Can I bring a young whippet mix into a house with an older cat?
March 23, 2019 4:33 PM Subscribe
I've heard that whippets can be aggressive towards cats, but that in the right circumstances, whippets and cats can get along fine, even well. Today, I and my fiancee met a young whippet mix (six-eight months est.) whom we got along with famously, but we have an older cat at home. Is there any way to make this work? Would it be safe to introduce them to see if they got along?
IME, your success with this is much more dependent on the individual animals' dispositions than on any breed knowledge -- especially since the whippet is a mix and therefore, a bit of an unknown quantity. So an introduction is really the only way to find out.
Take it slowly and take care to protect both animals. I'd probably put the cat into a closed room where it typically spends a lot of time anyway (your bedroom, perhaps?), then bring the crated dog into another room nearby. After the dog settles from "oh, my, new space" excitement, open the door to let the cat come out and explore on its own timetable.
Don't rush them. If/when the cat is willing to approach the crate without a hissy fit and the dog can remain calm with the cat within sight outside the crate, try offering each a treat while they can see each other. Ignoring each other or playful curiosity (tail-wagging and play bowing from the dog, play-pawing and no arched back or tail switching from the cat) are both good outcomes. Don't open the crate until you reach that stage, and always be sure that each has a safe route of retreat first. Back off and separate them again at the first sign of aggression from either.
Even if you get a freakout/attempted attack from either animal, hope is not necessarily lost. But it is a sign that they may need lots more time. Like, potentially months of keeping them separated, alternately crating or gating each and letting the other safely explore. Only you can decide if you have the time and patience for that.
posted by peakcomm at 6:00 PM on March 23, 2019 [2 favorites]
Take it slowly and take care to protect both animals. I'd probably put the cat into a closed room where it typically spends a lot of time anyway (your bedroom, perhaps?), then bring the crated dog into another room nearby. After the dog settles from "oh, my, new space" excitement, open the door to let the cat come out and explore on its own timetable.
Don't rush them. If/when the cat is willing to approach the crate without a hissy fit and the dog can remain calm with the cat within sight outside the crate, try offering each a treat while they can see each other. Ignoring each other or playful curiosity (tail-wagging and play bowing from the dog, play-pawing and no arched back or tail switching from the cat) are both good outcomes. Don't open the crate until you reach that stage, and always be sure that each has a safe route of retreat first. Back off and separate them again at the first sign of aggression from either.
Even if you get a freakout/attempted attack from either animal, hope is not necessarily lost. But it is a sign that they may need lots more time. Like, potentially months of keeping them separated, alternately crating or gating each and letting the other safely explore. Only you can decide if you have the time and patience for that.
posted by peakcomm at 6:00 PM on March 23, 2019 [2 favorites]
We tried with a whippet mix and two older cats. We found that once she thought of cats as prey, the dog constantly tried to go after them. We returned her to the shelter after 3 months of trying to remediate.
posted by heathrowga at 6:45 PM on March 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by heathrowga at 6:45 PM on March 23, 2019 [3 favorites]
We have a whippit/hound mix. Our house has very sadly become a no cat zone. :(
posted by floweredfish at 7:04 PM on March 23, 2019
posted by floweredfish at 7:04 PM on March 23, 2019
If the dog has good prospects of another home, and you have a good chance of finding a different dog -- you and the dog will probably still have just as much love in your lives without being matched with each other. And your dear old cat could very well have a much better life without this particular dog in it.
posted by amtho at 7:08 PM on March 23, 2019 [12 favorites]
posted by amtho at 7:08 PM on March 23, 2019 [12 favorites]
I wouldn't do that to my older cat.
posted by dgeiser13 at 7:45 PM on March 23, 2019 [20 favorites]
posted by dgeiser13 at 7:45 PM on March 23, 2019 [20 favorites]
This is a terrible amount of stress to inflict on any animal, let alone an older cat.
posted by makonan at 8:20 PM on March 23, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by makonan at 8:20 PM on March 23, 2019 [7 favorites]
Yeah, I don't think it is fair to try to introduce an older kitty to a young sight hound.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 8:32 PM on March 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by easy, lucky, free at 8:32 PM on March 23, 2019 [4 favorites]
This is not the dog for your cat. I would recommend an elder statesdog and not a puppy of nearly any breed. And I would especially not suggest any terrier or sighthound dogs of any age. The hjnting dog may grow into a prey drive or may be stressed or startled into a prey behavior. This would be devastating to you and potentially lethal to your cat.
The tips above for introducing cat to dog are pretty good. A good shelter will understand that the introduction alone may take a week and won’t make you feel bad about ‘failing’ an adoption in a short amount of time. If your dog to cat intro isn’t going well don’t feel compelled to throw good time after bad trying to force it. Give the cat a break and try with a different dog later. It is possible (but not likely) that your cat won’t acxept any dog. Use pheromone diffusers for cat calming and lots of treats around introduction time. Reward the behavior you want to see.
Also. Many orgs will have information about individual dogs that are known to get along with cats. Not a foolproof method for your cats preferences but still a place to start.
posted by bilabial at 6:08 AM on March 24, 2019
The tips above for introducing cat to dog are pretty good. A good shelter will understand that the introduction alone may take a week and won’t make you feel bad about ‘failing’ an adoption in a short amount of time. If your dog to cat intro isn’t going well don’t feel compelled to throw good time after bad trying to force it. Give the cat a break and try with a different dog later. It is possible (but not likely) that your cat won’t acxept any dog. Use pheromone diffusers for cat calming and lots of treats around introduction time. Reward the behavior you want to see.
Also. Many orgs will have information about individual dogs that are known to get along with cats. Not a foolproof method for your cats preferences but still a place to start.
posted by bilabial at 6:08 AM on March 24, 2019
This depends heavily on the individual dog and the individual cat. (I say it also depends on the cat because it strongly matters whether your particular cat runs from scary things or battens down to smack a dog or shout. Running tends to engage dog prey drive; smacking tends to discourage it. And this all goes double for sighthounds.) And then individual dogs have different experiences with cats and different strengths of prey drive. I also suggest testing this dog with your cat with the dog on a lead and wearing a basket muzzle, just to check--probably on familiar ground for your cat.
It works much better with indoor-only cats, because there is less chance of the dog startling the cat away from a significant distance and the cat running. If you have an indoor/outdoor cat, my odds of this working out well go down significantly. You want to minimize the odds of the dog ever chasing the cat, especially in a dead run.
Are you in the UK, North America, or elsewhere? Whippet mixes are pretty uncommon in North America but very common in the UK, which would influence my personal guesswork on the likelihood of having sighthound tendencies to deal with or not. My dog is built like a whippet from the neck down, but is probably not a whippet cross--but then, she was born in Georgia. A lurcher or other sighthound cross may have less see-chase-kill drive than a purebred sighthound, but it may not. (A terrier may also have less drive in this respect, or not. Many of the traditional whippet lurchers that wind up in rescue in the UK are terrier crosses.)
Personally, I was very startled when my young mixed-breed probably-terriery mix dog turned out to respond to cats by rolling onto her back and trying to coax them closer so she could lick them. I had been prepared for varying strengths of prey drive or uncertainty or confusion and had a plan in place to teach her to ignore cats, but apparently she had some previous experience with cats before she came into my life. It's hard to say!
This puppy is unlikely to develop more prey drive at maturity directed at a cat in the house, and the cat is unlikely to learn to bolt once the cat gets used to the puppy. If they work to begin with, they will probably continue to work. But you're going to have to make sure to discourage the puppy from chasing the cat, and honestly training the puppy to completely ignore the cat will probably be your best bet.
Many rescues will cat-test a dog with a known cat at your request, also. Have you asked this rescue if they would consider doing that, or if they know this dog's history with cats?
posted by sciatrix at 9:13 AM on March 24, 2019
It works much better with indoor-only cats, because there is less chance of the dog startling the cat away from a significant distance and the cat running. If you have an indoor/outdoor cat, my odds of this working out well go down significantly. You want to minimize the odds of the dog ever chasing the cat, especially in a dead run.
Are you in the UK, North America, or elsewhere? Whippet mixes are pretty uncommon in North America but very common in the UK, which would influence my personal guesswork on the likelihood of having sighthound tendencies to deal with or not. My dog is built like a whippet from the neck down, but is probably not a whippet cross--but then, she was born in Georgia. A lurcher or other sighthound cross may have less see-chase-kill drive than a purebred sighthound, but it may not. (A terrier may also have less drive in this respect, or not. Many of the traditional whippet lurchers that wind up in rescue in the UK are terrier crosses.)
Personally, I was very startled when my young mixed-breed probably-terriery mix dog turned out to respond to cats by rolling onto her back and trying to coax them closer so she could lick them. I had been prepared for varying strengths of prey drive or uncertainty or confusion and had a plan in place to teach her to ignore cats, but apparently she had some previous experience with cats before she came into my life. It's hard to say!
This puppy is unlikely to develop more prey drive at maturity directed at a cat in the house, and the cat is unlikely to learn to bolt once the cat gets used to the puppy. If they work to begin with, they will probably continue to work. But you're going to have to make sure to discourage the puppy from chasing the cat, and honestly training the puppy to completely ignore the cat will probably be your best bet.
Many rescues will cat-test a dog with a known cat at your request, also. Have you asked this rescue if they would consider doing that, or if they know this dog's history with cats?
posted by sciatrix at 9:13 AM on March 24, 2019
Please consider adopting a senior dog instead! You will probably be saving their life, whereas a young dog will most likely find another home. Anecdata: my two senior cats who hate most dogs have adapted well to the senior Shih Tzu I recently rescued, I think because all three of them have similar energy levels and the cats don’t feel at all threatened by his presence. I think the fact that they’re all similar in size helps, but I bet a gentle old big dog would have worked too with a little patience. Right now all three of them are sleeping next to me on the couch.
I knew a woman who lost a beloved cat to a beloved dog with a high prey drive, and to me it just wouldn’t be worth the risk.
posted by syrenka at 1:51 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
I knew a woman who lost a beloved cat to a beloved dog with a high prey drive, and to me it just wouldn’t be worth the risk.
posted by syrenka at 1:51 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
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If you want to introduce them, you could always pick up a basket muzzle first.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:44 PM on March 23, 2019 [6 favorites]