How should I introduce my puppy to adult cats?

snowprincess1313: How should I introduce my puppy to adult cats?
I have a 5.5 month old samoyed puppy. She is fairly well trained, although a bit stubborn, and plays very well with other dogs. She also loves all people. Next week we are going to a friend’s house for spring break (only staying one night) and they have two cats. One is a neutered male somewhere between 2 and 6 years old (I’m not sure), and the other is an unspayed female between 1 and 5 years old.
The only time my puppy has seen cats was at the vets office, when she saw them in crates recovering from operations. She barked and growled at them then, so I don’t know how she’ll respond to seeing a normal, alert cat. She does have a hunting instinct toward small animals (she’s killed a few mice in the backyard) but she is still friendly toward very small dogs. The cats have never lived with dogs. Can you please give me some tips on introducing the puppy to the cats? Thanks in advance.
I’d rather not keep them seperated because I eventually plan on getting a cat. Otherwise, thanks for the answers so far!

Answers and Views:

Answer by Tiefroter Kub [dot] net
I had a three week old baby pomeranian. And at first I didn’t let her run with my two cats because I was afraid she would get hurt. But eventually she would scamper out into the living room from mine and play with them. My dog even learned to use the litterbox, and even licked her paw and tried to clean herself like a cat! I kid you not.

Why not put them in the same room and just set the dog down so they can gradually get used to it? They will hiss and have a little fit because cats are territorial. But after a while they should get used to it. Especially when the dog gets bigger the cat’s won’t want to mess with it. So introducing them now to get better aquainted is good because later on the dog won’t want to attack them either.

Answer by Erika B
I would keep the puppy in a pet taxi at first. You will be going into the cats’ territory so your puppy will be the intruder. If they seem to get along through the pet taxi, then you can try to introduce them. If they don’t, keep your puppy in a bathroom or something until you are ready to leave.

Answer by John S
If you are only staying one night, keep them separated.

Answer by Charlotte
If your dog starts to be agresive towards the cats, then keep her in a room. Anyway, the cats will run away if he gets to close. And, the cats may teach h9im a ood lesson-if he bitess, they scratch!

Good luck,
Charlotte

Answer by jules_c74
i agree with the previous answer that said if its only for a few nites then just keep them separated. firstly because if the cats arent familiar with your dog they could hurt her much more than she could hurt them- a puppy of mine ended up blind in one eye becasue a friends cat scratched her. also in fairness to the cats, its their home &territory and they may not react well to a dog in their house.

If you do decide to get a cat , it absolutely IS possible to have your dog & cat co-habitate quite happily. i have 2 dogs and 3 cats and they are all indoor pets and they all get along in their own special way! the oldest cat ‘tolerates’ all the others and they all know to kinda ‘stay clear’ of her. the dogs get along with everyone and of the 2 youngest cats- chloe loves the dogs but isnt so keen on the other young cat Bobby, and Bobby himself just LOVES everyone and therefore gets himself in strife sometimes by trying to play with them all.

we introduced our dogs and cats by initially only allowing them to peek at each other thru a slightly open door with us supervising…………so they could try and swipe each other and sniff each other etc but not enough to hurt each other or to be too intrusive. so they start to get to know each other slowly. and then eventually they all start to learn their boundaries and learn by trial and error what they can and cant do.

Answer by PBullyLuv
Being that your dog is a puppy, she will most likely want to play with the cats. Especially if she is well socialized (it sounds like she is). I wouldn’t think that she would have a problem meeting the cats, even if she has previously growled at them at the vet. (I would have to hear her growl to know what she may have been thinking). I think that she was just being a puppy and being curious. (I could be wrong, but you were there).

Anyway, I think that cats are gonna have more of a problem with the dog in their house, especially if they have never had one in their house.

I would definitely keep her on the leash when you first get there and for most of the visit. This way, you will be able to monitor her interaction with the cat and stop anything from being to serious. Also, you wouldn’t want her running up to the cat and scaring it to death and getting scratched in the face or eye. You do have to let some things go, like her annoying the cats, they hiss and bat at her to let her know what’s up. But you have to be careful too, especially if these cats have their front claws. If they have their claws, then they could do some damage to your dog if they are scared enough or angry enough.

Most of the times cats are more likely to keep their distances and mind their business. Your puppy is gonna find them most likely. You don’t want her to be able to chase the cats when they run. If the cats seem curious and interested, I would allow them to interact. Correct your dog if she gets rough or starts being annoying. Also, if they hiss and hit her and then she doesn’t get the message, you need to correct her and protect her from loosing her eyes (if they have claws). Allow the dogs and cats to interact behind closed doors or crate door, if they don’t get along.

I really don’t expect this meeting of cat and dog to be too great. I say this only b/c these cats have never seen dogs. I don’t expect them to wanna play and cuddle with the dog. (But, you never know.) This is going to be a very stressful situation for the cats, most likely. You may not see them the whole visit if they have a way of getting away and hiding.

However, your dog will most likely want to play and will naturally be curious. Even if they don’t interact well, you still will probably not have any problem with getting a cat at a later time. I would take your puppy around cats that have dogs in their house. If you have friends that have cats and dogs, then the cats are used to the dogs being around, I would try to introduce your puppy to cats in a situation like that.

My friend has cats and dogs. I go to her house with the puppies I raise so they can be exposed to the cats. It works well b/c the cats don’t like dogs that get in their business, but they aren’t afraid of them either. Her cats do have claws, but since they know how to interact with dogs, they don’t start out by hitting the annoying dogs with their claws. They start with a hard whap in the face with just a paw, then their claws come out if the message isn’t taken. Most likely, cats that aren’t used to dogs will come out swinging with claws cocked and sharp.