Kittens and puppy

[eris348]

Hi all,

On Wednesday, my partner and I gained a new addition to our household - a 9 week old Newfoundland pup, Inga.  Our family already consists of two 4 month old kittens - brothers - Rupert and Marco.

Rupert met Inga's Mum on Wednesday, and after coming face to face with a fully grown Newf hasn't appeared too worried about Inga! However, Inga sees Rupert as just a very small Newf, we think, so she enthusiastically chases him, and, when she catches him, she is quite rough with him - I fished his head out of her mouth yesterday. Marco, didn't venture downstairs for the first 36 hours. He is now in the living room, but she is very insistent on trying to get to him - he has smacked her twice and hisses whenever she comes close, which she meets with a bark, and, worryingly, occasionally a growl.

I am completely new to dogs, and my OH is new to cats, so we are running a little bit blind here!

Our main concern is Rupert's reaction to Inga when she catches him - he goes completely limp.  COMPLETELY limp.  I pick him up, getting him out of her clutches, and he is almost floppy.  It is really concerning - to be honest, I would rather he give her a smack like Marco - we have invested in swabs for her if the claws did come out!    I do get the impression that sometimes (not all of the time, but how is she supposed to tell the difference?!) he winds her up - drinking her water, strutting past multiple times until she chases him, then he either goes completely limp or comes to find me so that I tell her 'No' - possibly trying to get her into trouble? 

We really want the three of them to get along, and although it is early days I want to start from the beginning to teach them all what they can and can't do.

However, I need to attack this from both angles - teach the cats not to wind her up, and yet still be in the same room, and teach Inga not to go for them. Any advice on the Rupert and Marco part would be hugely appreciated, thank you!

If you have any words of wisdom on Inga, that would also be amazing, but I appreciate this is cat advice not Newf advice!

Thanks

Eris

 

[cococat]

Train the dog.  Put up baby gates for the cats to retreat if they need space from the puppy.  Keep a long leash on the puppy and full supervision to teach her what is acceptable/not acceptable.  I had a puppy carry my cat by the head like that, it wasn't OK even though the cat didn't mind.  They are BFF now.  But my puppy (now adult) had to learn some manners.  They groom each other and sleep with each other and love each other a lot.  

Make sure there are a lot of safe dog toys around for your new puppy and make sure you play with her, interactive one on one a lot.  Lots of socialization outside the house, short walks when it isn't so hot, take puppy on car rides and errands.  Enroll her in a puppy kindergarten too, obedience can be a lot of fun with puppies.  

I know some people do but I never let my puppies/dogs chase the cat.  I live with big dogs that have high prey drive and even though the cat teases them to chase, I don't allow it since it gets out of hand and becomes a bad habit that can turn into other things when people get knocked down, things get broken, etc.  Focus on training the puppy, the cats will come around as everyone grows up together.  

 

[eris348]

Train the dog.  Put up baby gates for the cats to retreat if they need space from the puppy.  Keep a long leash on the puppy and full supervision to teach her what is acceptable/not acceptable.  I had a puppy carry my cat by the head like that, it wasn't OK even though the cat didn't mind.  They are BFF now.  But my puppy (now adult) had to learn some manners.  They groom each other and sleep with each other and love each other a lot.  

Make sure there are a lot of safe dog toys around for your new puppy and make sure you play with her, interactive one on one a lot.  Lots of socialization outside the house, short walks when it isn't so hot, take puppy on car rides and errands.  Enroll her in a puppy kindergarten too, obedience can be a lot of fun with puppies.  

I know some people do but I never let my puppies/dogs chase the cat.  I live with big dogs that have high prey drive and even though the cat teases them to chase, I don't allow it since it gets out of hand and becomes a bad habit that can turn into other things when people get knocked down, things get broken, etc.  Focus on training the puppy, the cats will come around as everyone grows up together.  

Thank you :-)  We are doing our very best to train Inga not to chase Rupert, and we are hopeful that she will learn eventually!  Our real concern is Rupert's reaction - I guess I am looking for some guidance as to whether this is normal?  I imagined that the cats would give her a smack every time she chased, and that would help with the discouragement, but he just 'plays dead' and goes completely limp - is that ok?  It worries me because she really can hurt him!  My OH is getting a lead today for her, and we have dog gates everywhere - Inga certainly isn't allowed upstairs, so that is a safe kitten place.

She will be enrolled in puppy training classes, but we can't do it until she has had her second round of vaccinations - leaving us with a chaotic week or two!