Dog/kitten relationship!

toadfly

Hi guys,

just wondering if anyone has any helpful info regarding this. I have a 18 month old Yorkie (very territorial) and I want to get a kitten. The only time Tilly has seen a kitten was when she was a puppy (few months old) and she went mental but just wondering if I tried to intoduce a kitten now at this stage would it be any better? I dont know anyone with a cat/kitten that I could "borrow" to try this out. Obviously I dont want to take a cat from a rescue only to have to bring it back. any suggestions??

KTRIC

Thats a hard one to be honest. I found its really dependent on the personality of the actual dog and cat.

My cat for example has no problems with any dogs be they big or small. He just sniffs them and then goes about his business. Other cats hate dogs and vice versa, so its hard to guess how they will react.

toadfly

I know its a bit of a silly question but though someone might have some experience of the best way to introduce them to each other!

neil_hosey

yorkies bites are always bigger than their bite.. he may seen territorial but im nearly 100% sure they will get used to eachother.

I did notice they yorkies arent very social with other dogs but i think they would be fine.

Paul91

we found a kitten in the engine of one of cars on the driveway a few months back, we took him in, (called the Vets to see whatthe best food etc was for him - she advised us he was very young based on the colour of his eyes) and we had to keep him overnight, so got the indoor rabbit cage out the loft, popped him in it with food and water a a blanket in the front room, brought Tyson (boxer/Lab) he fixed his gaze on the kitten and became rigid throughout his body - not a good sign and pretty much told us that he wasn't keen on the kitten (the kitten is now living with a neighbour and her two dogs and all sleep together and get along fine)

so my advise, borrow a kitten, and in a controlled environment see how the dog reacts - she will soon tell you what she thinks

RangeR

As mentioned, try borrow a kitten and use a very controlled environment. We introduced our 4 year old Newfi [Sadie] to a 2/3 month old kitten [Allie] back in January. I new our dog would love the kitten but it took a good week or two for Allie to get used to the Sadie.

Sadie has always gotten on with cats, usually. There are a lot of cats in my area and she doesn't go near them. My mother in law has an old cat and she gets on very well with Sadie.

However, Newfi's are very placid dogs anyway so it was almost a no brainer for us.

Allie and Sadie

lrushe

KTRIC wrote: »

Thats a hard one to be honest. I found its really dependent on the personality of the actual dog and cat.

My cat for example has no problems with any dogs be they big or small. He just sniffs them and then goes about his business. Other cats hate dogs and vice versa, so its hard to guess how they will react.

I would second this Ben, my Japanese Spitz was just under a year old when I got my cat, he's pretty laid back so I didn't have any problem with him. Since then I have added two more dogs to my 'zoo' and they are just used to seeing a cat since they were a few weeks old so don't bother with her, my cat and Chihuahua actually wrestle!!! But it really depends on the personality of your dog, you know him best, if you could safely show him a cat or kitten to see his reaction that would probably also help

Dee_animallover

My cats terrorise my sisters yorkie when they visit! Not hard though considering the cats are bigger

As another poster said it really depends on the dog but a small dog would seem less imtimitading to a kitten than a large dog - although the kittens I have at the moment dont bat an eyelid at my 2 dogs (lab/red setter x and a large collie/terrier mix) even though they are giants compared to them!

Could the rescue centre let you bring your dog to the centre to meet some prospective kittens/cats? Would be worth asking - but then your dog isnt on home turf so may react different when you bring the cat home.