I am getting an older German Shepherd from a rescue. I have cats. Any suggestions on

[Jade]

how to introduce them? She has been tested with cats, but I would love suggestions on how to introduce them with the least stress.

 

[Valerie A]

Sorry Jade. but I would nt get the dog. I work at a cat shelter. The cats are kept in a glass enclosed room where they have free movement. The shelter is housed in a pet store where pets are welcome to come in. Much too often some owner of a dog will bring the dog over to "see the kitties." The dog will stand up on the glass.Whether it barks or not makes NO difference. THE CATS ARE TERRIFFIED. They run wildly around trying to hide. One of us workers sees and goes out and politely (and its not easy to be polite) will ask the owner to please take his or her dog away, cant they see how scared the cats are.? " OOOH but its OKAY, the ignorant dog owner will say. Because MY dog LOOOOVES cats and would NEVERRRRR hurt one.. or even "oh its ok he has a cat at home" WELL SORRY but the cats do not know that.. now please open your eyes and see what is going on. They only think about the dog. Finally when they move on and the dog leaves, the poor cats are still shaking, trying to hide behind the counter, some even vomit. or lose control of their bowels or bladder from fear. SOme go into "fight or flight" mode and start doing the displaced anger thing and start attacking one another, they wont eat at their next feeding...etc. Your cats are going to be afraid and upset. .. with good reason. A German Sheperd can kill a cat in a few seconds. DOesnt matter hes been tested with cats. YOUR cats will have the dog in their home, as an invader. It is a dogs instinct to chase and catch anything that moves fast. Cats move fast. If the animal is scared , it alerts their kill instinct and the nicest dog WILL do harm. It happened in my own house with a German Sheperd female that had beeen raised with my cats for 3 years. She spotted a skunk outside my kitchen window and went nuts circling wildly and making squeaking sounds.. then LEAPED upon the closest cat that was sleeping on a kitchen chair. grabbed it in her mouth and starting shaking it. (This was a cat she used to sleep with ) I could not pry her jaws open, she was determined to kill the cat. Finally when I did the cat ran off. limping and ran behind the sofa. Would u believe the dog actually was trying to move the sofa to get the cat? I quickly clamped the dogs leash to her collar and tied it to a table leg. I shoved the cat in a carrier and rushed it to the vet. 1400 dollars later (xrays, ultrasound and having to stay in a cage tranquilized for a week and then at home having to be caged for 5 weeks with a broken collar bone the cat came home.
I asked the vet what caused it and he said you never know what animals will do , they are NOT humans. What happened here is the dog went into kill mode when she saw the skunk and displaced her instinct to kill on the cat.
Luckily I placed the dog immediately with my friend who had always loved her and was allergic to cats and would never have one.... so PLEASE be careful what you do here. STRESS IS A MAJOR cause of serious illness in cats. do an internet search for "stress related illness in cats.."
And.. you cannot watch them every minute.. and thats all it takes for disaster.. Good luck and GOd bless....

 

[Chester176]

Put one of them in a cage, dog or cats, and let the others sniff around a bit. DO NOT let them in the same room together without being controlled until you know how they will react. I generally think that cats can be a bit cocky and, depending on the nature of your animals, i think they will probably rule the house. My dog was terrified of my cat, mainly because my cat has a short temper, but now we find them "secretly" sitting together (my cat follows my dog around a lot now). You might want to find out how they react before you adopt the dog.

 

[You Yo]

Put them in the same room, then let them do all the meeting, but make sure you are watching the pets the whole time.

 

[Bud M]

Just have the dog on a leash and let the cats sniff him up. But make sure the dog doesn't snap. I personaly think that dogs get along great with cats and I would go with a younger dog do he could get use 2 the cats more easily.