Cat adapting to a new dog

Question
Hello Mr. Auspitz: We have a 5-year old mixed breed cat. She is generally a nice cat; although, she has never liked being picked up or held. We had a somewhat aggressive dog when we adopted this cat and they got along OK and never hurt each other. Our dog passed away and after a 6 month period, we adopted a 15 month old dog. This dog is a much nicer animal overall. Our problem is that our cat is deathly afraid of the dog. She now hides in our basement wall neat out house heater where no one can get to her. This has been going on now for just over 2 months. We relocated the cat's food and water near her hiding place as well as her litter box. She eats at night and does her business, but does not come out when the dog is around or anytime when we can see her. I have seen her 2 or 3 times when I got home very late and she knows the dog is in our bedroom with the door closed. She is friendly with lots of purring and cat rubbing. We need to find a solution to integrate the two of them. The dog is really quite harmless and we don't know what to do. Our cat cannot live in the basement wall indefinetly. Any ideas or guideance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You, Bill

Answer
Bill,

Does she come out of hiding if you crate the dog?  If so, in time she will, eventually figure it out if you keep your dog crated in your bedroom.

My guess is that the dog is too puppy like and unpredictable for her right now.  She is misconstruing puppy enthusiasm as a threat <sigh>.  Early on, I suspect, she probably ran from the dog and it gave chase, frightening her very much.

One thing that sometimes works, but will be somewhat traumatic, is to crate the cat with a litter pan and food and water dishes in the middle of the room where she constantly is exposed to the dog.  In time, she may figure out that the dog is not going to hurt her.  If she cannot run, the dog cannot chase her.  

In time, as she gets used to the dog and knows the dog will not chase her, she should warm up to the dog.  However, there are never any guarantees!

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm.