So.. we got a cat

[Night Elf]

After volunteering at the Humane Society for a few weeks, I've caved in to DH's wants and got a cat. I was prepared to go to the Humane Society to get two kittens. They told me the younger the kitten the better they'll get along with dogs. I called my vet to ask their opinion and they said the same thing. Later, while I was waiting for dd to get ready to go with me, my vet called me and said they knew a lady who wanted to find a new home for one of her cats, about 10 months old. She was a stray and doesn't fit in well with her cat who she already owned. He got along well with her son's dogs and one of her dogs, so he doesn't appear to be afraid of dogs. So I went and picked up Toby yesterday. Well, he's a people cat. He wants to be petted on or at least laying up against you a lot. So I put him in our spare room because everyone was saying to keep him isolated for at least a week. He hated being in that room alone. He meowed loudly while he was alone. Dd slept in the room with him last night but had to get up in the middle of the night and go back to her own room because he wanted to be petted and was licking her hand and she was trying to sleep. Then this morning, I went in to clean his litter pan and feed him and sat with him for about 10 minutes. The problem is my dachshund, who follows me around everywhere and lays with me every time I sit down didn't like me going into a room without him. The dog scratched the door and barked knowing something was in there that he couldn't get to.

 

So I left the room and went back in about half an hour later and when I opened the door, Toby shot out of the room and ran straight towards the dog who was so startled he didn't move or bark. The cat ran up and down the hallway looking for a place to hide. I finally caught him and put him back in the spare room and he started meowing loudly. So we gave up on the idea to isolate him. It's not going to work. So when DH woke up, we barricaded the hallway and opened the door to Toby's room and our bedroom and Toby ran into our room and straight under the bed. DH is working from home today so he's in the bedroom with Toby who comes out exploring every so often. He even got up on the bed to be petted. Sometimes I let the dog back there and he just stands next to the bed because this morning he went under the bed and the cat must have swatted him so now the dog is cautious. As long as DH is back there, Toby is happy.

 

So is it okay that we let him out of the room? I'm thinking I'll leave his door open tonight when we go to bed and let him have the run of the house. The dog sleeps with us with our bedroom door closed. I just don't want Toby to stand outside my bedroom door and meow all night. Good grief! 

 

I wanted another dog to be a companion to my dog, but DH didn't want to get another dogs because he misses having cats. He's pleased as punch we got Toby. I hope this works out. Surely the dog and cat will eventually come to some agreement but in the meantime it might be a crazy house. DH goes back to the office Monday. I won't be able to spend a lot of time with the cat because of my dog. 

 

I was planning on getting two kittens. Do you think I should get another kitten, over 6 months old, after Toby acclimates to the house to be a companion to him or should I just stick with one cat and one dog? I don't see them becoming friends, like laying together. I don't want Toby to be lonely during the day or at night when we got to bed. We just can't invite him into our bedroom at night with the dog already in there.

 

WWYD?

[Night Elf]

Oh, and the lady I got Toby from said if it didn't work out to let her know so she can take him back. So I don't have to worry about what would happen to him if we can't keep him.

[maize]

I've never isolated new cats.

 

The people clinginess will likely subside a bit as his anxiety about the new home recedes.

 

And I think there is a good chance he will warm up to the dog. Eventually.

 

Congratulations! And...we need pictures! Please?

[Ailaena]

I have also never isolated new cats, regardless of the advice Ive been given :p

 

He's going to stand outside your door and meow because he knows you and he will be anxious, but he'll get used to it eventually. Will your kids' doors be shut? If not, he'll probably find one of them to sleep near.

 

At 10 months, he's going to be active and playful and if you CAN get another cat, you may as well. I'd probably have tried to do it at the same time, but you can do it whenever you find the right cat!

[trulycrabby]

I'd let him out too. He might meow and cling, but will find some comfort in the presence of you and your family.

 

Congratulations! Its an adjustment, but a cat that young should settle in pretty quickly.

[Night Elf]

 

 

This is Toby.

[Carrie12345]

I wouldn't isolate a 10 month old cat.

When we got new kittens, I did put them in a wire crate for a few days while the dogs sniffed around, but that was because the kittens were so tiny and the dogs were over 100lbs each.  I wanted them to get used to each other, not to resent one another.  Everyone was running free within a couple of days.

[Catwoman]

He's adorable!!!!!!!

 

I wouldn't isolate him. :)

[fraidycat]

We have 6 cats. None have ever been isolated when they came into the house, except now we sometimes isolate the 18 year old one to give her a break from the 1 year wild and playful one. She basically just sleeps the day away anyway, and has never been as clingy to humans as the other 5.

 

I wouldn’t discount the possibility of the cat and dog becoming friendly to each other after the initial “get to know you†stage, either. They might surprise you.

[mama25angels]

Toby.jpg

 

This is Toby.

 

He's beautiful!

[Selkie]

Oh my, he is a gorgeous cat!! Congratulations!

 

P.S. Just because your dh wanted a cat doesn't mean you can't also get the dog that you want...  ;)

Edited November 23, 2017 by Selkie

[athomeontheprairie]

We are another family that never isolated. I'd let him out.

[Another Lynn]

He's beautiful!  Congratulations!   :party:

[Pawz4me]

There really is no need to isolate him since you don't have other cats that he could infect with anything. That's the main reason that isolation is recommended--you keep a new kitty in solitary confinement for a week or two to protect any current cats in the household.

 

The other reason is that many cats will adapt easier to a new home if they only have a small space to begin with. That's mostly for the fraidy cat types. Since Toby sounds like an outgoing kitty, and as long as he or the dog aren't harassing each other . . . no reason at all to isolate.

[Night Elf]

Thank you! Y'all are making me feel much better.

[BigMamaBird]

Put a baby gate across the door. The dashund can't get through but the cat can jump over. They can sniff each other through the mesh and kitty can come over when he's feeling confident

Edited November 23, 2017 by BigMamaBird

[NorthwestMom]

We isolated our kitten from the dog and the older cat  and I don't think it helped anyone. They all got along when she came tearing out about 4 days later (ahead of schedule) and she was traumatized being alone. I probably won't do it again. I think you are fine. 

 

We have also done the baby gate thing in the past and it worked very well. 

[trulycrabby]

Toby.jpg

This is Toby.

Oh, he is gorgeous! :wub:

[TechWife]

He’s beautiful! What lovely markings! Congratulations!

[Mom25girls]

Oh lucky you!!! He's gorgeous! Joining in with the "wouldn't isolate" crowd. It might take a little bit longer for him to feel comfortable but he'll be happier during the process (and so will all of you!). 

[maize]

he is a gorgeous kitty!

[itsheresomewhere]

Something tells me that he will have a few gifts for the holidays. ;). I think his cute little eyes say he wants some nice toys and a feather chaser.

Edited November 24, 2017 by itsheresomewhere

[Night Elf]

Uh oh. Ds just came to me in a very bad mood and asked why we got a cat when we had a dog who chased cats. As long as the cat is sitting still, the dog will stay still too and occasionally bark at it. As soon as the cat moves, he runs after it barking like mad. Apparently it's bothering my ds who has Aspergers. I think it's the noise which he had a problem with when he was very young. These two animals better make peace fast.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I couldn't live without cats!  Congratulations!

This helped me to train our new puppy to not chase our three cats.

[Pawz4me]

Your dog is a Doxie, right? He/she will be more challenging than many other breeds to teach not to chase kitty. But it can be done with plenty of time and patience. Do keep in mind that it's very possible kitty will find it a good deal of fun at times to entice the dog to chase him. So all blame shouldn't be put on the dog. It's also likely that the tincture of time will make the novelty wear off for the dog (or both of them, really). IIRC he's at least middle aged? Maybe you can enlist DS's help in training, and in playing with Toby (and the dog, too) to tire him out? Getting him involved in some way may help lower his level of aggravation.

Edited November 24, 2017 by Pawz4me

[Reefgazer]

Eh, throw em all in together and see how it goes. Adjust as necessary.

[Night Elf]

Ok, we let him out of the room and things aren't great. Basically we have the public living areas and a hall leading to all the bedrooms. I've had to barricade the hallway so the cat can run between the rooms. He's very skittish which makes sense in a new place. I've heard it can take a while for a cat to feel comfortable in his new environment. So if we keep them separated for the next couple of weeks, will the cat start dealing with the dog chasing him? He runs every time the dog even barks at him. He runs from the people too unless you sit still in one place and wait for him to come out to you. He seems to like my bedroom best because we have places to hide in there. This morning around 6:00am he stood outside my bedroom door and meowed loudly. I had to finally get up and I managed to get the dog into the living room and put the barricade up. But I couldn't let the cat into my bedroom yet because DH was asleep. The cat was very unsettled.

 

My doxie was bred to chase small furry animals. Are we asking too much to expect him to get used to the cat? I don't know if he'll ever stop chasing him and I don't want a barricade in my hallway forever.

[Starr]

We have had different friends over the years that bring over their dogs. The dog visit from the dachshund was the only one where the cats were tearing around on the walls. That dog just wanted to chase the cat something crazy. It might work out eventually but I don't think I'd have the energy to struggle through and find out.  :grouphug:

[Pawz4me]

I think it can eventually work out but I also think two weeks is an unreasonable time table. I think a more realistic time frame would be a couple of months. And it might take longer than that. Also, it's quite normal for young cats to be vocal/demand attention during the night and/or very early in the morning. That isn't likely to change.

[Lady Florida.]

Count me in with those who never isolated a new cat - until we got our latest cat and our older cat is not happy. We've been slowly working towards getting them to accept one another. I suspect our new addition (about a year old) would be happy to coexist if the older cat would stop trying to fight her. If we didn't isolate them and supervise the meetings there would be blood. It's getting better but is a slower process than I had hoped - and not like anything I've ever dealt with before. I've had 8 dogs and 9 cats - counting the newest cat - in my life, and this is the first time we had to do the isolation thing. Sometimes we already had a cat, sometimes a dog, and sometimes both yet we've always been able to just bring in the new one without serious issues.

 

Beth, I say if  your dog and cat can coexist without trying to truly hurt one another then don't worry about isolating your new cat. Dogs usually learn quickly once a cat gives them a few swipes. Congratulations on your new cat!

 

Oh, I would suggest keeping them apart when the household is asleep or no one is home, at least until you know they'll be okay together. Can Toby sleep in someone's room so he doesn't feel alone and meow all night? Obviously wherever he sleeps the door would have to stay closed. Either that or you'd have to keep the dog behind someone's closed door.

 

Oh (I feel like Columbo - just one more thing lol) - Regardless of where Toby sleeps, at his age he's going to be playful at night. It will take a while for him to learn to get on the humans' day/night schedule. You all can try to play with him a lot during the day but he'll still take some time to adapt. Cats are mostly nocturnal but they can learn to adjust. Our new Cookie sleeps with ds and he often doesn't get a good night's sleep. If she isn't attacking his feet under the covers, she's licking his face or running around his room looking for things to knock around. It's life with a young cat until they learn.

Edited November 25, 2017 by Lady Florida.

[Lady Florida.]

Ok, we let him out of the room and things aren't great. Basically we have the public living areas and a hall leading to all the bedrooms. I've had to barricade the hallway so the cat can run between the rooms. He's very skittish which makes sense in a new place. I've heard it can take a while for a cat to feel comfortable in his new environment. So if we keep them separated for the next couple of weeks, will the cat start dealing with the dog chasing him? He runs every time the dog even barks at him. He runs from the people too unless you sit still in one place and wait for him to come out to you. He seems to like my bedroom best because we have places to hide in there. This morning around 6:00am he stood outside my bedroom door and meowed loudly. I had to finally get up and I managed to get the dog into the living room and put the barricade up. But I couldn't let the cat into my bedroom yet because DH was asleep. The cat was very unsettled.

 

My doxie was bred to chase small furry animals. Are we asking too much to expect him to get used to the cat? I don't know if he'll ever stop chasing him and I don't want a barricade in my hallway forever.

 

Sorry, I posted my response without reading your update. Still, you can get them to coexist. Does the dog ever catch the cat or just chase him? Are you worried he'll actually hurt the cat or is he just curious? 

 

Can you put the cat in a cat carrier and give the dog a chance to sniff at him while he's safely in the carrier? As long as the cat keeps running and the dog keeps chasing, it's going to be hard for either of them to even check each other out.

 

As for being skittish, that's normal. Ours took to ds right away but after almost 2 months she's only now at the point where she doesn't run if fear from dh or me. She's even starting to sort of greet us. 

[Night Elf]

Kathy, the dog sleeps with me and DH with our bedroom door shut. So we let Toby have the rest of the house. My ds stays up all night so Toby has been going into my son's room and hanging out with him. The first night we let him out while we slept he woke me up at 2:30am walking across our piano. I was wondering who was playing the piano in the middle of the night! Then last night, he did fine until about 6:00am when he was meowing very loudly in the hallway outside my door. I couldn't go back to sleep so I got up. I carried the dog out of the room so he wouldn't run after the cat but Toby was in my son's room, so I brought the dog into the living room and put the barricade back up. I don't know if I'll get that lucky every morning. 

 

OH, and getting him out of our room at night is a challenge. Last night I had to swipe at him under our bed with a broom to get him to move. He ran out of our room and I shut the door so he couldn't come back in. I hated to do that but he doesn't come when called and no toy or treat will entice him. Tonight I'm going to see if DH will sit on the bed while me and the dog are in the living room and when the cat jumps up to see DH, DH can pick him up and carry him to his room to shut our door.

 

I don't want to give him back. DH really likes him but so far we can't spend time together as a family. Toby was alone in the bedrooms all day because I can't go past the barricade without my dog trying to get past it too. I wouldn't mind having a baby gate as long as it's one with a door in it. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the dog trying to jump our makeshift setup. I think I'll go look on Amazon for one.

[eternalsummer]

Our dachshund, who was a very poorly behaved dog on the whole, learned not to chase cats once the cats figured out that he was quite short and thus they could sit on a kitchen chair and lean down to thwack him on the nose when he walked too close.  On rare occasion he just couldn't resist and would chase one down the hall, but almost always when he cornered the cat at the end of the hallway he realized his mistake and turned back to run the other way while being chased by the cat.

 

It did take them some time to work out this dynamic, though.

[Night Elf]

Our dachshund, who was a very poorly behaved dog on the whole, learned not to chase cats once the cats figured out that he was quite short and thus they could sit on a kitchen chair and lean down to thwack him on the nose when he walked too close.  On rare occasion he just couldn't resist and would chase one down the hall, but almost always when he cornered the cat at the end of the hallway he realized his mistake and turned back to run the other way while being chased by the cat.

 

It did take them some time to work out this dynamic, though.

 

Haha! That is exactly what I'm hoping for! 

[Pawz4me]

One thing you can try to help keep him quiet(er) at night is to leave him out a meal of canned food. Sometimes that helps them settle down and sleep some.

[rebbyribs]

I only isolated our cats for a day or so to make sure they knew where the litter box was.  

[importswim]

I think that you should probably put all of the gates down and let the animals co-exist together as that's the only way that I can see that they'll work out a new dynamic. If they are separated and reintroduced all of the time then they won't learn as quickly to put up with each other. This time can royally SUCK as it seems like no one is happy, but it will work itself out.

 

We just brought home a stray orange kitty that a friend found lost in their shed. The vet says he's about 2 months old. It's been an adjustment for our golden retriever and our 12 year old gray tabby but they seem to have worked things out. I just wish that the new kitten wouldn't act like a little napoleon (I think he has a complex). If he'd stop trying to play with both of the other animals ALL.THE.TIME. I think they'd probably all have fun together. 

 

He is still learning not to bat my hair when I sleep. It takes lots of redirection. I do remember going through this with our older cat, though, and it does get better!

[Terabith]

I think that you should probably put all of the gates down and let the animals co-exist together as that's the only way that I can see that they'll work out a new dynamic. If they are separated and reintroduced all of the time then they won't learn as quickly to put up with each other. This time can royally SUCK as it seems like no one is happy, but it will work itself out.

 

We just brought home a stray orange kitty that a friend found lost in their shed. The vet says he's about 2 months old. It's been an adjustment for our golden retriever and our 12 year old gray tabby but they seem to have worked things out. I just wish that the new kitten wouldn't act like a little napoleon (I think he has a complex). If he'd stop trying to play with both of the other animals ALL.THE.TIME. I think they'd probably all have fun together. 

 

He is still learning not to bat my hair when I sleep. It takes lots of redirection. I do remember going through this with our older cat, though, and it does get better!

 

Aww....he's just a baby. Like, the equivalent of a human 9 month old.  He's not going to stop trying to play with the other animals.  He can't help it if they're boring, grouchy gusses.  He needs another kitten to occupy himself with!

[Night Elf]

My dog and cat are not doing well together. The dog gets overly excited when he sees the cat, barks a lot and very loudly and takes off after the cat who turns and runs. Last night was a hot mess when it was time to go to bed. They knocked over everything on DH's nightstand fighting behind it, then the cat shot out, traveled under the bed and ran down the hall. The dog followed, barking all the while. We caught the dog and put him in our room with the door shut. Both animals were visibly disturbed. It took a long time to calm the dog down and DH had to sit with the cat to calm him down.

 

The cat didn't meow last night or early this morning. That was good. He was very verbal though when I came out of the bedroom, probably feeling lonely. We carried the dog down the hall and put the barricade up but he jumped over because there was a small gap. He went into the cat's room where I was sitting on the mattress on the floor petting the cat. I don't know if he saw the cat but I got him out of there quickly.

 

I did order a baby gate. DH and I don't know how long to give this. I don't think it would be good for them or us for them to not to get along at all forever. Basically the cat will be alone a great deal of time, and he's so sweet and loves to get attention from people when he's not feeling threatened.

[Pawz4me]

You can try putting the dog on leash or in a carrier and putting them near each other. It sounds as if they need to get familiar with each other in a more controlled way. And yes, this is where a baby gate can really help.

 

Sometimes throwing new pets together and letting them work it out can work. Sometimes it doesn't. This sounds like one of the times when another approach would work best.

 

Does your dog know any commands? Sit, stay? I mean really rock-solid-knows-them?

 

Just to give you an idea of cat time lines -- We adopted a cat years ago. We had two dogs at the time. They were energetic but cat friendly and respectful. I set the cat up in our master bathroom behind a baby gate and left it to her to decide when to come out. It took her three full months to decide it was okay to do so. But once she came out she was fine and the dogs were fine.

[Night Elf]

Unfortunately my dog is not trained. He doesn't know how to sit, stay, etc. I tried once but I didn't know what I was doing and got discouraged too quickly. He's a horror on a leash. He pulls forward with his legs in running motion like a cartoon character because I'm holding him back. I don't walk him because of that. We take him to the greenway sometimes to run. DH holds the leash and they run together until the dog tires out and wants to walk for a while. So that's not proper leash training. That's letting him take the lead.

[eternalsummer]

If you're serious about getting a cat, it can take several weeks at least for any new animals to adapt to each other, and dachshunds are exceptionally stubborn (and like chasing cats) so you might be looking at even longer.