Pet Integration

[Cmdr Data]

Similarly to humans, animals don't always mesh. This can be a tricky dynamic when deciding to add a family pet to a home with an existing family pet. For instance, I have introduced multiple animals to different existing sets of animals. My current set up consists of 2 bonded cats (6 and 7 years old) and an 8 month old puppy. My wife and I introduced the cats when they were 2 and 3 years old. They meshed well after a few weeks and are now inseparable. However, we had more trouble with the dog. We adopted him a month ago. He's hyper active and everything a puppy should be at that age. He also has some form of herd breed in him (Border Collie probably). It took us 3 weeks to get the dog in a position to where we trusted him around our cats. The squirt bottle was a huge friend of ours during this process.

What pet integration stories do you have? How did you overcome tricky situations? What training procedures did you utilize?

 

[Andrew]

Had an issue with a new pregnant mother cat and her kittens (outdoors cats to catch mice) we have an adolescent german shepherd who was raises by are much much older dog (these are the snake killers)...
Anyway the shepard is used to chasing the neighbors cats so she automatically wanted to play with the mamma cat.
I just held the cat on my lap and let the dog do it's thing, she got to close and the cat clawed at her, I said "no" to the dog and she walked in circles with anticipation.
She did it again and again and couldn't get the hint.
When the cat had babies we kept them under the porch away from the dog with a little uncovering big enough for her to go in and out but to small for the dog. Its a black cat and under the porch all you see is her eyes, the dog would snoop around it and before she even knew what hit her the cat came out hissing and chasing the dog away... the dog still wanted to play. The kittens are about 2 months old and a few had gone missing, probably climbed up into one the engines... anyway they all get along now, the dog licks on the kittens and the mom no longer runs her off. The dog sometimes wants to play with the mom but she gives her a hint with a slight hiss with one foot up and the dog goes away lol

 

[NewCreation435]

Our cat Kiki was feral when we got her. We separated her for a few weeks in a bedroom and let her eat by herself and get use to the scent. We didn't chase after her. She got use to us. It took about six months before she started approaching us. Now she gets in my face all the time demanding to be pet and loved on