Introducing a kitten to a high-prey-drive but not aggressive dog

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m thinking about getting a kitten. I have a very playful Rhodesian Ridgeback Zilla who never really learned to behave around cats. She’s almost 4. My dearly departed littermate cats Poooka and Goblin were quite old when I got her, and they only lived a few more months before I had to have them put to sleep (about 8 weeks apart) at age 17. Zilla was very curious about the cats and I’m sure would have chased them if I let her, but she never seemed to want to hurt the cats.

Zilla has a strong prey drive in that she likes to chase anything that moves , but she is not aggressive to cats. Meaning that the few times she made physical contact with the old cats, she wanted to snorfle them, not hurt them. When we’ve occasionally encountered cats on our walks, if the cat didn’t run, she was just very curious and didn’t quite know what to make of it. If the cat ran, she would have chased if she weren’t on leash.

She also likes to play rough, but is easily intimidated in many ways. She’s submissive to almost all other dogs, and her first inclination, if she meets a new person or animal or comes across something unfamiliar, is to first check it out, and then try to play with it. I suspect if a cat whacked her on the nose, even without claws, she’d be intimidated.

She’s getting pretty good at sitting when we see a squirrel on our walks, so I think she could learn to not chase cats - I’m just not sure how much work it is going to be or how long it will take.

Both the breeder and my vet suggested getting a kitten rather than a cat because they felt that she’s be more likely to ‘adopt’ the kitten as her own, and because kittens are often fearless and would be less likely to be scared of a big, bouncey 70-lb dog.

My recently departed Elkhound Gizmo tried to chase my kitties when he was a pup, but I was able to easily train him to not do this. He was much less persistent than Zilla the beast, though, and of course it also made a big different that the cats were bigger than he was at first. He eventually considered the cats to be ‘his’ - he was still interested in chasing cats outside that were not ‘his.’

I found this article from a now-defunct rescue group that I think I will try. Basically it recommends having a separate room where the cat can stay behind closed doors when the dog is loose, and initially keeping the dog crated when the cat is out, and correcting the dog if there is any lunging at the cat. If there’s not, eventually keep the dog on leash with a muzzle when the cat is out. If that goes well, on-leash with no muzzle, then ultimately off-leash. No playing chase games with the dog or the cat when both are out during the training period. If one step fails (i.e. dog tries to chase cat), then revert to an earlier step. Once trained, still have a room where the cat can escape from the dog if needed.

So, please share your thoughts and experience related to introducing a kitten to an adult dog that doesn’t know how to behave around cats. Said kitten will either come from a shelter or possibly from an ‘oops’ litter from one of my vet’s other clients.

(Cross posted from Giraffe boards to get more opinions)

2

You seem to have given this a lot of thought and I can only add my experiences with my dog, a lab+? mix. She loves to chase any animal that runs from her like squirrels, rabbits, cats, etc. I already had a young active cat when I got the dog and the dog immediately recognized that the cat was a part of the pack and except for some pretty rough play when they were younger, they’ve been fine. I later brought home a large older cat. The cat didn’t take any crap from the dog and they pretty much ignored each other. There have been cats and small dogs that she barked at through the fence but when the opportunity presented, did not harm.
My dog continues to have issues with dogs her own size and larger however.

3

The first time you introduce the kitten, Gizmo should be worn out from a run, not hungry, and under no stresses (new people, thunderstorms, anything he’s scared of). Your kitten should be held in your lap, where he’s safest and probably feels safest. Introduce the dog slowly, and talk to both animals in a calming voice. The article you’ve gotten seems a little extreme to me, but it might be better safe than sorry.

4

Last year, my terrier pounced on one of our foster kittens and killed it in one quick move. It was a fairly mild nip; no blood. The kitten was about 5 wks old. My daughter was giving the dog a scrap of food when the kitten ran past and his instincts just took over. He had been in their presence before and never showed any mouser inclination towards them. I imagine the food had something to do with it. No advice to give other than exercise extreme caution.

5

Growing up on a farm, each spring we had new litters of kittens from any unfixed barn cats. And we had dogs, often running loose during the day. When it started to get warm, the mother cat would bring her litter of kittens out. Most of our dogs knew better, but occasionally one would get too close too quickly to a kitten. The mother cat was right there, to remind the dog why you don’t chase cats – remind with fast, sharp, extended claws. They could leave big, bloody scratches on a dogs’ nose almost faster than you could see! The older cats soon taught young dogs not to chase cats or kittens.

So you might consider starting out by introducing your dog to an older cat, one who will teach him to be less aggressive around cats (and kittens). But be prepared to with some wound salve – he may bleed a bit before he learns.

6

Yes, I think it’s sort of a ‘worst case scenario.’ Part of the reason I’m considering that is that most of the time, I’m the only person in the house, so logistically I can’t do that ‘have the cat on your lap and have someone else have the dog on leash.’ I suspect they’ll be ok around each other within a few days when I am around. I’m hoping they’ll eventually be fine without me around, too.

needscoffe, how horrible. Probably the dog didn’t mean to do anything but warn, but little kittens are pretty fragile I guess. Sorry you and your family had to go through that.

7

We have two cats in a house full of driven, active dogs. Some of the dogs are better behaved than others, but it’s really the cat that dictates how they treat them. If the cat runs, most of them will chase, but a cat that stands it’s ground is either ignored or approached carefully. If you do the thing with the kitten on your lap, I’d advise making sure you trim the little one’s nails first to reduce the risk of heavy human blood loss ;)!

I don’t think they need to be separated if you are there to watch them, but obviously, don’t leave them alone until you are confident about the dog’s behavior. We have a baby gate, it took a while for my youngest cat to learn to use it, but it’s great because the cats can easily be out of the dog’s reach if they are feeling threatened. It took Kitty Claire until she was a year old to figure it out, but now she goes back and forth all day and casually strolls through a pack of drooling dogs like they were her best buddies.

8

We don’t have a baby gate, but the Cat-Who-Runs has learned that if he gets under a dining room chair, all Sadie can do is look at him through the chair legs. When you’re not going to be around, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure there’s a safe place that the kitten can get to, like a small crate or a sturdy box that opens on the side.

9

We stack two baby gates with a gap underneath that the cat can run under, and a gap between the top and bottom that he can jump through. Also, consider the layout of your house so that there is always an escape route. Tall furniture, shelves, that sort of thing. No blind hallways. It would be better if the cat could learn not to run from the dog and engage the prey drive, but he needs to always be able to get away just in case.