We’re looking at getting a dog.

We have a cat, he’s pretty chilled out and playful but a little wary of obviously scary things such as the outdoors, his shadow / reflection etc.

Any advice on most suitable breeds and how to introduce them?

Would it be best to get something young and less threatening to the cat rather than an older dog?

Nothing massive as it’ll be out in the car with my wife most days (not locked in there all day obvs!)

We have a dog and 2 cats.
Big cat decided to live with us, then we got little cat as a kitten, then got the dog from a rescue centre.
Dog thought he would come in and assert his authority. That lasted 5 minutes until big cat gave him what for. He is now scared of big cat but will tolerate him. he’s petrified of the little cat even though she’s never laid a paw on him.

Generally they tolerate each other so no issues.
The dog is Jack Russell, Staffy cross but is soft and a bit wimpy.

I think it depends on the dog.

On what age to get, unless you know the dog and it’s history with cats then a younger dog/puppy might be best so the cat can show it who is in charge without too much disturbance to both cat and dog.

The MiL did this, they had 3 cats and got 2 pups (Springer/Collie cross) and they get on fine. The dogs do know who’s in charge though.

Yes


Poodles and a Staffie with two moggies,
The moggies are in charge..

We’ve got a Tom cat with two Shiba Inu dogs. The Inu breeds are supposed to get on with cats but our two like nothing better than hunting the cat in the garden. The cat seems to be quite game for it and when he does get trapped into a corner he lets the dogs (two bitches) know who the boss is!

We have a dog and 2 cats. We’ve had the cats for well over a decade, rescue cats so their exact age isn’t known but probably close to 15 now. We got the dog last summer. That was interesting… Was open warfare for a while, the pup loved chasing them. But the male cat gave the dog a few swift kickings and they seem to have settled into a reasonable relationship now. Even share a bed if it’s cold enough or the stove is on and all animosity is forgotten at feeding time. The dog does still try to chase them occasionally but the cats have a clever trick. they bolt out the cat flap, dog tries to follow but can only fit her head out the cat flap. The cat waits outside for the dog’s head to appear and then unleashes hell. The dumb mutt still hasn’t twigged!

Dog and an older cat here. Bitch is a Old English Sheepdog, 10 months old and cat is a rescue tortoiseshell who came first (9 years old). Cat hates dog, dog wants to play all the time. The cat now runs the upstairs of the house while the dog scoots around the lower half, have tried for the past 8 months for them to get on. Cat isn’t having any of it. Will get there one day.

We have a 12 year old cat and a 16 week old Vizsla.

The cat lives upstairs behind a stair gate now and has her food up there. Will tolerate the puppy but if he gets over freindly he gets a ‘claws in’ bat on the face and backs off.

At night they’re downstairs in separate rooms with cat having access to the cat flap and dog can’t see her or he goes nuts barking.

I don’t expect this to change.

We had two mature cats when we got the dog. He was 18weeks or so at the time. Older female cat accepted him fairly quickly. Younger (6yo?) male cat moved into the garage for 6 months only coming into the kitchen to feed. He came round to the intruder eventually. To be honest, the cats get along better with the dog than they do one another.

Have two german pointers and two cats. They often sleep together and share rabbits that the cat drags home!

If getting a puppy you introduce them slowly and always give the cat an escape route. You need to be more wary of the damage a cat can do to a dog when they are young. After a couple of months they settle down and get on with it.

When I was a kid we had a golden retriever, and added a kitten. When the kitten got fed up with being licked (after about 10mins) out came the claws… dogs’ noses are very sensitive to that sort of thing! From then on it was a very one-sided relationship.

@jolmes – our Old English Sheepdog (now 5 years old) has never learnt that cats have a pointy end; and that it really doesn’t like having it’s bum sniffed on a semi-permanent basis.

They never actually fought; just a swift claw across the nose when the cat got bored of the attention …

Depends on the dog. We have a greyhound and a cat. The cat is definitely the boss and when the dog first came to live with us he would do a few warming swipes to let her know he wasn’t to be messed with. She is scared of the cat and they tolerate each other lying in the same bed sometimes. I looked after a border collie for a weekend and as soon as he came through the door the cat gave him a swipe with the paw to let him know who was boss. He never bothered with the cat though he wasn’t that interested to start with. The cat is the biggest softy always looking for a lap to sit on.

Nice to know Steve! Ours just sits and barks are her through a door/wall/what ever obstacle is in the way. It’s quite a sight when the cat is on the bed and the dog bombs upstairs, goes to jump on the bed and appears to freeze mid jump after she has noticed the cat, then proceed to collapse into a heap, run away and bark again. Cant get them within sniffing distance without the dog barking in her face.

We had 4 cats between myself and my GF (2 under 1 year 2 about 3 years) when she decided to get a dog (collie saluki cross). At first they all hated him but slowly 1 younger and 1 older came round. then a while later the other older came round too. The other younger one never really forgave us and eventually never came home.

Since then we have introduced 2 kittens at different times and they all get on fine. Dog is bottom of the rankings and regularly gets owned by the younger cats but its his own fault as he follows them round like a stupid shadow!

It took time but really once one cat decided to be brave then the other did follow…We gave the cats plenty of space and fed them away from the dog initially but them moved all feeding into the kitchen and they basically followed the food and they developed some sort of relationship with each other (the dog loves then they don’t necessarily love the dog all the time).

@jolmes – she should grow out of that a bit; ours was yappy as a puppy; but is now the quietest dog in the world. She’s developed a special ‘cat whine’ instead reserved for when they are both in the garden but the cats hidden in a bush out of sniffing range.

Got a lab puppy when I had a 3 year old cat. Had to shut them in together at first so the cat didn’t just run away as he’s a softy but he soon realised he was the boss with a timely claw to the snout. As a puppy Beech used to try to get the cat to play but now she’s not fussed and they have been known to sleep together in the dog bed.

Our Jack Russell completely ignored cats until one set upon him out on a walk for no reason, they just met at a corner in the path. Now he goes on the offensive whenever he sees one. Not sure how to cure this.