Dogs and Cats Living Together: Not What We Expected

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

21 Jan 2009 10:01 AM

Before my dogs met my roommates' cats, we had lots of talks about how we thought it would go. We discussed the best ways to introduce them, what to do if things went wrong, and our dreams of animal harmony.

I thought Lally, my boxer/shar-pei mix, would be the problem child. When we're out walking, she can be quite a cat chaser. If she saw cats inside the apartment, I figured she'd be trying to run them down. (I'm not sure what she'd do with a cat if she ever caught one, but that doesn't stop her from trying.)

My roommates thought Shiro, their scaredy cat, would have a very hard time with the dogs around. He was adopted as a kitten, and has always been an indoor-only cat -- so he's had little to no experience with the canine kind.

Some pet parents we are. It turns out that all our predictions were wrong!

Lally has been less interested in the kitties than Moose has. When the door to the cats' room is open, Moose sits at the gate and tries desperately to get attention from the humans: barking or whistling through his nose. I wonder if he's jealous that some other creature might get pets before he does? He can be quite an attention hog.

In the case of the cats, "chicken" Shiro has been brave enough to venture into the door way and a few steps down the hall when the door is open. Kachiko (who has been known to actually howl at other cats when she sees them through the window) is not so brave when it comes to meeting the pups.

It's only been two weeks or so since we started introducing the cats to the dogs. Over time, they'll get used to each other. I don't know if our dreams of cats and dogs cuddled up together will ever come true, but I'm not giving up hope just yet!

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Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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