Introducing a rescue cat

[Homer'sCru]

Hi there,

I was hoping some one might have some good advice for me (and I apologise in advance if this post turns out long - which knowing me it probably will do!).

My partner and I have a 16month old staffie called Homer. He's absolutely a lovely dog, very friendly, just wants to play all the time with everyone etc. We've invested a lot of time and effort into training him and are for the most part quite pleased (sure he has his naughty/boisterous moments, but generally he's very good and responsive to our commands).

Anyway after thinking it over we decided we wanted to rescue a cat (we would've liked another dog, but knew that would require a LOT more time and effort than we could give, and as our dog can sometimes be a handful on walks I didn't really like the idea of being responsible for controlling 2 - especially since I'm the one who does the majority of walks).
We'd taken our dog round to my parents who have 6 cats and have had them look after him for a few days before - whilst most of the cats didn't brave sticking around whilst he's there, the ones that did he didn't seem to pay attention to. What had made me feel a lot more relaxed about rescuing a cat was seeing him trying to entice one of my parent's cats into playing a game with him (I thought him wanting to play with them was a good thing since to me it had inferred acceptance, having now gotten a cat home which I've estimated he's probably 6-7x their weight, I've realised that with his boisterous nature and weight, him wanting to play is actually a scary thing!).

We're still in the early stages of their introduction as we've not quite had her a week. We started with them just getting used to one another's scent without meeting, allowing them to sniff each other through a slightly open door, getting them to eat on opposite sides of a closed door - building up to eating with the door slightly ajar, and now eating on opposite sides of the pet gate so that they're clearly visible to one another. We also got them to meet face to face for a few minutes at a time - giving them time to sniff one another whilst trying to keep our dog from getting over excited by using commands. At this point a few times a day we're enabling her to wander freely round the house sniffing, whilst he is off lead but being kept calm and in the one spot through commands and treats. We've tried to keep these meetings short to help build up positive experiences with one another.

I've just finished with one of these such sessions. She was very friendly (the shelter had told us she absolutely loved dogs), rubbing herself against him back and forth and then rolling on her belly and putting her paws up to his face. But I think he may have misinterpreted this body language as "play" - he got into a play bow, with her between his 2 front paws and looked like he was about to start trying to play (our dog particularly likes rough and tumble games - having seen him play with puppies before he does seem to adjust to their delicateness and isn't quite as full on, but then he can also seem quite reckless at time!). The cat seemed a bit unnerved by this (and I can't really blame her, if I was her size with him I would be as well!) - she gave a very light swipe and got off her back. I was at this point already intervening - I don't think he would be malicious but I am very much aware of his boisterous nature and size, and it does really worry me to think that she may be accidentally hurt or even killed just by him wanting to play.

Anyway I was hoping some one might be able to give me advice over their introductions, and what to do if our dog starts trying to play - I did think as soon as he tries to play I remove him (though he's off lead at the minute, should I put him back on?) though then would removing him when he's trying to have fun lead to negative associations or frustration that makes him even more excitable the next time he sees her?

[DogzRule1996]

Maybe you should buy a gate and separate them for a while and let them COMPLETELY get used to each first BEFORE you truly introduce them to one another. Since he's still a puppy, he's probably still trying to register what this new playing toy is. To him the cat is a toy that moves and rubs against him and talks, but in a different language. He doesn't understand yet that it's a cat and he is to respect it. Separate them for a while and slowly introduce them, maybe put him on a leash if you're scared. I'm sure he won't hurt the cat, but just to be on the safe side, you know?

[Scuttlebutt]

I'd say keep doing what you are doing with the introductions - as the cat is already known to like dogs I would expect her to have an idea of when to get out of the way, and as long as you're there to intervene and allow her to move away without being followed by the dog they should start to develop their own boundaries and learn how to get along. If you're worried about negative associations by removing him when he tries to play you could try not actually removing him but instead using a command like "gently" and perhaps getting hold of him until he seems calm again just to make him aware that he can't play like that with the cat.

We got two semi-feral cats at a time when we had three dogs and we didn't exactly 'introduce' them as the cats were living outside, but we did have to keep an eye on them and call the dogs off regularly to start with as they thought it was a good game to chase the cats! They've sorted themselves out though and now one of the cats is such good friends with the dogs that she comes up to the door and miaows for them to come out and see her.

Hope it continues to go well for you