Introducing Our Elderly Cat to Our New Puppy - Any Ideas?

[Catalina]

We are due to be bringing home our new Jack Russell puppy at the end of this week and I'm a bit worried about how our 15-year-old cat is going to react! He is very soft with all the family members but can be quite vicious towards dogs - he stands his ground and goes for them!

I have bought some catnip powder to put on the dog's back as this is something that I've read about in a book - I don't know if this will just make Sooty like the puppy rather toooo much?

If anyone has any experience of having to do this themselves or if you have any ideas, I would love to hear from you.

[yola]

Hi, no personal experience but we have several puppy owners currently who will I'm sure, be along with some pearls of wisdom shortly. Welcome though :D

[angieh]

Hello Catalina and welcome. No experience here of dogs I'm afraid, but as Yola says we do have many members who are so I hope you get some good ideas soon.

[pookyandjo]

Hi Catalina and welcome to Catsey!

no experience with dogs here either... sorry :(...
just two cats one of which sometimes thinks they are a dog im sure! :)

[Catalina]

(...
just two cats one of which sometimes thinks they are a dog im sure! :)

Oh I think that's something common to many a cat . . . except of course they believe they are much the superior animal!

[borderdawn]

If I put catnip on my dogs's backs, the Cats would leap on them and claw into them, seriously! Id never do that.

You need to play it by ear. if the Cat immediately puts the pup in its place, you wont have a problem, but if the pup frightens the Cat, you may have to rethink things. Id wait to see how things go first.

[Shelley123]

Hi Catalina,
welcome to Catsey.
We have two 13 year ols Cats and have introduced our Basenji pup to them last week.
At the moment it is the hardest thing to deal with but i do believe that with a lot of work and time things will work out.
One of our cats is quite nervous and feisty so we have to be realy careful.
The first day home Malaika was wary of the cats but quickly became bolder, sniffing and lunging etc.
We watch her constantly when she is near the cats and tell her to leave, if she takes no notice we spray her with a spray bottle. The idea is to not let her see where the water comes from. We are having some success with this. We praise her if she is calm around them.
I agree with borderdawn and would be wary about putting catnip on the pup. It tends to whip our cats up and make them claw the rug etc.
I give the cats catnip/treats when Malaika is safely in her crate.

[dandysmom]

No experience here either; strictly a cat person. Good luck.

[Jeanette]

My experience is almost 7 years old, so I dont know how much I remember, but..

I came home with Luna (puppy), sat her on the floor and let her investigate. Oliver (cat 7 years old at the time) lived - more or less - on top up the cupboards for about 4 months (he must have come down sometimes, cos his litterbox were in the bathroom).

Luna had the hallway, when I was at work, and I had child-gates in the doorway to the kitchen and livingroom. So Oliver could move about in the kitchen undisturbed. The litterbox was on top of the washingmachine, so Luna couldnt reach that.

After 4 months he started to come down and then it slowly got better.

They dont sleep cuddled up together, but they greet eachother, if Luna has been out on walks and such. Oliver comes and rubs his head on her while he purrs, and Luna will give him a facewash:lol:

But I didnt really do much, I let them handle it themselves.

[FayRose]

Do you intend to crate your pup? We always have, as much for the pups' sake as for the cats and other animals. It gives them all 'time out' whilst at the same time keeping them all in the same area and allowing them to safely get used to each other.
When the cats have examined the safely crated pup, and it is then met out of the crate, we have never had any problem, though maybe we have just been lucky. If the cats 'smack' a cheeky dog though, we never intervene but let them sort it out themselves.
Following photo includes a rescue spaniel that has only been with us 3 months.
http://www.onetruemedia.com/media/13/a84d3a66ec428aa1/7f603f40b64b1b10_large.jpg

[angieh]

That is a gorgeous photo FayRose. A crate is a very good solution - I had a small one for Pip when he first came to me as a very small kitten as I wasn't sure if Kizzy would accept him at first and I wanted to make sure he was safe at night.

[Aquatic]

Hi and welcome to catsey by the way.

I'm kind of a bit late but oh well.
I've never introduced a puppy to a cat.
But when I had Felix as a kitten he and my dog stayed away from each other for a while my dog would come over sniff him then walk off but after a week or so they were friends well kind of. :-D