Lurcher/greyhound but have cats in garden

Guess_Who

Hi all,

I'm in the very early stages of thinking about getting a dog. Realistically I think it'll be next year before I commit but I want to have put a fair bit of thought into it.

At the moment, I'm thinking a lurcher or greyhound because rescues seem to be full of them and I think their exercise needs would be something that'll be easy for me to fit into my daily routine.

My only concern is that I have a large(ish) garden to which the dog would have access. At the moment there are 2 lovely cats that frequent my garden. Their owners have been considerate enough to put collars with bells on them to protect birds & I'd have a similar consideration for the welfare of those cats.

I know that over time they'd learn not to come in if there's a dog there but I suppose I'm worried about the risk that the first time they wander in the dog could chase and catch them.

Am I being over cautious here? I just don't want to put someone else's pet at risk

kylith

Talk to rescues, they can help find you a dog that is good with cats. Many of the young greyhounds in rescue are there because they don't have enough prey drive for racing or coursing.

Ms Doubtfire1

I have a lurcher - and plenty of cats. It took a while, and some hair raising moments, but he's not completely fine with them - he has no trouble sleeping with the cats. There is one rescue in particular who will be able to help you out if thats what you're looking for.They are excellent. If you want I'll pm you their name. Otherwise, get a pup - lurcher.Plenty of these around and they are smart, funny,goofy, loving, intelligent....goofy.uhm. Just LOVE them...spot the cat?

Guess_Who

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

There is one rescue in particular who will be able to help you out if thats what you're looking for.They are excellent. If you want I'll pm you their name. Otherwise, get a pup - lurcher.Plenty of these around and they are smart, funny,goofy, loving, intelligent....goofy.uhm. Just LOVE them...spot the cat?

Thank you. Your dog & cat are both gorgeous! If you could pm me the name of that rescue it'd be Great. It's a while before I can commit but like I said I want to know what I'm getting into. I sadly lost my 5 year old cat 3 weeks ago & I've never had a dog before so it's all new

Ms Doubtfire1

you'll love a lurcher. Trust me. They are the cats among the dogs.Always in trouble.:-). will pm you now.

Vel

There is a big difference though between a dog who is ok to live with cats they know and a dog who will chase visiting cats from a garden, and that applies to lots of breeds, not just sighthounds.

I know plenty of greyhounds/lurchers who live in the house with cat companions but wouldn't tolerate visitors to the garden!

Ms Doubtfire1

Thats where recall comes in. My boy will stop chasing anything upon calling.

Vel

I have a fully enclosed mid terrace garden so in the summer especially, my dogs are free to potter in and out while I am doing things in the house. They also like to lie out in the sun. So while I keep an eye on them and know they are safe and secure I don't spend the whole time they are in the garden with them so that if a cat came in when I wasn't there there would be no recalling them. Now hopefully a cat wouldn't be stupid enough to come in while they are there but who knows!

I'm a big advocate for them as pets and used to be involved in rehoming but if someone came to me looking for one who would be ok with random cats coming into their garden, I just feel that I'd never be able to guarantee that. I'd be safely able to say that a dog should be ok to live with a cat, based on having cat tested etc. but safe around random cats, nah!

It might be possible but I'm not fully convinced! And their speed needs to be taken into consideration too. Mine would be up the garden and all over a cat in half the time it might take another breed to make it up there, so I think they could be a higher risk choice if you are looking for a dog who might be ok with random cats.

Not saying it can't be done but I'd be wary OP and you'd want to be sure you are getting one from a rescue who really knows what they are doing

kylith

OP seems to have 2 particular cats that come in, so hopefully the dog could be made ok with those specific ones.

Ms Doubtfire1

kylith wrote: »

OP seems to have 2 particular cats that come in, so hopefully the dog could be made ok with those specific ones.

was just going to say that.

Guess_Who

Would it be safer to get a pup so they wouldn't initially have the speed / skills to catch a cat and by the time they're older my feline visitors would have learnt to avoid my garden if the dog is out?

Guess_Who

Would it be safer to get a pup so they wouldn't initially have the speed / skills to catch a cat and by the time they're older my feline visitors would have learnt to avoid my garden if the dog is out?

Ms Doubtfire1

Guess_Who wrote: »

Would it be safer to get a pup so they wouldn't initially have the speed / skills to catch a cat and by the time they're older my feline visitors would have learnt to avoid my garden if the dog is out?

It's always safer to get a pup of any breed if you want them to live peacefully with any other kind of animal. All I can say I've never had issues.And I have 8 dogs and 17 cats.Never mind the goats and horses.

Guess_Who

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

I have 8 dogs and 17 cats.Never mind the goats and horses.

Sounds like my idea of Heaven if I had the space!

axcel

We had exact same situation after moving into a house and getting a rescue dog after a couple of months living there. The rescue told us our lurcher was a definite no no with cats which was no issue to us, we had seen a cat in the garden a couple times but handn't considered it at all which was probably silly of us. Then we met our neighbours when we were out walking who were like I hope she likes cats because there's a kind of neighbour stray that they look after and feed which goes into all the gardens especially ours being next door. So after this we were really on the look out and a bit worried but haven't had any issues at all, the cat has been very smart and only been in the garden once or twice since and always up along the fence rather than on the ground so they seem to wise up very quickly and will just avoid your garden. I don't even worry about it now, I wouldn't let it put you off, best decision we ever made was to get a lurcher, they are brilliant!

ShaShaBear

Without sounding too down on cats (as I would love to be able to keep them and have a huge soft spot for them), I wouldn't let other cat owner's inability to contain their pets deter me from getting a well-cared for pet of my own. It is, after all, your garden. Cats who roam are in general quite smart about dogs in gardens they frequent, and will run if they see a dog give chase. There is a lady about 4 doors up from us who has a semi-feral colony on her property (somewhere in the region of 20 cats) and our landlord said they used to have kittens in the shed and everything!
We moved in with our elderly collie boy and there wasn't a cat to be seen after day one.
Wild animals, other cats and roads will also kill cats who are roaming around, so the owners of these cats should be no more concerned about your potential new dog than they are about the other fatalities they could meet!