Introducing a 2 year old dog into the home of a 5 year old cat?

[Alexandra M]

In 4 weeks time I'm moving in with a friend of mine.. Only problem is, I'm now worried I'm going to be homeless lol, unless my dog gets on with her cat. Has anyone dealt with this before?

Yesterday I took the dog round (small terrier, about the same size as the cat).. Freddie was overwhelmed with excitement (atleast it wasn't aggression?) and started wagging his tail and bounded straight after the cat up the stairs.. I now see letting the dog go was a bad idea. Dog caught up with cat, got punched in the face, I heard a yelp.. Cat hid on top of wardrobe. Dog just sat and watched and waited. Next day when dog wasn't even there.. Cat pissed on EVERYTHING!!

For some reason my friends Mother, thought it was a good idea to bring a puppy round :S (as if introducing one dog wasn't enough, she introduced a dog for no reason).. Cat attacked pup quite badly and then again, pissed everywhere! I suggested to my friends Mother that introducing the second dog was a bad idea.

What can we do..?? My dog doesn't want to hurt the cat, so it's not like they'd kill eachother? But the cats so unhappy

 

[Andrew]

Slowly let them get used to each other, it'll take time.

 

[Kristen]

It doesn't seem like the cat will ever get along with puppy. Younger cats are easier to socialize, but 5 years is a bit much. I would keep the poor puppy away from the cat, he could get some pretty bad scratches.