Dogs and Cats Living Together

Monday, September 3, 2007

Dogs and Cats Living Together

When we decided to get Finn the main worry we had was whether or not he would get along with the cats. Early on the cats would not deal with him through. Anytime Finn was around they would hide under the bed. Finn knew they were there but would mostly ignore them. Slowly the kittens got more courage and started venturing out of there hiding place. If they got to close to Finn they would quickly bolt back to there safe spot. Eventually they learned to let him sniff around, and they are even starting to play with him. Now when we bring Finn upstairs the cats will stay where they are and wait for Finn to come up and sniff them. If he is not extremely calm they'll leave. This is great, it teaches Finn to be relaxed, but still they're pawing at him worries me.

There are some tips on how to help cats and dogs get along (and not eat each others food).
I've read places that to make sure cats and dogs get along you should make sure the cats can get away (which they can). Hopefully we've given the proper introduction between the pets, they can all stay in the same room comfortably for a while just hanging out, but their play time is supervised. We figure there is no way to keep the puppy 100% calm all the time so we let the cats decide when they have had enough. We have not provided escape routes for them because they are so good at finding there own over all the furniture. There play can be entertaining but all the pets know that we at the top of the hierarchy though and will break it up when one of us steps in.


Here's Finn in a stand-off

There's Finn lying on the floor, the cats in the background.

Finn, paying attention to the camera and not the kitten.

They will stand like this for a while someimtes.




Still just feeling things out in this picture.

4 Comments:

Amber-Mae said...

Hey!

Oh yeah, I have two bad bad kitty sistas living with me. When I first came into this family, I used to LOVE to chase them around the house & got a few swipes from their needle sharp claws but that did not affect me. I still chased them after that coz I don't want to learn my lesson...hehehe! But now, we've been licking together for a year now & we are used to each other already. The black tripod kitty named Ginny sometimes rubs against my legs & she usually allows me to lick her earwax. Yum! Heeheehee...But I still like bullying her. It's alot of FUN! That's just what dogs do BEST! Heeheehee...

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

Ume said...

is kitty food yummy?

Jan said...

Our cat came after our four little dogs had been here for a long time. I don't know what she says to them in cat language, but we never have a problem.

Johann The Dog said...

Looks like they are getting curious about each other. I have two kittie brothers, and we get along pretty well now. Sometimes Gracie and I like to chase, but Mum doesn't let us. It takes time, but you'll be surprised..one day they will be sleeping together.

Woof, Johann