What's the best way to get dogs and cats to live together harmoniously?

May 15, 2008 10:36 AM

What's the best way to get dogs and cats to live together harmoniously?

My husband and I love animals. Now that we have a house and a yard, we're planning to start adopting some furry companions soon. We'd like to get 1 or 2 dogs and 2 cats. (Right now we don't have any pets.)

What's the best way to go about getting pets that will live happily together? Should we adopt dogs first or cats first? Both at the same time? Does the age of the pets matter? Mostly likely, all will be young (1 year old or less) when we adopt them.

Any other tips for getting dogs and cats to live together happily are welcome!

posted by geeky to pets & animals (20 comments total)

I say get them at the same time - when they are kittens and puppies. Also, many animals will be advertised that they get along well with other animals, so find cats that get along with dogs and vice versa! Getting an older cat (or dog) that has never lived with another animal will have a hard time adjusting (although through time they may adjust - but the initial period of time may be quite stressful for everyone involved).
posted by Sassyfras at 10:47 AM on May 15, 2008

I agree with Sassyfras, things'll be easiest if they're all used to each other from the get-go.

We introduced a 4-month-old dog into a house with 2 long-established cats, and it really 6-8 months for everything to smooth out (although it got steadily better as time went on). In that case, it was really just a matter of policing the dog very closely and letting her know in no uncertain terms that it wasn't ok to harass the cats, and that they don't want to play (the cats, they pretty much dealt with the situation on their own).

It's like everything else with dog training... be firm, and consistent, and stick with it, and they'll get it.
posted by COBRA! at 10:59 AM on May 15, 2008

I just made sure to adopt tough, confident cats. Some dogs will chase if a cat runs - these cats never run from anyone. If the dog bugs them, they are free with the paw-smacks. A hierarchy is established and harmony reigns.
posted by Mr Bunnsy at 11:16 AM on May 15, 2008

Dogs can be trained to leave cats alone, fairly easily. Cats...not so much. The issue is always the cat. I've brought kittens into a house with grown dogs several times without any issues of kitten eating, etc. (But then I expect a lot from my dogs' day to day behavior.)

Not a whole lot of grown cats can transition into a dog house as easily.
posted by TomMelee at 11:23 AM on May 15, 2008

Here's the Ask thread I started about the same subject. Some answers are helpful, others (like the one about coyote behavior) rather less so.
posted by COBRA! at 11:24 AM on May 15, 2008

My family never had problems either way, but I think kittens into dog households is more likely to become a friendship, rather than just tolerance. We didn't do anything special- we just had the expectation that everyone would more or less get along, and they did.

BTW, even though the dogs got along with their cats, it didn't stop the dogs from chasing other cats out of the yard.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:51 AM on May 15, 2008

We introduced a 6-month-old puppy into a two-adult-cat house. It's worked out fine, but one of the cats is still not a huge fan of the dog.

One thing we did which made all pets happy was to put a baby gate across door of one room, about 6 inches off the floor, so the cats can go in and out as they please and have their own area away from the dog. This way, if the dog's in a rambunctious mood, they are both safe from having to play 'chase', but the shy one can still come out and watch TV in the evenings when the dog's asleep. (Also: this keeps the dog out of the litter box.)
posted by lemonade at 12:45 PM on May 15, 2008

Find a good animal shelter to adopt from and they might be able to help you find companions that get along with other animals. When we adopted our 9 month old cat from the Animal Rescue League, his cage tag listed little bits about his behavior, including what people and pets he'd be best with. The shelter's practice was to take a little history / questionnaire from his former owners. Among what they fed him, what shots he'd had, they also listed the other animals he'd lived with. Thanks to this we know he's cool with other cats and had previously lived happily with a dog. While we don't have a dog (yet) it was good to know he'd be cool if we did.

When I was younger we adopted a puppy and a kitten within a couple months of each other. They fought mightily at first, and we were never sure how much was play or actual animosity. Eventually they grew to get along, to the point where they would "hunt" out in the back yard together and the cat would accompany us on walks. We didn't do anything special to introduce them, they just worked it out.
posted by sarahmelah at 1:14 PM on May 15, 2008

If you have to get them at different times, I'd get the dogs first. It's a lot easier for dogs to get used to cats then vice versa. However, be warned that if you have dogs raising your kittens, you might end up with a cat who plays fetch. Mine prefers the rings off milk gallons for this purpose.
posted by Addlepated at 1:15 PM on May 15, 2008

I have to disagree with the recommendations to get the dogs first, especially if you're planning on getting a big dog as a puppy. My view here has nothing to do with how hard or easy it is for the animals to adapt, but simply upon size. If a cat freaks out and decides to beat the crap out of a puppy, the puppy might end up with a bloody nose. If a big dog freaks out about a kitten, the end result could be much worse.

How well the animals will learn to deal with each other can depend as much on breed as it does on species and way more on the individual animals than on anything else. We brought a young beagle mix into our house that already had two full-grown cats. All issues we had were minor. Beagles tend to the submissive side, and ours is not an exception. He'll do anything the cats tell him to. Unfortunately, one of the cats never figured out how to talk to him, so she sometimes ends up getting chased for a few seconds before she jumps up on top of something. Neither of the cats particularly like the dog (he likes everyone and everything, even people who scare him), but there aren't many interspecies problems. The worst problem was the dog eating the cat poop out of the litter box, which we solved with baby gates, exactly as lemonade described. After about a year, the male cat was willing to share a sunbeam with the dog, and now he likes to sniff the dog after the dog's been outside, but that's as close as they get. They never get into altercations beyond the dog chasing the one cat that runs away or the cat that doesn't run away clawlessly swatting the dog's nose when he squeaks his ball too much.

I have to disagree with TomMelee completely. Our cats almost never harass the dog (I mentioned the swatting thing more because it was funny than because it was frequent; I think he's done it three times). The dog tries to chase one of the cats (usually the one that runs) several times a day, and we have had zero luck trying to stop him. He's very well-behaved in many respects, but his chase instinct has thus far proved completely unmanageable. (I'm just glad he's small enough not to pull my arms out of my sockets on walks every time a cat, squirrel, or bicycle goes by.) I've been told that this is a common problem with Beagles.

The biggest problems I've noticed among both dog and cat owners is transitioning from being a one-pet household to a multiple-pet household, regardless of species. So whatever animal(s) you get first, make sure you get at least two while they're still young, or adopt full-grown ones that already have experience living with other animals.
posted by ErWenn at 2:02 PM on May 15, 2008

In my experience, if you get a puppy or young dog or an older dog who's lived with cats before, the dog will be fine with cats. Both of our cats love our dog (a chow), but the older cat wants nothing to do with the younger one. That said, I did have a cat get shredded by the neighbor's pit bulls when she (it's a complete mystery how) found herself on their side of the fence, and I'd be very, very cautious about introducing adult animals not used to the other species to each other, especially if either has any history of aggression at all.

P.S. I have kittens I'm trying to find homes for. ;)
posted by notashroom at 2:34 PM on May 15, 2008

"Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!"

Haha, sorry, had to. Anyway, I'm guessing if they're both very young, it should work out just fine. How big of a dog do you want? My old roommate had two cats and a dog and never ran into any problems except that once in a while the cats would gang up on the dog, but he was more than capable of handling himself.
posted by atomly at 3:18 PM on May 15, 2008

However, be warned that if you have dogs raising your kittens, you might end up with a cat who plays fetch.

Just FYI, this happens with cats not raised alongside dogs, too. One of our cats enjoys playing fetch--for him it's rubber bands, though he'd probably go nuts for those plastic rings around milk containers.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:21 PM on May 15, 2008

Thanks for all the helpful answers! I don't know if adopting 4 young animals at the same time is a good idea for my sanity's sake, so it sounds like the next best idea might be getting the dog(s) first, then kittens a short time later. FWIW, we're looking to get a medium sized dog, nothing too large. Thanks for the tip with the baby gates, too!

notashroom, I'd love to help, but you're more than a few states away and I don't think kittens ship well :)
posted by geeky at 6:12 PM on May 15, 2008

Haha, our kitten was a puppy, for real. Growing up in a house with 3 dogs he had no option. He acted like a dog in every possible facet, including affinity to water and the way he slept.

@ ErWenn, my point was that while adult cats will tolerate dogs, they don't often become thick as thieves...and that's the best part about multispecies houses. Also, the breed of your dog isn't an excuse for its behavior; noting Jack Russell Terriers and Presa Canarios as gleaming examples of that. (Jack's are nuts, Presa's are on the mean side, both make great pets.) However, I get your point. :)
posted by TomMelee at 7:01 PM on May 15, 2008

I should qualify my statements as well. My disagreement with TomMelee's point was simply the generality of it; I didn't mean to imply that the opposite was true. He's probably right about kittens being more likely to become close friends with dogs than cats with puppies; I was thinking more in terms of mutual toleration.

Also, the personality of the individual animal is the most significant factor, much more so than the breed. Unfortunately, when you're adopting a new pet, you only get to see a tiny fraction of their personality, and you can play the probabilities a little bit by taking into account the breed. And also having a tendency to bolt (like beagles do) doesn't make for a bad pet or even an untrainable one; it just means that you may have to give up on hopes like letting them off the leash outside of the house.

I have no idea why I capitalized "Beagle", and the fact that I did has been bugging me all evening long.
posted by ErWenn at 9:33 PM on May 15, 2008

We've just introduced a retired racing greyhound into a household with a cat; I would heartily recommend getting a baby gate as advised by others upthread. Get the kind that doesn't have any screws but just uses pressure to stick between the sides of the door - then you can move it around to seal off different rooms as required.
posted by primer_dimer at 5:59 AM on May 16, 2008

geeky, I think you're right about shipping, but hey, never hurts to ask, right? ;) This is what I get for being a soft touch with my daughter, who's befriended all the neighborhood strays, 3 of whom have had litters in the last 2 months.
posted by notashroom at 8:23 AM on May 16, 2008

Seconding ErWenn's "the personality of the individual animal is the most significant factor". My full-grown, formerly single dog quickly learned how to get along with the full-grown, semi-feral cat that moved into his house. It wasn't long before they were playing together. YMMV.
posted by sgass at 4:47 PM on May 16, 2008

I asked about this not that long ago; part of my dog adoption question was about integrating with our two cats. You'll be lucky in that you will have more options. If I could start from scratch, I'd get a puppy and a kitten. But our sweet older cats have adapted surprisingly well, so far, after two weeks of living with our year-old rescue dog. One is so relaxed that she sleeps peacefully no matter how close pup comes; she just could not care less. The first couple of days she hissed when the dog got too close, as did our younger male cat. That, along with our admonishments to the dog to "leave it!" when she wanted to play with the kitties, has resulted in a pretty peaceful cat/dog home, so far. Dog walking through the house, upon seeing a cat, just changes course.

The advice we got to adopt a somewhat older dog, rather than a puppy, was great. We found a rescue who was being fostered in a home with a cat, and it made all the difference. I fretted so much about it beforehand, and it's really working out pretty well. If you want to talk dogs or cats or both, feel free to MeFi mail me!
posted by TochterAusElysium at 8:43 AM on May 17, 2008