to chase them. We used to have cats and she would always chase them, and one time my mom claims she thought she was going to kill them.

So basically, I'm not sure if I should try to introduce them, or just keep them apart for the 3ish weeks. What do you think?
 

Columbine

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 27, 2015
Messages
12,921
Purraise
6,224
Location
The kitty playground
There is another option - get a training lead (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00589G9YY/?tag=&tag=thecatsite) or a buddy system (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ZAZLC/?tag=&tag=thecatsite) for Snickers. That way you can keep her tethered to you whilst allowing Arya a little freedom to explore. This should also go some way to teaching Snickers not to chase.

Obviously, Snickers can't be tethered to you all the time, but it would allow Arya freedom for a few hours in the day. Given that Arya is used to living with dogs, the barking shouldn't be a problem for her.

Good luck!
 
Top