Will these two pets (cat/dog) EVER get along with each other?

Question

We rescued a baby kitten about 5 months ago. Hes a Balinese cat and really lovable & friendly. Hes about 7 months old now.

My wife used to have a mini pinscher back in Europe, so she wanted one here in the states. We decided yesterday to try to find one and we did. We rescued a 1yr old min-pin, female, and IMO shes mean. My wife loves her, but I think shes mean, bossy and a downright b-i-t-c-h (im talking about the dog). Anyhow, we put the new dog and out cat together and the dog chases the cat all over, growls when our cat gets near the dog, etc. This little dog thinks she owns the whole house after 10 minutes! She wont let the cat near his food, she wont let me even pet my cat now, she'll growl and chase him away so she get the attention and not my cat. I love my cat (i never thought i would say that! ive never been a cat guy) and im also worried now about when my wife and I decide to have kids how that will play out. Will this little dog with a huge voice attack our baby?? TIA

Answer 1

No need to worry Cats and dogs can become the best of friends. My granny's cats and my neighbour's dogs are good friends. You just need to be patient and let them get used to each other obviously dont leave the dog aside or it will become jealous.

Answer 2

My 2 dogs and my cat get along well. We had the dogs first and then got the kitten. However, when we have doggie visitors the cat goes ballistic - if the visitor is with us for a week she finally accepts the visitor for that visit.

However, your case differs since the cat was there first. Have you tried a doggy crate - put the min-pin in the crate within view of the cat while the cat eats and talk to the min-pin soothingly. When she starts to chase the cat, tell her "NO" and put her in the crate, then pet the cat. After a while she should get the message, but you have to be consistant. You should be able to restrain the dog and still pet the cat since the min-pin is a small dog. By petting them both at the same time (you have two hands) it should also pass the message to the min-pin that the cat's part of the family too.

My daughter's friend has a min-pin and it was fine when her baby brother came home from the hospital. When they got a Golden Retriever puppy she had a week or so of the "snits" (snarling fits) but eventually got over it and played with the pup.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

I have a Yorkie that's 2yrs old,(we adopted him at 7weeks old), & we have a cat, he's 11yrs old (the cat weighs 20pds , the dog weighs 6pds..) anyways, they get along 99% of the time. The chase each other in the house playing, they don't bite, or hurt each other. There's two things that create issues between the two of them:
FOOD and Jealousy.
If the dog feels the cat is trying to take his food, or just walks too close to his bones or something, the dog with growl and snap at that cat. Jealousy is a biggie. If i pet the cat, the dog gets jealous and runs immediately to get his share of attention. It's cute, but we always make sure to be fair, and have been since we brought the dog into our home. So that neither feels slighted.
It can work out, it has for us. I hope that it does for you as well. It's so much fun to watch them play and chase each other, and neither of them get lonely when we are away from the house for a few hours. Good Luck

Answer 4

Oddly enough this lesson was reiterated by Southpark on an episode where Cartman's mom hired a Dog Whisperer to help her control her child. Anyway...

The lucky route:
Your little kitty gets claws and swipes Minpin McGrouchy in the face. MinPin figures out not to mess with the cat and all is well (except the "I own the house" thing which can be resolved with my second suggestion)

OR

Visit options for behavior training. Whether it is obedience classes which can be relatively inexpensive through Petsmart and other pet stores or through the more difficult "at home" training. Teach the dog who is boss in a non violent but firm and loving way. Be careful not to get trapped in the pitfalls of training at home. You can get advice from your local vet or again, Petsmart is a great resource. The options for training a dog at home are really vast and somewhat difficult to outline in a quick answer here.


As an aside: While I was browsing the web for a good obedience training at home guide I ran across another prospect that you might find amusing, given your relationship with the dog thus far. Shock collar treatment allows the owner to pulse a small jolt of electricity through a dog's collar when they are doing something "bad". These collars are designed so that the animal cannot be hurt by the shock.

Answer 5

The dog sounds like its running your house, and you realize that. Little dogs are constantly spoiled, pampered and treated like little princesses/princes which is often what creates this behavior.There a lots of ways to rearrange the structure of your household (pretty easiliy if you put the effort in)so that the people run it rather than the dog. I would suggest going online or to a book store and looking for a book that focuses on "pack leadership". There are some short simple reads that will give you the knowledge you need to fix this. You need to fix it now or it will keep getting worse. My guess is your wife kind likes the way she has a "special bond" with the dog and shes just going to keep feeding into it, so Im going to guess that your wife, not the dog, will be the hardest one to get on board with the program. Good luck

Answer 6

It will take time to get them to get along if they ever will. I would only let them be together when you or your wife is around. Another thing you could do is get one of those really tall cat climbing trees. They might be a little expensive but your cat and climb up and out of the dogs reach. You could set his food and water inside one of the levels so he doesn't know them over and the dog can't get to them. This gives him a good place to hide and cats love them. Get the dog a crate to pin her in when she won't stop her annoying behaviors. That's about all of my advice. Give it time and they will probably slowly start to tolerate each other. One day at a time. Good Luck.

Answer 7

You really need to get the dog under control.
When you feed the cat, you need to make sure that the dog will not be bothering it.
Your cat will start to show signs of stress and unhappiness if you don't do something soon.
We have 3 adult cats and now have a 4 month old puppy. It has taken lots of work and still is a work in progress. They are all happy though. We make sure to spend quality time with each of them.

Answer 8

They could turn out to be the best of friends.I've seen it happen,and with the exact same pair.An adult neutered dominant male and younger spayed female.Keep the introductions supervised.Start at a few min.,then work up in time to hours.Within weeks they can be friends.There will be hissing and growling and swatting,but it will likely go away pretty fast.When one of them starts going on their back especially,even while hissing,that is a sign of submission to the other cat.It will take awhile,but it will likely go fine.Good luck.That man that says to put them in a room and hope for the best.DON'T do that!Supervised visits only.How stressful and dangerous.He doesn't know what he's talking about.I have over 35 yrs. of cat integration experience!

Answer 9

This is your new dog attempting to gain dominance in your home, specifically over your cat. We actually have had the same problem with our 5 mo Border Collie challenging our 12 yr old American Eskimo. Our trainer told us absolutely do not tolerate this behavior. We are to grab the puppy by the skin of the sides of the neck, lift her two front feet off the ground and growl a "no" to her. This is to tell our puppy that she is not to challenge as we are the dominant in the home and it only happens if we allow it, which ofcourse we don't.

You might consider getting into a training class as this will help you and the dog both in controling the behavior.

Answer 10

I've never seen an older dog brought into a new home get along with cats that have already been there UNLESS they were raised around cats