Dogs and Cats Living Together: The First Meetingby Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger 08 Jan 2009 01:43 PM The big move is this weekend, so we all thought it would be a good idea to bring my dogs over a few times to meet my roommates' cats. First things first: we got a fancy pet gate with a human-sized door and a kitty-sized door and installed it in the hallway. My roommates M. and S. have been encouraging the cats to think of the master bedroom as their "safe space" -- their food, water, beds, and toys are all there. So hopefully the cats will know to run there if they're spooked. Once the gate was up and secure and the kitties had a few days to settle in, we exchanged bedding. Moose and Lally got to get a good sniff of the bed and blanket Shiro and Kachiko use. The cats got the same chance with one of the dog beds. My pups were very interested at first, but the bedding quickly became background scenery. We had the first actual meeting the other day. The dogs had been over to the new place before the cats moved in. The cats have had a few days to settle in (Shiro has been very stressed over the move). I called ahead so they could close the gate and get the cats into the bedroom. Then I walked the dogs a bit so they wouldn't be frantic or energetic when we showed up. After a walk, my dogs are usually a little mellower than they are before a walk. I brought the dogs in and they ran around the living room sniffing the furniture and boxes. It actually took a minute for either dog to notice that there was something behind that gate. But Shiro (who was standing at the gate) sure noticed. He poofed up like a Halloween cat -- back arched and tail puffed -- and started to back down the hall sideways. Poor little boy! (Kachiko wisely stayed in the bedroom and watched from afar.) Moose and Lally finally noticed the cats and went to the gate to sniff. I was worried that there would be barking and lunging, but there was neither. Lally grumbled a little, but nobody tried to get through or over the gate. We kept it short and sweet -- less than five minutes -- and will do more visits as the week goes on. I'm actually moving on Saturday and Sunday, so that gives us a few more days to help get the pets adjusted to the idea before they have to share space. Wish us luck! Learn more about Aimee Amodio  Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover... Relevantpets tags User Comments Samual (11722) 08 Jan 2009 02:03 PMWe have a cat with dogs and she is fine with them, our dogs aren't interested in cats at all, so thats good, we did have two cats, we had a similar experience to you actually and our second cat puffed up all her fur on the first meeting and we had to let her go as she was always scared of the dogs. Community Tags cat behavior, dog behavior, dogs and cats, Lally, Moose Discuss this article
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