New kittens

Hi,

I have a couple cat questions. First, I got a 12 week old puppy last two weeks ago. He is already over 20 pounds. Last week, my roommate got two 12 week old kittens. They are 6 pounds together. I was very worried about putting them in the same room because the puppy is very active and I was afraid he would scare the kittens into scratching him badly. I took the puppy to the vet for the remainder of his shots, and the vet suggested we just put them in a room and let them go at it. I didn't like the idea, but my roommate and I tried it. We both watched and if it got out of hand, we picked up the puppy. No one got scratched or bitten, but the kittens hissed, spit, and tried to scratch. I am wondering, is this the best method? Should we try this every night, or are we moving too fast?
Also, my roommate wants to get the cats declawed. I feel very strongly against declawing as it seems inhumane to me. She has decided to try SoftPaws. Has anyone used this product?

Thanks!!

You are moving to fast even if the vet told you this will work. Cats and dogs are enemies that is their instinct. Dogs look on cats as prey, cats get scared and run, and dogs chase. Doesn't mean the dogs are bad, it just means that they are responding to old genetic codes. The first is, keep them seperated unless pup is on a leash. Put puppy into obedience class and ask the instructor to add a new command of "No Chase!" Work with the puppy until he has the basic commands down pat. Reward for good, scold for bad (do not hit the pup ever!) Once the pup has been schooled take the cat's bedding out and present it to the pup, let him sniff it, roll in it, whatever. Give the dog's bedding to the kittens for their investigation, once they've had it for a few days switch it back so they can get used to each others scent together.

Then it is supervised meetings with each other. Clip the kitties nails (please don't declaw- declaw is amputation at it's worst) Short meetings with pup on a leash OBEYING your commands will work just fine. Reward with treats or play when pup obeys. Scold when he does not. Remember pups are exuberant and in their playfulness they can kill a kitten in a matter of seconds without meaning to. My husband and I rescue cats, kittens, and german shepherds. It takes patience and time to train the two to interact but it can be done. Kenai is our shepherd and she is the best nursemaid for kittens ever. They crawl all over her and stuff, but she didn't come this way, she was 7 weeks old when we got her, and she wanted to chase and nip at kitties. Now, she is loving and tolerant and a good substitute mom for homeless babies.

If you go to this link, it is part of our webpage, you will see Kenai laying with Kabota when he was just a kitten.

M &M Kustom

I don't have any advice for the introduction aspect. Hissy pretty well covered it!

Here is a link to a thread where we talked about declawing.

Declawing

In this thread are some links that show what is really involved, and you are right it is inhumane, as well as possibly causing problems for the cats in the future (behavioural as well as physical). Cats can be trained not to scratch furniture or people (or dogs as long as the dog knows his limits ). Some of the links show graphically what is involved in this surgery, things that the vet won't tell you.

Unfortunately, if your friend just asks the vet for advice, she probably won't get the full story. Many vets actually recommend this procedure just to line their pockets. If she goes through this thread and looks at the links she can at least make a fully informed decision. I would think that most people who really love their kitties wouldn't get this done if they knew what was involved. I know I wouldn't have, but I took the vet at his word and now my baby has to live with it for the rest of his life.