Hello - I haven’t posted before but I saw this thread and thought I’d answer because I've just gone through the whole 'introducing a puppy to cats' task....and lived to tell the tail ( pun intended!)!
We have just got a beautiful Cocker Spaniel called Madison, and we already have a Siamese and Oriental.
Baggy - my boy, who is a typical male and very laid back but my girl, Alaska, is, well, not….
in any way! Alaska was so traumatized when I looked after a friends baby rabbit for one day that I thought she might need therapy!
She is a bossy and stubborn individual around us but I can’t emphasis enough how sensitive she is to anything unfamiliar. We had wanted a dog for some time but Alaska was the reason we had always hesitated, I was genuinely worried about not only the initial introduction but how a puppy/dog would effect her long-term - would she ever accept one and might she become introverted and unhappy in the long-term is she didn’t?
Anyway, we saw Madison, fell in love with her and decided to give it our best shot. I looked around and tried to get advice on the best way to introduce cats and dogs and there was a lot of good suggestions out there. But I decided to go with my instincts and try something that I had already thought about which might work for introducing any new animal to our home. I had observed that when we were in the garden and a neighborhood cat had wandered in Alaska had not reacted in her normal way (when we bought in Baggy a couple of years ago she sulked, growled and hissed for such a long time that I started to panic and wonder if she would ever accept him). It seemed to me that she considered the garden ‘neutral territory’ and so I decided to let her meet the puppy there. On the day of getting Madison we took her straight out to the garden where the cats sat and observed her thought the window and then I sat and held her while they where let out. This was the moment I was dreading and both cats strode towards the puppy and I and…..just carried on walking straight past us and to Madison’s bowl of food where they continued to gobble up all her dried biscuits (I don’t feed my cats dried so biscuits are a real treat for them!).
And that was that - the big event, the traumatic experience we had been bracing ourselves for! We spent a few more hours in the garden and then by the time we were ready to bring everyone in, the cats couldn’t are less about the puppy. In fact by the evening I had the cats fast asleep on me and William was next to me with Madison snoring in his arms.
That was nearly two weeks ago and things are going so well.
Madison, who is such a gentle and sweet natured little girl, has fitted to our family. The cats are kind and patient with her and will correct her if they think she needs it. They stroll around the garden together in a little posse and Alaska even tries to get Madison to chase her (although we try and discourage that just because Maddy isn’t always going to be so small). I think the cats really like having a vibrant little person around to watch and hang out with. We are so glad we decided to go ahead and get Madison.
Madison...
Alaska and Madison just a few days after getting her....
06-06-2008, 01:04 PM
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