Puppy and cat

amykf91

Hi there

I have been in exactly the same position as you! In July we brought home our beautiful 10week old Cocker Spaniel pup to our home where my two 2year old kitties were. They were not best pleased. All pup wanted to do was play, and my cats were completely put out by the whole thing. We stressed, worried and upset ourselves over whether we had done the right thing...

7 months on, things are so much better! Whilst my female cat just cries at him if he comes anywhere near her (on accident - he actually avoids her!), my male cat sits with him when we're at work and does offer up "playtime" - although does cry when pup gets too excited (male kitty is a drama queen, up doesn't actually touch him!)

Things will get better, but like it's already been said, try to distract pup if he's annoying kitties, give kitties attention on their own too :-)

bmthmark

Well in 2 weeks since I posted this I have seen a massive improvement.

Cat seems to be a lot more relaxed and the puppy is starting to understand that the cat does not want to play. The cat even walks very close to the puppy and the puppy doesn't react, he just carries on playing with his toys. At one point both the cat and puppy touched noses together! I was ready to separate them but they were fine, they were just having a good sniff.

I still have a sharp eye on them when they are near each other but so far so good!

I have a good feeling that over time they will get on well together (fingers crossed)

amykf91

That's brilliant news!! :-)

I do think our male cat and our pup have a very good friendship, it's lovely to see - so enjoy it :-)

bmthmark

amykf91 wrote: »

That's brilliant news!! :-)

I do think our male cat and our pup have a very good friendship, it's lovely to see - so enjoy it :-)

Thanks - how old is your puppy? is yours a working or show cocker?

amykf91

He's 9 months old now :-) and a working cocker (so full of energy!)

bmthmark

amykf91 wrote: »

He's 9 months old now :-) and a working cocker (so full of energy!)

Mines a 4 month's old and he also has bundles of energy.

Are you able to leave him home alone with access to the whole house? Only reason i'm asking is because when I need to pop out I leave him in his puppy pen. I'm just wandering what age he could potentially roam the house on his own.

CassieKeith123

It might be best to separate the two until your little pup calms down a little bit. Your cat might be grateful of the peace and quiet too.

Obviously, your cat will only let your pup go so far and then I'm sure the cat will put him in his place.

Hopefully, after time, the excitement will wear off.

Good luck.

amykf91

Hi there, apologies for the very long delay in responding! We keep our pup in the kitchen/diner with a baby gate separating him from the rest of the house (he's still into chewing and being a little mischievous so the kitchen is the best place for him, and it's a good size too!)

Our cat can get through the baby gate, and when he fancies, takes himself in to see pup. It's just a case of letting the cats decide what they want to do, and pup having space for himself :-)

bmthmark

amykf91 wrote: »

Hi there, apologies for the very long delay in responding! We keep our pup in the kitchen/diner with a baby gate separating him from the rest of the house (he's still into chewing and being a little mischievous so the kitchen is the best place for him, and it's a good size too!)

Our cat can get through the baby gate, and when he fancies, takes himself in to see pup. It's just a case of letting the cats decide what they want to do, and pup having space for himself :-)

Thanks I forgot about this post
2 months later and the puppy and cat are doing much better than I expected.
We still have the separated area, to ensure that the cat has his own space.
The cat sleeps near the puppy now and the pup has calmed down a lot. The only thing the cat doesn't like is when the pup gets excited his tail might accidentally whip the cat.

The cats happy, the pups happy so we are happy :beer:

amykf91

So pleased for you!! :-) This last weekend our pup (although coming up to 1yr so not sure 'pup' is the right term...) was practically spooning our sleeping kitty! :-)