Expert: Ali - 2/10/2009

Question
Hi Ali.

I have 2 cats, both male, both neutered, both 9 months of age.
My boyfriend moved in and brought his 4 month old puppy with him.
She has been with us for a day now.
The cats DO NOT LIKE IT!!!

How can we help my cats? They growl and attack her and chase her around the house.
I am trying to let them understand that the routine isn't changing at all. They still sleep with me, they still eat in the same place, they still get playtime, they still get to go outside.

The puppy just wants to play with them but they want nothing to do with her, and will attack her.

Help?

Answer
Kayla,

Cats are very territorial animals and they don't actually like change much. It's also worth noting that dogs are predators (especially if they're larger than the cat and don't have any manners to speak of yet). The best thing that you can do is to keep the dog leashed or confined around the cats and allow them some time to get comfortable with the idea of a new "sibling". The odd swat across the nose when the dog steps out of line is an effective teaching tool when it comes to teaching the dog about boundaries and space. Making sure that the dog gets a couple of long walks every single day to drain her energy before even trying to get the cats comfortable with her being on leash in the house is important. The dog should never be allowed to interact with the cats unsupervised until they are all comfortable with one another. It's very important to understand that dogs don't exactly win awards for subtlety, cats prefer not to be chased or pounced on by a dog. From a cat's perspective dogs are very rude and they're also potential predators so the cats are perfectly within their rights to be a bit snippy. Caring for the pup and cats will be challenging for the first while, but if you are patient you should be able to cope. I do think that in this case it might be worth bringing in a behaviorist to help get things back on track before things get uglier or anyone gets hurt (human, canine or feline). Having the dog in the household with the cats can be done, but it's important that you and your boyfriend understand that this will take some time, patience and training for the dog and the cats. Once the dog stops being rambunctious with the cats the cats should probably learn to live and let live. I would recommend that you provide a sturdy, tall cat tree to allow the cats to get somewhere up high and out of the dog's reach. I would also think that providing the cats with a room or two that is closed to the dog by way of a baby gate where the cats can go to get away from the dog will be important. It's also smart to begin feeding the cats on shelves of a high cat tree or even on top of shelves mounted to a wall outside of the dog's reach because cat food is fairly high in protein and dogs really like it so in order to make sure that the cats are getting food they need it's best to keep kitty kibble away. Dogs also have a disgusting habit of eating cat feces for the same reason as they eat cat food, it's high in protein, if you don't want the dog to search out his own "cookies" the litter box needs to be accessible only to the cats. If the dog scares the cats in the litter boxes it could cause serious problems with house soiling that may take a fair amount of work to fix. Keeping a couple of cats and a puppy together can be done, but you need to consider the cats' needs, it's not fair to them to be tormented relentlessly in their home by a dog, by the same token cats will defend themselves from the dog and the dog doesn't really need scratches on his face and nose much of the time.