Yes you guessed it. Empty nesters with a new 10 week old female puppy and D1’s 7 year old female cat who lives with us. I feel like kindergarten all over. Will get puppy in 3 days. Ideas?
My sister just lets them deal with each other (under human supervision). One of them will quickly learn to respect the other. Usually, it is the cat who teaches the puppy to behave nicely. Just make sure the cat’s claws are trimmed. Good luck!
I remember my 10 pound or less kitten sitting in the middle of the dog bed of the visiting black lab. Poor puppy didn’t know what to do. Hopefully there will be no serious issues. Good luck. Congrats.
Ah, we’re a couple of weeks ahead of you. We have an 11week old puppy and D1’s 6 year old cat so this is an “ongoing situation” in our house. When we brought the pup home he and the cat touched noses - both curious, however, the cat was not amused to find him still around next day! So far we just watch them carefully. Cat takes the high ground and they make sorties towards each other but so far both have been calm. I suspect it’s all about supervision- but that seems to be what having a puppy is all about anyway! I confess to being a bit worn out by the puppy already but fortunately DH is a gem and doing a lot of the heavy lifting (literally and figuratively). What kind of puppy ar you getting?
I still have to separate the huge Maine Coon from our male corgi…our older MC is fine with the dogs , but these two just don’t get along . I have a gate at the bottom of our stairs so keep them apart
I wouldn’t force anything. When we brought home our first dog, cat was about 10 years old at the time. They ignored each other but the cat didn’t walk on the floor for two years. She also spent a lot of time under the bed.
I’d recommend that you keep the puppy away from the cat’s food / litterbox areas for a while (and bedding if there’s one) so the cat doesn’t get territorial or defensive right off the bat. Have some treats and toys in hand during the initial intro to immediately distract the puppy once you sense the cat start to get annoyed if the puppy is showing too much interest.
Make safe areas and escape routes for your cat. I agree that keeping the cat food and littlerbox a puppy free zone. Make sure the cat can hop up on furniture, counters, etc. to get away. Perhaps keep a doggie gate across a room that would be a refuge for the cat to escape to for a while.
She is a f1b standard english goldendoodle. The cat is part asian and friendly- she once was with a female cat who was a bully and did not do well- she hid under the bed. We had a very cranky dog when we first got the cat about 2 years old. She tried to play with the dog by bringing her toys (she is a cat that acts like a dog). The dog swat at her and left it alone (dog with dementia). I just arranged a cat area for her food that is high and we already tried the arrangement for the cat. I do have a doggie gate built in the house from years ago and will use it if needed.
I am not sure how to take care of the litter box. I did not think about the cat litter box. That will be a challenge.
can the litter box go in the bathroom or mud room, etc. that can be gated off with the cat being able to get to it? Maybe adding another litter box for now on another floor or section of the house in case kitty feels threatened. Sounds like a sweet kitty, I bet things work out quickly.
Congrats RMH! Re the litter box - our cat has one that has high sides and a lid with a hole in the middle (called “clever cat”) -the cat jumps up onto the lid then down into the litter box. The sides are pretty high and IIRC they’re recommended for houses with dogs and cats - more difficult for dog to get into. Additionally, we keep it in another room. Presently we’re keeping the puppy under close supervision and keeping him in the kitchen for most of the day, he certainly isn’t allowed in the room where the cat litter is (and where the cat is fed) yet. Maybe one day in the distant future he’ll get to go in there - maybe when part of it’s been converted to a utility room!
It sounds as though your cat might want to interact with the pup - I’d thought ours would be she’s been a bit reserved. I have made an effort not to displace her as far as possible - she still sits on me at TV time and pup sits on DH. There was a funny incident when pup was sitting on my lap she came up and sat on my outstretched legs, not letting him displace her- I got the message.
This the type of litter box
We had a Clever Cat litterbox. Our calico loved it the minute I put litter in - she enjoyed the fact that the fat white cat could not get in. It was her personal, private bathroom. She always used the other box, too, to spite the other cat.
@Onetogo2 - well we got the new clever cat litter box and our cat is quite used to it. Today, I fell asleep the moment I sat down on the couch- I had been up since early AM. Yes H is doing the heavy lifting as we have three levels.
The cat food is up high on a bookshelf now. I am very surprised at the cat’s response to the situation. She really cannot stay away and is observing every move. She is taking mental notes. She is trying to be friendly to the puppy who is quite active. We are working on training the puppy be calm round the cat with snacks and praise.
I had taught the cat years ago to sit for a snack. So as she is watching me work on ‘sit’ with the puppy she comes over and sits next to me and meows for a treat.
Your cat’s probably deviously carrying out a plan to slowly lull you into complacency while patiently waiting for an opportunity to work her charms on the puppy so she’ll be her partner in future conspiracies whether it’s finding your/your H’s credit cards so they can order up a few boxes of sausage, pepperoni, and extra cheese pizzas with a few cases of beers/wine coolers or figuring out a way to "take over the world*. 
- Apologies to that cartoon show about two lab rodents obsessed with that very same goal.
Yes, I suspect that ^.
Sounds as though things are going very well. Your cat’s quite a character - perhaps she’ll help with the puppy training - modeling appropriate sitting behavior and the like. Is your puppy sleeping through the night yet? Ours is but it’s still pretty tiring and reminds me of the days when we lived with small children! Luckily puppies sleep a lot! Now if I could just motivate myself to do a bit of light house cleaning while he slumbers…
Well, cat is knowing when I am training puppy to ‘be nice’ to her and she is very clever at that time such as check the puppy’s toys, etc. No she is not sleeping through the night yet- 4 hours then up, then 4 more hours. H is more tired than I am. I am hoping puppy sleeps through the night soon. D1 was 4 when she did! I need to clean areas of the carpet again We got a Martha Stewart three part gate for the bottom of the stairs and this is making her ‘area’ except for the nighttime crate much better and more defined. Cat managed to sneak in our bedroom and hide under the bedskirt right bedside the crate- not sure how that would have gone. I can see that the communication difference of the species is problematic. It has definitely livened up the 7 year old cat and she does not sleep nearly as much.
fyi there are a lot of cute kitten meets dog/puppy meets cat type videos on YouTube. Not so much for helpful information as for entertainment. They are pretty funny sometimes.
One week update. Much better potty training with a smaller restricted area in the house.
Cat has accepted that puppy is here to stay. She is still taking notes however.
I have moved the crate out of our bedroom as there are 2 flights of stairs to outside.
Avoiding stairs for two reasons- our back carrying the now 16 lb puppy and protecting the puppies hips as she can now try to negotiate the stairs and fall. Slept through last night for the first time- all of us.