introducing a dog to 3 cats - any advice?

Question
dear tina,

perhaps your experience with "wild" cats will help with finding a safe and civilized way of successfully introducing a dog to 3 cats...

i have a boyfriend with a cute jack russel type  dog who has her own yard and has not had much contact with dogs, let alone cats.  she is about 2-3 years old and is very sweet and playful.

i own 3 male neutered cats, one of whom is 3yrs old and the other two are 11 and  13 years old but still fairly active.  they spat with each other and have the regular playful, sometimes rough fight for dominance.  

my boyfriend and i plan to move in together and he is VERY reluctant to allow his dog to come in contact with the cats.  he is afraid the cats will scratch her eyes, or that bloodshed of some sort will result. (his boyhood dog lost and eye to a catfight).   foolishly, i tried a couple of months ago to bring his dog to my house and my boyfriend and i  stayed present in the garden and supervised the interaction.  the animals were allowed to roam freely, and everything was going fine until the move inside the house - the cats surrounded the dog and she felt trapped.  though no one was hurt, there was a spat that involved barking, hissing and swatting.  

as a result of this event, my boyfriend feels that his dog and my cats will not learn to live peacefully together in the same home.  i know of many instances where cats and dogs can be trained to "tolerate" one another, but have no personal experience with this and want to look at the options.  

my boyfriend is willing to consider living together but keeping them separate forever, whereas, i think we may be able to very slowly introduce them over time.  any and ALL suggestions and warnings would be welcome.  thank you so much for your time.

viddy

Answer
Hi Viddy,

I think you can do this successfully, here are some pointers. First of all, it is always easier to introduce the animals in neutral territory. If the cats feel their home is being "invaded" they will be very defensive. If possible, arrange to bring the cats and the dog to a new location if you are moving all at once - before it is established as the cats' house or the dogs' house. If you are moving to his place or vice versa it can also be done but you have to understand that the cats consider it their house and are protecting it!

Introduce the cats one at a time, not as a "gang". The most important part is to get the animals used to eachother's smells and sounds without allowing direct contact. I am attaching a link to an article I wrote on introducing cats and dogs.

Usually it is the cat's safety that is at stake - although cats can certainly damage a dog. You need to avoid that sort of confrontation. If the cats smack at the dog that won't do any real damage but if you allow things to escalate into a real fight, cat could really scartch the dog and the dog may turn and bite the cats in defence, and maybe kill him - dogs can kill a cat with one bite to the neck.

I recommend confining either the cats or the dog to one room (usually the "new" pet goes in the room) and installing 2 pet gates stacked on top of eachother in the doorway - to make it tall enough that the cats can't jump over. This is a good way for the animals to see and smell one another but they can't chase or really harm eachother. Leave the real door closed when you are not around because pet gates can be knocked out of place, resulting in a  sudden face to face meeting that could lead to panic and therefore violence! If you can' installing a screen door in the doorway may work even better. Take everything slow and don't try face to face meetings until the animal are ignoring ecahother through the door, and then introduce one cat at a time to the dog.

Only allow supervised interactions until you are certain things are going well, and always allow your cats a place of escape, because if they feel trapped they will fight. It may be tough with a Jack Russell because they like to chase and they can climb and fit into small spaces like a cat. A tall cat tree usually provides refuge but if the dog also chases them up the tree it won't help. Having one room as the "cat room" where the litter box and their bed are is a great idea if you can. If you can install a very small cat access arch in the door to the "cat room" (a hole about 6-8" in diameter) just barely big enough for the cats and excluding the dog, then the cats have their own refuge and the dog can't get to the litterbox to eat cat poo and bother the cats when thy go to the bathroom. Cats who feel safe will not be likely to hurt the dog, and they are also protected if they know where to run if he gets carried away. It can be hard if you are renting, but I once bought a cheap door at Home Depot and cut a hole in it for the cats, took off the landlord's nice door and put up the cheap door - then when I moved out I switched them back.

Here is the article:

http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/introducing_cats.html

It's important that the dog is obedient and knows commands such as "release" and "no" and "stay" and obeys them at all times even when excited. The cats are not going to attack the dog unless they feel threatened, so if you can keep the dog quiet and still when they see him they will just investigate. Get them used to the smell of him and the distant sight and sound of him first!

Here are some more tips:

http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_Cat.html

http://www.anticruelty.org/pet_info/pet_info_dogcat_intro_dogcat.html

http://petcaretips.net/cat_dog_introduce.html

Good luck!