Meeting a fury girl...

[Tilo]

I intend on volunteering at this cat sanctuary; but I ''liked'' them on facebook soon after my Panthaurus passed away last month, cause I like their beautiful cats they have up for adoption, well a few weeks ago they posted a beautiful picture of a kitty, & I just fell in love with her, & I haven't even met her. My guy was very against another cat we even argued about it *not sure why*; his reasons to not get another cat were pretty pathetic too, he said I was just filling my empty heart with whatever, & that I am trying to replace my previous cat, & I thought if I was just trying to fill the hole in my heart I would've picked any cat & believe me there's a dozen up for adoption.

So with his firm "no" I was crushed, so I offered to the foster a little money to help feed, & emailing other cat sanctuaries that could possibly take the cat...

Well I talked to my guys best friend the other day, & he totally agreed with me on another furkid... I just want another kitty to love. Well he said to f*ck what my guy said & he was going to get me that kitty, so now he's swayed the pendulum & my guy is "somewhat" interested in another furkid; even though Gooba was exclusively mine...

So today at 4p I might be meeting her; she's getting her FIV test in an hour, the vet said she wasn't showing any symptoms of FIV but I asked the foster to please get the test done cause it's important... I'm a little nervous she might not like me though

She's a little over a year old, fixed, up to date on shots, great with dogs, & non-agressive...

Wish me luck, I hope she likes me.

[Dewclaw]

I'd love to see pics of her. Good luck!

[Rhyela]

Good luck Tilo!!! And yes, we will demand pics!

[Tilo]

So here's Miss Jynx... our new adopted cat... we're trying to curb our dog who's a lot smaller than her, from chasing her. We've taken Bacon (our dog) over to her when she's out, they sniff no growls no hissing. We have Miss Jynx out, on our lap she's not much for laps but she tolerates it, with the dog near by, praising the dog for not going in chase mode, & if she starts to she goes in the crate...

I've also had our dog on a leash around the cat so she knows the dog can be controlled; we're going on almost a month now of having the cat, & obviously the cat stays clear of both dogs even though one is more uninterested in her than our dog.

Right now, cat's scared of both dogs for the most part, but won't be so quick to go under the bed in her safe zone 'spare room', or find a high area for surveillance; she'll stop & look to ensure the dogs especially ours aren't going after her, this is an upgrade from hiding under the bed for a day.

We do praise our dog when she does not chase, & she immediately gets crate time for chasing or major growling.

I know it will take time & can't be rushed, I'm very patient, I'm just wondering if there's any other suggestions, you guys might have please to help this process.

[Helsinki]

They need to learn to sort it out for themselves. They have been pretty good, and now they need to learn to interact and resolve conflicts on their own. Your dog will be a lot less interested on chasing when your cat shows her the nails - that's a good thing. They need to establish their own boundaries.

[Lycanthea]

I think conventional wisdom is to keep them physically separate (maybe use a baby gate to keep the dogs in another room from the cat) but to let them see and smell each other so they get used to the other animal's presence without being able to physically interact.

Another thing you can do is "scent swapping" where you take something (maybe a blanket) that the cat has slept on or left its smell on and put it somewhere the dog can see and smell it, and vice versa.

Keep praising the dogs for good behavior and remove them from sight of the cat when they chase or growl (don't shout at them or tell them off, just remove them). Eventually the cat will become boring to them when they realize they can't chase it.

As the cat gets used to the dogs it will become more confident. Eventually it should no longer be scared enough to hide from them.

Its quite likely that if you let them go in the same room too early there will be a fight. A cat that hasn't been declawed is quite able to protect itself from a small dog but it will traumatize both animals and they might never get along after an altercation where either got hurt.

Don't forget the home was your dog's home first and they may want to assert their territorial rights over the "intruder" that's entered their territory. It might take quite some time before they accept the cat as a permanent resident but it should happen eventually if you're patient and don't rush things

Goodluck!

P.S. Never leave a cat and dog alone together if you don't 100% trust both animals - its better to be safe and make sure they are in separate rooms when you aren't around.