# Introducing a rescue dog to our cats.



## sbonnett76 (Apr 6, 2010)

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum so I hope I'm posting in the right section!

We have two cats of 2 1/2 years old and we are rescuing a Rottweiler of about 3 years old. We know that the dog has been tested around cats and shows very little interest, but any advice on how to integrate them would be welcome!

My cats are my babies so they are my priority. The dog won't be allowed upstairs so the cats will have their own space. The cats don't go out that much so with any advice I need to bear in mind that the cats are mainly house cats. 

I've read lots of different pieces of advice and just wondered if anyone had any personal experience and could give me any tips. I know it's going to be horrible for a while, but I want to make it as painless as possible!

Thank you in advance!

Sarah.


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## cravensmum (Jun 28, 2010)

I have introduced 2 new dogs to my cat.

The first thing I always do is keep the dog on a lead in the house to start with so you can assess properly how your dog will react.

With my 2nd rescue dog,he was off the lead within an hour as he showed no interest in the cat.

Always make sure the cats have somewhere to escape to,just in case.

Both my dogs & cat have full access to all rooms in the house,they only time I separate them is feeding time.


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## ameliajane (Mar 26, 2011)

I introduced an adult dog to my existing adult cat. I initally kept the dog confined to one small room that the cat didn't use much anyway, in order to prevent the cat from feeling as though he'd lost his territory. The cat was free to roam the house without having to worry about coming into too much contact with the dog.

At first i kept the door to the room shut, to give the cat chance to get used to the smell of the dog without having to see it. Once the cat would walk confidently past the door and eat treats/have fuss outside the door i put up a stair gate and left the door open. Again you can make this process more gradual by initially covering the gate with a blanket.

Once the cat was confident with this we moved on to: having the cat eat treats by the open stairgate, having the dog (on lead and under good calm control) and cat eat treats a few feet away from each other in other rooms in the house, moving the dog and stairgate to the kitchen - with chairs either side of the gate to allow the cat access etc

It took 2-3 months before the cat was totally confident with the dog moving freely around the house.

I think the key is really to take things at the _cats'_ own pace. Introduce them to each other in slow stages and ensure the cats are confident at each stage before moving on to the next and are never made to feel as though they've lost their territory.

Good luck


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