Help!! Cat in the house with 2 dogs!

Hi everyone, first post.

I am a long established "dog lover". I have two wonderful boy boxers, my prides and joys.

Well, a week ago, my husband and I were viewing a home to buy, and the sweetest little cat came up to us and wanted us to take her home. We believe the cat belonged to the old owners of the house and when they moved, they removed her collar and left her. She was obviously hungry and skinny. We took her with us. She's 2 years old.

She has been friendly and loving towards us and we adore her. We kept her away from the dogs until we could get her shots and checked for parasites.

Yesterday she got the "all clear" so I brought her into the house properly and introduced her to my two boxer boys.

There was much hissing and growling on the cats' part. The dogs, by and large, were just interested in her, not aggressively interested, but wanting to check out this new cat. She wanted no parts of them. I didn't expect her to.

After their initial meeting, we had the boys in and out of their crates to give Tiger a rest from them. She was in the windows for a bit, then she has moved behind the TV and stayed there for at least now, going on 8 hours. She hasn't eaten, hasn't used her litter box or even gone to the bathroom, and is just sleeping. She won't come when we talk to her, (she was doing this before) and when we gently wake her, she turns hissy and upset. I am worried she will starve or get sick from not going to the bathroom.

She wasn't even active last night, just sleeping behind the TV.

I am very worried about her that we have scared her and she'll stay back there until she starves to death or something. We've put her food back there but she hasn't touched it either. I want her to come to an understanding with my boys that they won't harm her (they won't, they're not aggressive, just curious) and we can co-exist peacefully. I love Tiger very much, she's a beautiful cat and has been a mommy's girl in the past.

How can I help coax her out from her hidey-hole and start eating and using her box again?

Thank you

I am clueless about how to make cats and dogs get along, but you might get more traffic if you post this in the "Behavior" section.


I hope all turns out well... it may take more than a few days for her to adjust. It might help if you put her in her own room (if she doesn't already have one) so she isn't afraid of your dogs. She needs to have a safe haven that she knows she can go to and not be afraid to come out into the open... closing the door to a spare bedroom might do the trick. Good luck!

Tiger is not used to dogs or your dogs are too "curious" for her taste. 8 hours is not too long. My cats seem to sleep at least 16 hours a day!

I would just give her time, some cats need more time to adjust to dogs then others. I have 7 cats and 5 dogs all living in the same house. If she is hiding somewhere just make sure she has safe access to food,water,and a litterbox, maybe you can block the area she is in from the dogs, so if she does come out to investigate she is safe behind a barrier of some kind.

Its also important to not let your dogs run up to the cat, they might be fine with her and not harm her, but she does not know that, if they will run up to her then keep them leashed when she is around, so you can control that. If she tries to investigate and gets bombarded by a dog, she will just get scared and run back.

I used a baby gate to seperate my dogs from any new cat, that way they can get use to smelling and seeing eachother before being let in the same room together. Worked well for me.

Goodluck, it can be frustrating but patience is key.