Как да отглеждате куче и котка заедно

Before they meet: check the match

Some pairings are easier than others. A young dog raised around cats, or a calm adult dog with a known history of ignoring them, is a far safer bet than a dog with a strong urge to chase small animals. Terriers, sighthounds and some herding breeds often have a stronger chase instinct, although individual dogs vary a lot within every breed.

If you are adopting, ask the rescue what it knows about the dog around cats. An honest answer may be that nobody knows yet, and that is still useful, because it tells you to plan for a slower start. When you send us an adoption inquiry, tell us about any cat at home, and we can talk it through before you meet the dog.

The cat matters as much as the dog. A confident adult cat that has lived with dogs before will cope very differently from a nervous cat that has never seen one up close. Kittens and puppies usually adapt fastest, but a kitten is small and fragile, and a large puppy can hurt it by accident during play. If the cat joining your home is a kitten, see caring for a new kitten for its first days at home.

Young animals often make it look easy. The day after we found Milky Cyrus, a small white puppy, she got to know a kitten we had also taken in, and the two of them explored a quiet yard together. An adult dog meeting an adult cat for the first time needs the slower plan below.

Set up the house first

Before the dog arrives, give the cat a part of the home the dog will never enter. A spare room behind a baby gate works well, as long as the gate has a gap or a cat door the cat can use and the dog cannot. That room should hold everything the cat needs: food, water, a litter box, a bed and something to climb.

• Put the litter box where the dog cannot reach it. Many dogs eat cat feces, and a cat that gets ambushed in the box may start going somewhere else.
• Feed the cat up high or behind a gate. Dogs love cat food, and a rich diet meant for cats can upset a dog's stomach.
• Add height to every shared room: shelves, a cat tree, the top of a cleared bookcase. A cat that can always get above the dog rarely needs to fight.
• Keep clear exits. A cat cornered behind a sofa is far more likely to lash out than one with a route to leave.

Keep the two diets apart for the cat's sake too. Cats need certain nutrients, such as taurine, that dog food does not supply in the right amounts, so a cat that regularly fills up from the dog's bowl can end up poorly fed over time.

Scent first, then sight

For the first few days, let the animals smell each other without seeing each other. Swap their bedding, or rub a soft cloth on the dog's cheeks and leave it near the cat's food, then do the same the other way around. Let each animal explore the other's area while the other one is shut away.

Watch the reactions. Curiosity, a quick sniff and then walking away are all good signs. A cat that hisses at a blanket is telling you to slow down, and spending an extra week on this stage costs you nothing.

Once the scent has become boring to both of them, let them see each other through a baby gate or a door opened a few inches, with the dog on a leash. Do this at mealtimes, or with the best treats you have, so that the sight of the other animal predicts something good. Keep sessions to a few minutes and end them while both animals are still calm.

Reward the dog for looking at the cat and then looking back at you. That small habit is one of the most useful things you can teach, because it shows the dog that the cat is not something to fixate on. If the dog cannot take its eyes off the cat, move further back and try again the next day.

Move closer only when the dog can lie down near the gate and the cat can walk past without running. For some pairs that takes three days. For others it takes a month or longer, and both are normal.

The first shared room

The first meetings without a barrier should happen with the dog on a leash and the cat free to come and go. Sit with the dog, keep the leash loose and reward calm behavior. Never carry the cat over to introduce it. A cat that feels trapped can scratch you or the dog, and it learns that the dog means being held against its will.

Let the cat decide how close to get. Many cats will watch from a high shelf for days before they come down. When the dog stays relaxed through several sessions in a row, you can let the leash trail on the floor while you supervise, so you can still step on it.

Reading their body language

Most trouble shows up in body language well before anyone moves. Learn the early signs and end the session at the first one, rather than waiting for a lunge or a swipe.

• Worrying signs in the dog: a hard, fixed stare, a stiff body, a lowered head as if stalking, whining or trembling with excitement, and ignoring food or your voice.
• Worrying signs in the cat: ears turned back or flat, a puffed-up tail, hissing or growling, hiding for long stretches, and a low, crouched walk.
• Good signs: the dog glances at the cat and looks away, both animals eat normally in the same room, and each one mostly ignores the other.

That last point surprises people. Mutual indifference is a great result. Real friendship, with shared naps and grooming, may follow in time, but a peaceful truce is a perfectly good goal on its own.

Living together for the long term

Keep the cat's safe room and high routes even after things settle. Separate the animals when you leave the house until you are completely sure of them, which can mean months. A puppy that is gentle at four months may play much harder at eight, so keep supervising as the dog grows.

Do not allow chasing, even when it looks like a game. Chasing is fun for most dogs and frightening for most cats, and a dog that practices it gets better at it. Teach a reliable "leave it" and a settle on a mat, and use them before the dog gets excited rather than after.

Give each animal some time with you alone. Cats often lose out when a new dog takes over the living room, and a cat that feels pushed aside may start spraying, or grooming itself until its fur thins in patches. Both can also have medical causes, so mention them to your vet. A daily play session of a few minutes with a wand toy helps it settle.

When to get help

Call a vet if the cat stops eating, hides nearly all the time, or starts urinating outside the litter box. Stress can set off real illness in cats, including painful bladder inflammation, and a cat that eats nothing for more than a day can quickly become seriously ill. A male cat straining in the litter box with little or nothing coming out needs a vet immediately, because it can mean a blocked bladder.

Bring in a qualified behaviorist if the dog keeps fixating on the cat after several weeks of careful work, or if there has already been an attack. Some dogs should not live with cats, and recognizing that early is kinder to both animals than hoping it will pass. If you adopted from us, write to us and describe what is happening between the two animals, since we stay in contact with adopting families and help where we can.