topic Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY in Community Chat

DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

Tinkrbl44 — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 08:30:01 GMT

My neighbor made a comment that surprised me ......

She said if my dog is a squirrel chaser, it will never be compatible with a kitty cat ..... that it's a "predator" and it will never accept a cat in the home.

Is this true?

What's your experience with bringing a cat into a dog's home?

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

mewsmomtoo — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:11:54 GMT

It's never been an issue in our family. We have often had dogs and cats at the same time and they weren't necessarily raised together. I'm no expert, but I think a lot of it is going to depend of the personalities of the dog and cat in question, how the introductions are made.

I don't know if the squirrel thing is true, I suppose it would depend on the prey drive in the dog. Most dogs (in my experience) are able to differentiate between who belongs in their house and yard and who doesn't and while they might chase a squirrel, they wouldn't chase a cat who is member of the household.

I really think it comes down to personality and how you've handled and trained your dog. There are some very experienced dog people on these boards who I'm sure will answer. We were just ordinary dog owners who must have lucked into some truly wonderful dogs - they were all fun and trustworthy and we didn't do anything beyond ordinary obedience training. They were all mutts and all medium/large dogs with one exception - lab mixes, german shepherd mixes and one terrier/poodle mix who was the best mouser we ever had

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

JeanLouiseFinch — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:36:57 GMT

There's a lot of truth in mewsmomtoo's comment. It definitely has a lot to do with how an owner trains their dog. My dog will run after a squirrel or bunny when it's within the boundaries of our yard, but once it makes it to the street or the neighbor's yard, the chase is over. We've had cats for nearly all our married life, something like 34 of the almost 36 years. When we brought our dog into the home a year and a half ago, we had two sister cats left. Since then, one remains. She's 18 yrs. old and deaf. Of course, the dog tries to engage her to play and she's never interested. He tries to gently pounce around her vicinity to get her to play, but she walks away. If she's on the couch and he comes over to her, he'll try to lick her and she'll just smack him and move somewhere else. There's never any crazy chasing going on through the house. There are also days where they can both be laying on the couch together with each of them minding their own business. The other day, the dog was up on my lap and the cat hopped up and climbed right over him to get up close to me. It's very possible to get dogs and cats to get along together.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

deb5555 — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 15:22:53 GMT

Our yellow lab always chased our Siamese cat around like a squirrel, they never warmed up to each other, it depends of what type of dog, high strung or mellow. I had to keep them separated for years

So I would have to agree with your neighbor.

Our lab was a puppy and our cat was over 5.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

deb5555 — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 15:26:24 GMT

Poor Dog

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

GCR18 — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 17:12:11 GMT

My mother has a prince charles spaniel (i think that's the name). Anyway, she goes nuts over little animals like squirrels. About six months ago, my mother got a kitten. They are great pals and sleep in the dog bed together. The dog is around seven and the kitten, one year. I think the dog was lonely being an only pet.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

glmama — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 19:18:35 GMT

I don't think that this is always the case. I know there are dogs that have a high prey drive that CAN and DO live well with cats and other pets.

My dog loves chasing squirrels in our backyard. However, he has never caught one. And I don't think he'd know quite what to do with it if he did. He is fine with our cat. They pretty much leave each other alone. Except for the times that the dogs wants to "play" and the cat is not having it. Our cat will swipe at the dog's nose, very occasionally leaving a small mark. Not something we love to see, of course, but they have their own ways of working things out.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

chickadee — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 21:40:38 GMT

I don't think that's always true. But at the same time, I'm pretty sure that my dog would have nothing to do with a kitty in the house. She goes bezerk when she sees one on our walks. Same with squirrels, bunnies, possums, birds, and even evil grocery bags blowing down the street in the wind. She's a hunter and chaser and loves digging and even chasing bubbles, lol.

Maybe, just MAYBE if the kitty held still and didn't run, and let my dog sniff and greet and inspect it from head to toe, then they would get along just fine. But what sane kitty would sit still for that? If it runs/evades, then the game is ON according to my dog, lol.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

nagrom — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 23:48:50 GMT

We only had one cat in our home. He was purchased as a kitten. He joined a house of dogs specifically labs. For the first week he was crated and in a room of his own without any dogs around. After that we started allowing him into other rooms when the labs were outside so they could both get the s ent of each other. We slowly introduced him to our dog crew specifically one puppy and one adult lab. Never had a problem with chasing or disrespecting each other. The cat loved to put his paws around the dogs tail and wrestle around with him. Even the puppy and kitten were buddies. As we dog sat a few select dogs including Shelties and German Shepherds we were always amazed at the interaction. The cat Skeeter loved to show himself to the newcomer and disappear only to be sitting in the newcomers bed awaiting discovery. He thought it was a good game. He loved the high perches we set up for him. Often our dogs and cat slept cuddled together. After Skeeter passed I became allergic to cats so we could not own anymore. But I so loved the interaction between species.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

Snowpuppy — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 00:17:27 GMT

I agree, it's how you raise your pets.

My GSD's have a natural high prey drive. They'll chase a bunny or squirrel in the yard...the faster the better and after all, it's THEIR yard.

They've never allowed themselves to catch one and they stop at the end of the yard (unfenced) so their desired prey always gets away.

Living rural there are always a few neighborhood cats and my dogs leave them alone. They find them interesting but have never chased one.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

RainyDayGal — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 18:40:07 GMT

I have had several cats with different dogs and they all got along. My oldest dog the rescue person swore she'd never get along with cats. Ha! Proved her wrong. After a couple of weeks of separation all was good and the cat would sleep with the dog. I've never had a dog that wouldn't get along with them.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

jaxs mom — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:27:27 GMT

Dogs with high prey drive can be a problem with cats and it can be a lot of work to get them to live peaceably with cats. It's not a given though. Even in breeds known for high prey drive you will get individual dogs that aren't as driven.

After we got our German shepherd as a puppy I got two kittens because I wanted to raise them together. I hadn't had cats in years and I was worried if I waited it would be a problem later. Our breeder actually tries to not place her dogs in homes with small dogs or cats. Having said that, our dog completely ignores rabbits and squirrels and finds my daughters rats interesting to look at but that's it. She will herd our other dogs and the cats though. She once found a baby raccoon in our back yard when she was a puppy and all she did was basically point it out hiding in the bushes. She did chase and bark at the kittens a lot as a puppy and had to spend time on the leash in the house with a lot of "leave it" commands. She never intended harm though, she just didn't understand that cats play differently. She completely loves our chihuahua. My husband was worried when we found the little chi that our GSD would react badly but she was perfect from day one. She does guard our property and yard though. But she ignores the stray cats that come in the yard. She loves all kitties now. We now have 5 cats and some were adopted as adults. She's been great with them all.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

jaxs mom — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:30:52 GMT

On 8/17/2014 deb5555 said:
Poor Dog

LOLOL too funny

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

luvmyteddy4 — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 01:10:45 GMT

Teddy use to chase squirrels and catch them, now she is too old but still tries, more of a jog. She's still afraid of the cat but Indy will sneak up and give her a kiss when she's not looking. All my dogs chased squirrels and one dog liked snakes and would lay down next to them. Surprise, here's a present for you.

Re: DOG AND CAT COMPATIBILITY

Tinkrbl44 — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 04:48:03 GMT

On 8/18/2014 luvmyteddy said:
Teddy use to chase squirrels and catch them, now she is too old but still tries, more of a jog. She's still afraid of the cat but Indy will sneak up and give her a kiss when she's not looking. All my dogs chased squirrels and one dog liked snakes and would lay down next to them. Surprise, here's a present for you.

Yikes ....