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Question

Me and my boyfriend are moving in together in september. he has a dog that "hates" cats, this is said because the dog acts aggressivly if sees a cat outside. I have a two year old cat that is very affectionate and we are trying to combine households. We have absouletly no clue on how to introduce them. I have brought the cat over to his place a twice to start introductions and it ends up with the dog shaking and wanting to chase the cat and the cat runs into the corner. How do we go about introducing these two animals that are very important to each of us?

Submitted: 408 days and 14 hours ago.
Category: Dog
Value: $15
Status: CLOSED
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Optional Information

Age: 2; Female; Breed: cate

Already Tried:
the dog is a female 4-5 years old. We put the cat in a seperate room for an hour then someone was holding the dog and I was holding the cat. I just didnt seem to be going well and we want to do this right. These animals will be moving in together into a new house in september.

Posted by Dr. JD 408 days and 14 hours ago.

Answer

Hm.. I'm not going to lie. This is going to be difficult. Your first concern needs to be safety for your kitty. Also stress.

It will be very important that the kitty have its own areas of the house that the dog can not access at all... use kitty doors or baby gates or whatever the dog can not cross. That way your kitty will have areas it can escape to and feel safe.

When cats are stressed, we can see behaviors such as hiding, but even worse, on top of that, we can start seeing problems like inappropriate urination or defecation outside the litter box. You want to make sure the litter box is located somewhere the dog does not have access to, as well as the kitty's food and water.

Do NOT force introductions... let them work it out. Do NOT leave them unattended together. If the dog is not crated or closed in a room, then enclose the cat in a room with its box, food, etc when you are not home.

This will allow them to get used to the idea that the other one exists but does not force unwanted interactions or heighten stress.

 

408 days and 14 hours ago.

Reply

So do we need to try introductions before we move in or wait until both animals are in the house and seperate them by doors for awhile?

Posted by Dr. JD 408 days and 13 hours ago.

Answer

Are you moving in with him or is he moving in with you? Or are you moving somewhere new together? Cats get much more stressed about new living situations and travel, so I wouldn't recommend taking the cat to the dog. You could bring the dog to your kitty's house, but don't push them to interact and make sure the kitty has an out...

408 days and 13 hours ago.

Reply

we are moving somewhere new together, we have about a two month overlap of when our leases are up and we move in, so if need be i can move in early with the cat and let her get used to the house first....what do you think?

Accepted Answer

I think that moving in early with just the cat is a GREAT idea. And bring the dog over to your current place between now and then to let them get used to the idea of each other... and let the cat escape and avoid as that will probably be what happens for a while.

Then start bringing the dog over to the new place once the cat has had a week or two to get its bearings...

Good luck!

 

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Expert: Dr. JD
Pos. Feedback: n/a
Accepts: 0
Answered: 2/6/2009

Dog Veterinarian

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine- 10+ years practice experience-special interest in behavior

408 days and 13 hours ago.

Reply

thank you so much for your help!!

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