Beagles and cats?

April 6, 2013 11:49 AM

We have a cat and we'd like to add a beagle to the family but are wondering if the two would get along. I understand a beagle is a hunting dog and might see the cat as something to track and, well, hound. Any stories here?
posted by xmutex to Pets & Animals (19 answers total)

All of my cats are dead. My beagle had nothing to do with it.

She got along with them all, or they learned detente.

Beagles are wonderful and if you tell anyone I said so, I will track you down and kill you. (I have made a practice of hiding my affection for the stinky little beast and the secret cannot get out. Thank heavens metafilter is private.)

Remember.... secret.
posted by FauxScot at 11:55 AM on April 6, 2013 [3 favorites]

Two cats and two greyhounds here, a breed very much bred for hunting. My animals are fine together; a majority of greyhounds are cat-safe by nature or can be trained to leave smaller beasties alone. Most greyhound adoption groups do cat testing to gauge the degree of interest in cats and other small animals -- do your local beagle groups do that? Most dogs can learn who is part of the household and not to be pestered; that doesn't mean small animals are as safe outdoors. Beagles are wonderful dogs -- and an adoption group is a good bet to match one to your household with a cat, a hound with lower prey drive or more trainable.
posted by vers at 12:08 PM on April 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

I've co-owned 2 rescue beagles with cats and their relationship was very relaxed and trouble-free. The dogs were 4 and 6 years old when I got them so it's not like I raised them together from an early age.

Beagles are really more of a scent tracking dog, not a see-prey-and-chase-it dog, although I'm sure there are exceptions. I don't think cats smell like something they would normally track.

There are several beagle rescue organizations out there, and if you let them know you have a cat, I'm sure they can hook you up with a cat-compatible canine.
posted by drlith at 12:11 PM on April 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

If you have adult cats and get the dog as a puppy, I imagine that the cats will put that dog in its place if it tries any funny business!
posted by radioamy at 12:17 PM on April 6, 2013 [5 favorites]

Our friends and neighbors have a beagle and three cats. The beagle has learned not to mess with the cats.
posted by infinitywaltz at 12:21 PM on April 6, 2013

My graduate school roommate had a Basset hound and a cat in the same house, and the cat was pure evil, yet they still found a way to get along.
posted by 4ster at 12:21 PM on April 6, 2013

Yep, grew up with a beagle and a cat; no issues.
posted by apparently at 12:22 PM on April 6, 2013

drlith: "Beagles are really more of a scent tracking dog, not a see-prey-and-chase-it dog, although I'm sure there are exceptions. I don't think cats smell like something they would normally track."

Same experience here. About the only thing cat-related that my beagle is interested in is the litter box, aka The Beagle Snack Buffet. So keep that away from the dog, and you should be ok.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 12:27 PM on April 6, 2013 [4 favorites]

To be the harbinger of some bad news, my now-deceased beagle mix (with pointer blood, we think) killed three cats that at various times came into our yard. She also liked to bite people, and was fairly aggressive in 'defending' the family. That said, we got her when she was five from a rescue organization, and think she was originally trained as a guard dog. A younger dog that had been socialized better would probably be fine with a cat.
posted by tooloudinhere at 12:37 PM on April 6, 2013

My beagle was rescued when she was six or seven, and had been chained up by herself her entire life, except for when she was bred. She lives with two cats, and they're all friends. Sometimes she'll chase my cat, but it's a friendly way, and she stops as soon as he wants to stop. Also, sometimes the cats chase her.
posted by itsamermaid at 12:54 PM on April 6, 2013

Oh, but yes, my beagle loves eating some cat snacks (aka tootsie rolls, aka turds) and can find them even on walks. She's probably nice to the cats just in case they'll provide her with her favorite treat.
posted by itsamermaid at 12:56 PM on April 6, 2013 [2 favorites]

When we brought a beagle pup to live in our one-cat household, the cat found an opportunity to corner the dog and beat it up. A claw was thrust through one beagley ear and torn out sideways, leaving a permanent notch. Thereafter the dog gave the cat a wide berth; anytime he got too close and curious, the cat subtlely lifted a paw like a gangster opening a jacket to make a gun visible, and the dog would instantly and deferentially duck away.
posted by jon1270 at 1:50 PM on April 6, 2013 [3 favorites]

We had a Beagle first, then got a cat years later. By that time, the Beagle was more mature and laid-back and accepted the cat with no problem. The cat (kitten) basically grew-up with the Beagle around and never had an issue. I think that we introduced the Beagle to the kitten helped the Beagle understand it was cool. The two lived peacefully together.

FWIW, the Beagle never went after any other cats that strayed into our yard.

Now, after the Beagle died, we tried introducing another dog into our home and the now-grown cat wouldn't have any of it. It was kind of ugly.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:47 PM on April 6, 2013

Get your beagle from a beagle rescue group (I did!). Most beagle rescue groups will vet their dogs for their relative cat-friendliness.
posted by kellygreen at 3:12 PM on April 6, 2013 [4 favorites]

We brought home a 2-year-old rescued beagle early in February to join a young cat we'd rescued from the streets about 2 months previously. I was very worried over the first few days because Nicholas was quite aggressive with our tiny cat Ms. Puma, who absolutely refused to back down. She had access to a room where Nicholas couldn't enter (via a small hole in the door) but she wouldn't retreat when challenged.

When we put Ms. Puma in the room and shut the door, Nicholas would stare obssesively at the door and bark. We had Nicholas on a leash any time the cat was in the room to prevent a real clash.

I was surprised how quickly (a single visit from a professional trainer) we were able to start moving Nicholas' behavior to a less confrontational stance. (Feeding Nicholas with treats when he stayed in the room and played with us rather than strain at the leash to get the cat and giving him timeouts when he persisted in aggression.)

That gave me to confidence to allow some controlled contact, which Nicholas had to get the worse of a couple of time in the form of a cat scratch on the snout over the course of the next week. Ten days after Nicholas came home, they had established a modus vivendi. Ms. Puma now will retreat when she needs to, apparently confident she isn't losing permanent right to her territory. Getting a real dog gate so that Nicholas can see Ms. Puma in her room and she can see what's going on outside it seemed to help a lot.

Nicholas still sometimes barks a Ms. Puma, and she will sometimes swat at him. Ms. Puma eats in her own room. But we are completely comfortable leaving the animals alone together.
posted by layceepee at 3:17 PM on April 6, 2013

We had five cats when we got our Siberian Husky puppy. The cats quickly established who was boss... five years later the cats are still boss. Huskies are known to have a strong prey drive, but she considers these cats just stupid (don't know how to play!) members of the pack.
posted by HuronBob at 4:30 PM on April 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

I recommend testing the individual beagle (or any dog or any breed) with the cat, and introduce slowly and carefully. Even better - get your dog from a shelter that does behavior evaluations that include cat-testing. My local animal shelter gets lovely beagles in quite often, and they're often fine with cats. But sometimes, like any dog, they're not.
posted by walla at 6:00 PM on April 6, 2013

I moved my ragdoll (world's most defenseless cat) into a share house recently with a 10 year old beagle. There has been no chasing, barking, swatting or trouble. There has been one hiss and one 'gangster paw raise' as described by jon1270. There has been a bit of 'BeagleLucy you are loving CatJimmy a little too much right now' but so far things are great. They have even shared a sofa.

This happened because I knew Lucy the beagle had some cat friends before. I realise a 10 year old beagle is going to give less grief than a pup, but you can either get a young dog and make kitties a part of its life or get an older dog who is used to them. Also, knowing my cat is not 'fighty' reassured me that things wouldn't be exacerbated by him, but I was concerned as Jimmy isn't very familiar with dogs.

Happily the beagle doesn't eat from the litter tray, but will clean up insufficiently guarded cat food at light speed.

tl;dr: Socialisation is entirely possible, but not a guaranteed result with any particular animal whatever the breed. Consider an older dog with a cat history is you are really concerned.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 7:10 PM on April 6, 2013 [1 favorite]

I have a story:

We already had a cat, Rose. She was used to being an only pet, at 5 years old. We've had her since she was a kitten.

When we got a house, we planned on getting a dog. We wanted an adult beagle. We just accidentally found him before we were ready (as in, the day we were moving in).
It was Christmas eve. He had been abandoned at the shelter. He'd been there 6 months. He didn't even have a name. We had no idea how he would react to cats.
We knew Rose wouldn't be happy.

We named him Clover.

It's been 2 years. The bedroom is off limits to him - a dog gate keeps it a cat-only zone.
He LOVES her (and all cats). He makes puppy eyes. He tries to get her to play. He's kind of nervous around other dogs. She quickly learned to make him back off with a swat or a hiss. He still makes her nervous (just by being big and smelly and noisy), but he's not allowed on furniture at all so she always has high ground.
She tolerates him. With a gangsta paw.

Pretty much anyone can attest that Rose is not a very friendly cat (I think she's a love bucket, but I'm her human-slave).
Pretty much everyone agrees that Clover is the best dog ever.



Good luck finding a compatible dog!
posted by Zebulias at 9:13 PM on April 10, 2013 [1 favorite]