Introducing a cat to dogs

[angie7]

So this is a new one for me. I've always had a ton of animals but this is a new situation as I've always introduced kittens to dogs, not full grown cats. We had a beautiful, black female cat less then a year old wander up to our house 2 months ago. We are renovating another house and we took her out there to be a mouser (she's inside/outside) Well she is just the sweetest thing in the entire world. I have never met a cat as sweet as this one is. We are moving into that house next week and we are wanting her to get use to the dogs before we move, thinking it will be less stressful if we do it slowly vs. just throwing 4 large dogs in the house with her.

So I took my Great Dane to the new house yesterday to meet her. My GD is very gentle and very loving and absolutely wouldn't hurt this cat. Wrong thing to do. When the cat first seen her, she was gone to the upstairs. I went up, calmed her down and carried her about halfway down the stairs. My GD was standing at the bottom of the stairs just looking up, not really paying much attention to her at all. One of my kids made a noise in another room and my GD just turned her head to look and our cat freaked out!

Needless to say, I was bloodied. I didn't try to hold her but she still managed to get me. She sliced my ear wide open, I have 2 large scratches that are already bruised on my arms. She put holes in my sweatshirt from her claws and she managed to pee on me all at the same time! After this, I tended to my wounds, put the dog outside and managed to calm her down again, and I put her in the basement, away from the dog.

So now what? The reason I took my Dane is b/c she is the calmest one I have. My other dogs would be all over her sniffing her. They are all cat friendly as they live with one now and have several in the past. I'm not sure how to make this introduction go smoothly. Should I just move everyone in together and in time, things will work themselves out or ?

Also, she has met my other cat once. That was right after she found us, I brought her inside to see the kids and my other cat was on the counter. She hissed at him and that was it. He didn't react and kept on doing what he was doing

So what advice can you give me?? TIA!

[MaWhit]

Make sure she always has a place to escape, let her go at her own pace (don't hold her), and give her time. Take a blanket or something that smells like the cat to the dogs, so they can sniff it out in advance and hopefuly not be as interested in her.

It's okay if she runs off and is scared at first. She'll come around in her own time.

[greenmagick]

I would say, as long as you know your dogs wont hurt her just let her go. When I introduced a new cat (he was aronund 7-9 months, so young, but not a total kitten either) he was horrified, hitting scratching, etc. I put him in the spare bedroom with a litter box and food and then locked the door open using a eye and hook. The dogs couldnt get in, and he could come out when ready. It took a bit of time, and the first couple times he ventured out it was pure pandemonium (I did either shut the door completely or crate the dogs if I was going to be gone long in the beginning) but they figured it out pretty quickly. Now he loves dogs

I did a variation of this with my first cat (she was about three) but without the room, She had plenty of places to get away though....she too came around after a bit.

HTH!

[angie7]

Thanks! We plan on putting a cat door in our basement door so the cats can have their own little area if they want it plus it keeps the litterbox out of the main level of the house. But we also plan to put the dogs down their occasionally too. I already have recliners and I plan to get a couch or 2 for them to lay on. That way, when we have company or parties, I don't have to worry about the animals and they will be safe and comfy.

I think I'm just going to wing it, sorta speak and let them all settle in with time. She's highly adaptable so I think once she realizes that they won't hurt her, she will be okay. I just hope we still see her during this time. The kids love her and like I said, she is so super sweet.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Odds are she has had some run ins with dogs who where trying to do her harm so it will take her a long time to adapt to dogs and figure out they dont want to eat her.