Introducing A Dog To A Cat: A Bit About My Cat And (New) Dog

Warning: Apparently my husband and I have a thing for black cats and tan dogs with black snouts. My phone can’t tell them apart. See if you can 🙂

My (most recent) dog and cat integration story begins with our resident 8-year-old cat, Bagheera. I believe he’s a Chantilly Tiffany, and catbreedlist.com gives these beauties 5 out of 5 stars for being dog friendly. This proved to be true with Bagheera from the start.

Bagheera was originally fostered by a friend of mine who had a dog. When we first met him, they were romping around the kitchen together.

Our previous dog, Berlin, wasn’t into playing that much, but she also didn’t mind/react to Bagheera running around all crazy. Sometimes his mischief was geared toward her, like when he’d hide in corners and pounce on her as she passed. She’d just keep walking, looking at me like, “What the heck, Mom.” I didn’t see him hiding either, baby girl 🙁

Then at night, he’d try to turn on the charm and cuddle with her on the couch. As he’d tiptoe closer to her tushy, she’s side-eye him, and just as he’d settle down and nuzzle his cheek in her tail, she’d get up and walk over to her bed.

When our sweet Berlin passed in the fall of 2022, we knew Bagheera would want another friend (when we were ready), perhaps even one that would play and cuddle with him.

In truth (hindsight?), we could have made it easier on ourselves…and Bagheera, and adopted a dog who was fostered with a cat already, but…we didn’t*. We lucked out and Berlin had been great with our previous cat, Zorro, from the start. Maybe we’d luck out again.

Nope.

That’s not to say I didn’t do what I could to “test” our new dog, Neah (NEE-uh), out in regards to cats before bringing her home. When I first meet Berlin at a different city shelter 12 years ago, we walked her by the lobby’s cat and kitten kennels. She was indifferent (and the kitties didn’t mind either). This reaction held true at home too. At Neah’s shelter, there were no accessible cat kennels (bringing a dog into a lobby where dogs are constantly coming in and out to see how that particular dog reacts to the cats there is one thing, but bringing a dog into a quiet cat room is another).

Neah was listed as a 2-year-old Shepard/Shiba mix and came in as an owner surrender 3 months prior. Beyond a few notes the previous owners left, we knew nothing other than that she was on medication for anxiety and kenneled with a dog that had been brought in as a stray (so dog-friendly?). I brought a cat stuffed animal to see how she “reacted”. She strolled over, sniffed it, and moved on. Ok, but I took that with a grain of salt. It wasn’t a rascally dog-loving, Bagheera after all. Again, at this shelter, there weren’t cats kenneled in the lobby.

So, after visiting her a few times, we adopted Neah, and when we got her home, and after she recovered from her spay, we now joke that she pulled a bait and switch, and not just with her feelings towards cats (see my other blogs about addressing her dog reactivity).

*Don’t get me wrong. I love Neah! She was not the easy path though and many, too many, wouldn’t or couldn’t put in the time, patience, and energy that’s needed when introducing a dog and a cat. If you know this, that’s ok. Reach out to a rescue and inquire about any dogs that might be currently fostered with a cat. This *may* give you a better starting point. Just remember, every dog and cat are different and integration should still be slow/at each pet’s pace.