Reintroducing dog and cat

[greenlawnracing]

When I first got Waffles she wouldn't leave my side....had to be in the same room as me....VERY talkative....and loved to sit on my lap.

As she got a little older and declawed she wasn't quite the faithful companion, but still was a great cat.

My girlfriend got a dog a few years ago....the cat wasn't a fan.  When she would come over Friday night for the weekend, the cat and dog would fight non stop.  Basically from Friday night to Monday morning the two of them would be rolling around like a Charlie Brown cartoon.  Never could figure out if they were playing or not, but the cat certainly was hissing and growling.

Once the dog grew to 15 pounds there was no more fighting....cat wouldn't stand a chance.

When we moved in together last June the cat's attitude was really poor.  Never really wanted to hang out - just sat in her own spots and sulked.

Back in Feb I was transfered....for four months I lived by myself in a corporate apartment. The cat was back to normal in about a week - couldn't STAND to be away from me. I was traveling heavily, so after being gone for a few days she would be even more affectionate.

Once the house sold and the four of us were together again, she was back to hating life.

On Thanksgiving, my girlfriend sent the dog to her parent's house through the holidays - cat went back to the original Waffles.  She even went as far as to hang out with my girlfriend.

Dog comes back tomorrow.  (:

Any "good" way to reintroduce them to try and maintain some of Waffles' good personality?

 

[yayi]

I have 2 dogs. My cats were already w/ me when they came. The dogs were trained to respect the cats. They weren't allowed to be aggressive towards the kitties. In the pack, cats are the bosses. 

My cats are not (and never will be) declawed. Although they were never aggressive towards the dogs, I knew the claws were going to be helpful in a confrontation. And I think the cats knew it. 

 Your Waffles however, does not have the advantage. She'll probably may never or will take a long time to get used to the dog. So as I said, it will help if your girlfriend trains the dog to "ignore' Waffles. Keep it away from Waffle"s favorite spots in the house. Calming products like Feliway/ Rescue Remedy may help too. 

Good luck.

 

[StefanZ]

Calming products like Feliway/ Rescue Remedy may help too. 

There is something a little similiar for dogs too, if you think the dog needs some support too.

D.A.P. it is called, if I remember rightly.  Although it is here a derivate from mother-dog homone she is secreting while giving milk to her puppies.

ps.  Make sure she has some good and nice retreat place, where the dog cant follow her.

Say, a nice high climbing tree.   So not just hidey-holes, but somewhere she can simultaneously get good prestige from being there. So she doesnt need to feel like a refugee, but may feel more like a dominating person.  

Good luck!

 

[momofmany]

There is a Feliway product for dogs also. My sister had success using it with her Beagle.

I also have (large) dogs and cats. I've done a couple of key things to help keep everyone happy together. First, I have tall cat condos strategically placed around the house so that if the cats don't want any interaction with the dogs, they can simply climb the tree and look down on them. These worked GREAT when I first adopted the dogs and the cats needed time to adjust to them. Second, I've trained the dogs to respect the cats. The primary thing I did was to keep the dogs restrained when the cats were being fed. The dogs were kept in a down/stay position while they ate and when the cats were finished, I released the dogs to lick the bottom of the food bowls. Dogs are highly motivated through the pecking order of food. Who ever eats first is at a higher order in the pack and by forcing the dogs to remain calm through feeding the cats, it elevated the status of the cats in the house. Second thing I did was to require that the dogs ask permission to join me on the sofa, particularly if there was a cat with me on the sofa. If they jumped up on their own, they were asked to return to the floor until they place a paw on the sofa and look me in the eye. If a cat was with me, I simply tell them that they needed to be gentle with the kitty. I don't tell them that when a cat is not with me. They get it pretty fast. It's all about pecking order, and you can help your dog understand that the cat holds a special place in the house.

Btw, belated welcome to TCS. I also live in Olathe (far west side).

 

[greenlawnracing]

There is a Feliway product for dogs also. My sister had success using it with her Beagle.
I also have (large) dogs and cats. I've done a couple of key things to help keep everyone happy together. First, I have tall cat condos strategically placed around the house so that if the cats don't want any interaction with the dogs, they can simply climb the tree and look down on them. These worked GREAT when I first adopted the dogs and the cats needed time to adjust to them. Second, I've trained the dogs to respect the cats. The primary thing I did was to keep the dogs restrained when the cats were being fed. The dogs were kept in a down/stay position while they ate and when the cats were finished, I released the dogs to lick the bottom of the food bowls. Dogs are highly motivated through the pecking order of food. Who ever eats first is at a higher order in the pack and by forcing the dogs to remain calm through feeding the cats, it elevated the status of the cats in the house. Second thing I did was to require that the dogs ask permission to join me on the sofa, particularly if there was a cat with me on the sofa. If they jumped up on their own, they were asked to return to the floor until they place a paw on the sofa and look me in the eye. If a cat was with me, I simply tell them that they needed to be gentle with the kitty. I don't tell them that when a cat is not with me. They get it pretty fast. It's all about pecking order, and you can help your dog understand that the cat holds a special place in the house.
Btw, belated welcome to TCS. I also live in Olathe (far west side).

Unfortunately I'm no longer an Olathe resident....was transfered to OKC about a year ago.  No compliants, but sure did like Kansas!  I was on the south side of 161st and Ridgeview.