Introducing kittens to Dog Help

spygirl

Hi all,

looking for advice from those who have done this, successfully or not.
We currently have an older Springer, we are going to adopt a young kitten in a few weeks. However it has been suggested that young kittens should be adopted in pairs.
Very confident that we can help our girl adapt to one kitten, but a bit concerned about two. Worried they may gang up on her in the future as they will be a bonded pair of siblings.
Am I being overly concerned or will two kittens torment each other instead of her.

Any and all advice, tips, horror stories (gulp), etc most appreciated. Vet has advised a young kitten so it grows up with dog's presence, and won't know yet that a dog is its natural predator normally. Just a bit unsure about a pair of fur balls.

Cat has to come as rodent population has exploded where we live, experts in the mousy area advising a cat to deter unwanted house guests our best option. Just finished an episode of unwanted visitors, thankfully, but rented accommodation both sides who are doing nothing to control their micey population so problems are going to be ongoing. Cats to deter is the way we are going.

deadlybuzzman

Do you have a fear for the safety of the kittens or that the dog will be put out by the new arrivals?
My dogs still getting not settled around the kitten (in fairness she's mental) on the upside she now isn't wanting to hunt the cat so I'll take that as a win!

spygirl

A bit of both tbh. I am confident I could get her to accept one and could keep it safe until the duchess adapts. Two is making me break out in a cold sweat at the moment. Bit worried as much as one will put her out for a bit, two might push her over the edge.
Other side of the coin is that kittens will play fight with each other rather than her, so not an insignificant consideration. Was hoping one will take to her, but a bit worried a bonded pair will ignore her completely.

Pretty much looking for advice at this stage. Also dog will be on her chillax pills in advance of Halloween so she should be pretty mellow for the next few weeks as a result.

deadlybuzzman

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2058098537/1/#post114370040

This is the post I started about this only a little while ago. Someone mentioned letting the dog smell the kitten, I'd not recommend that as that freaked out my cat for days and definitely set things back.
Hopefully you know your dogs body language well enough that you can assess particular situations so nothing bad happens. Does he have any history of having predatory instincts?

spygirl

She has, in the distant past, a history of being unpredictable, well protective is fairer to her. If she thinks kittens are threatening us she could go off barking etc, same with visitors to the house. But when shown no threat she immediately backs off. Flushed the odd bird occasionally, but hasn't done so in years. When caught them, birds were generally stunned but unharmed and flew off after.
Considering getting a large Doggie crate to keep them in for the first while, at least then introductions will be safe. A cat has to come. Two rented houses either side, both infested with mice as hear the neighbours throwing shoes banging floor boards etc regularly. Have gone around the outside of our house, both ourselves and by professionals and we have blocked all we can. No entrance areas outside, seem to be crossing between rafters/walls in the houses.
We had a murderous time last week and caught 9 in total over a few hours now all clear last week. can still hear neighbours lashing floors and walls out of it so more are coming.
It's not even winter yet so I am prepared to give the cat idea a go. Paid 450, poison down outside, traps etc and their best advice is to get a cat to deter unwanted visitors.

deadlybuzzman

If youve a bunch of mice in your cavity walls and rafters, cats I'm afraid won't be able to do much about them.
I had a bad bad infestation before and after killing countless mice with traps, putting down bait boxes every 6ft or so did the trick. It seemed hopeless after being plagued for so long but it worked.
Mice breed like flies so 2 cats really aren't going to do more than maybe make a small dent in the problem.

spygirl

Oh I don't want them to catch them, happy enough if they deter them. If they catch some then great. Ideally I would like the neighbours to sort it but not happening. Have poison down, traps etc, have been clear a full week. But I know it won't last. We caught four last year total.

Last week nine in a few hours. God bless jelly babies as bait. We couldn't reset the traps fast enough at one point to be honest. Took to swapping out the filled traps and swapping a fresh one straight away. Was like fire crackers going off with all the snapping.

Can't move house and burning neighbours house to ground (sorely tempted at this point as they were the same last year) not an option. Traps, poison (protected in animal proof boxes) short term solution. Prepared to try the cats as a longer term or at least additional line of defence.

Graces7

What a situation.

NB poison; they will die in agony and will go off somewhere to die, like your roof space, cavity walls etc, I would never ever use poison.
Read how it acts.

In one house I lived in I could hear rats in the roof space and they would find a gap in the wall and creep in and steal the cat food; that cat was deaf and old.

I left a younger cat in that room and one night was woken by screams. When I went in? Dead rat and shaking cat. And that was the last I ever saw of rats there. And the same here; it had been empty years then my cats arrived and sat by the run. and rat after rat was killed,

That was nearly 4 years ago and until last week no more rats. One has been killed now.

You do not need to kill them all to get rid; just make your house a no-go area my them being aware there is a cat.

Graces7

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

If youve a bunch of mice in your cavity walls and rafters, cats I'm afraid won't be able to do much about them.
I had a bad bad infestation before and after killing countless mice with traps, putting down bait boxes every 6ft or so did the trick. It seemed hopeless after being plagued for so long but it worked.
Mice breed like flies so 2 cats really aren't going to do more than maybe make a small dent in the problem.

Not true in my loooong experience. Mice and rats will be deterred by a cat being there. They have been here and in other infested places.

Graces7

A thought; why not get the dog crate and let the dog sleep there at night? Then the cats can roam and you can sleep.

And think about an older cat from a refuge? I got my last three on donedeal and there are a lot there. Good older cats who will scare the life out of mice.

Yes 2 kittens better than one as they will wear each other out, But it will take time for them to grow into it all. You need help now.

GingerLily

Graces7 wrote: »

A thought; why not get the dog crate and let the dog sleep there at night? Then the cats can roam and you can sleep.

And think about an older cat from a refuge? I got my last three on donedeal and there are a lot there. Good older cats who will scare the life out of mice.

Yes 2 kittens better than one as they will wear each other out, But it will take time for them to grow into it all. You need help now.

I agree, shelters will be able to advise on a cat that is suitable for dogs etc. Much less of a gamble and the cat will be useful right away.

godfather2

We've had a chat with some rescues and the vet and they are recommending a young kitten. The view being that a very young kitten would grow up with our dog and that she would be more likely to accept a kitten as not a threat to her position.
An older rescue was our first thought tbh as that is what our dog was. Have been told not the way to go this time.
The poison is outside and was a last resort, not a fan of it not a fan of the stuff for similar reasons one poster outlined above. Prefer the swiftness of a trap personally.
Have plug ins in the house and have done for years.
We would get the very odd straggler over the years but always dealt with them.
Absolutely hate them so learned all the tricks with traps and am pretty good with using them. Never failed to catch within a few hours. Last week was the same, quickly caught and dispatched.
Would leave traps baited but unset for a night or two. When saw bait gone would know the area to focus on. Would refill traps every time they emptied religiously for two days and then prime them on the third night once mice comfortable with feeding there. Hasn't failed us yet. But the latest situation is the worst ever. Haven't caught that many in a year, never mind a few hours.
We can hear women next door screaming at the mice and shoes etc hitting walls floors at all hours of the night. Can see them running around in windows when walking past.
Prepared to give cats a go, had them as a kid and they generally worked.
Just worried about putting the dog out, we have her a very long time now and the idea of cats ganging up on her in future would kill me.
The kittens will be in and out of crate, the idea is just for a few weeks to ensure everyone safe.

Cherry Blossom

Just a reminder to all that pest control methods are not to be discussed here. Please stick to questions about cats. Ignoring this post will lead to thread closure.

Thanks,
CB.

spygirl

So introductions, all separate rooms at the start is the plan.
Then kittens in cage with dog loose while watching tv. if she shows no interest in them then move onto letting them out in the sitting room at night when we are all there.

Carrying them in your pockets in the morning has been suggested as well, so when you go to the kettle or to feed the dog they are there in the background, but dog won't go through me to get to them. Eventually she will just ignore them or happily adopt them herself.

Any tips greatly appreciated

jimf

as somebody who has owned springers for years I can honestly say I have never had an issue with them and cats/kittens my old girl jessie used to bring them back in her mouth all slobbery but never hurt

they tend to be nosy around them for a while as springers are not sight hunters I think this helps

well fed cats make better hunters as cats kill for fun rather than food different story when a mam has hungry kittens then a good size rabbit is fair game

and of course we need pics lots of them cats and dog

spygirl

Thanks for that Jimf. I think the fear of it might be worse than anything at the moment.
Current plan is to keep them separate for a few days until everyone gets to sniff each other, then introduce while they are safe in their crate.

Keep herself on lead while watching tv if she is ok with crated introductions, if that all goes well then let them come out to investigate her after that. Scent swapping etc and feeding her her favourites on the opposite side of the door from them so she gets to associate them with good stuff. I will have blisters chopping up hot dogs and chicken I think.

Spoken to the rescue centre we rehomed her from and they are advising just to do it all very slow and casual with safety precautions in place.
Baby gates etc going up which I never thought I would see again in our house. Just a case of taking precautions to keep everyone safe the first few days and taking it from there. Supposedly if done right it will be like they are a part of the furniture and she won't be bothered. Fingers crossed.

volchitsa

Good luck and let us know how it goes, OP.

I'm particularly interested as we had cats for years but we ended up getting a dog after our last cat died, so now we have a dog who's unused to cats, and I find myself really wanting one again (wasn't the plan originally), but not sure how she'll react.

spygirl

Will do, they don't arrive for another week or two so will update when that happens. Apparently if done slowly all three should be fine. I'm hoping she won't really care once they are not hopping all over her. Two together seems to be the advice, apparently will make no difference to her if there is one or two. She will either be happy or she won't.