Introducing Cat to Dog?

[Kirsty M]

Hi

A week ago, a stray cat introduced it self into our lives, it hung around our garden for two nights and a day and due to the extreme cold we brought it in on the second night for shelter and food. As we have a rather tempremental terrier we put the cat into our vestibule to keep it safe and the cat keeps returning so this has now become a nightly occurence. I have taken all steps I can think of to try and reunite cat with whomever it came from ( cat rescue, vet checked for chip , local advert, word of mouth etc ). Noone is claiming the cat so it looks like the cat is 'ours' now. The cat seems quite content with its current sleeping arrangements however we would really like to intergrate the cat properly into our lives but are worried the dog will attack it, the dog and cat are aware of each other but usually the cat is outside when the dog see's it and she barks and growls at it. We're not even sure if the dog knows the cat is coming inside the house, how do you introduce the cat and dog to each other safely?
Our dog is 13 and was a rescue dog who spent the first five yeats in kennels until my parents adopted her , this is partly why we don't want to give the cat to the Cat Rescue as we don't want it to spend years waiting to be adopted, when we can look after it.
Re the third answer below, we always assumed that the dog was unsocialised as she would bark at other dogs however when my sister got a puppy the dog reacted well to it and enjoyed playing with it, now we have introduced her to other family members dogs and she either plays with them or ignores them but wouldn't attack or growl at them I take it from what you said that this is a good sign re accepting the cat?

 

[Rachel]

When i got a kitten, I had a dog, so we got the dog outside, and the cat inside , someone holding both of them . We had the glass sliding door shut between them, so they could see each other. When they got used to that, we open it to the fly screen door, so they could smell and such, and eventually they just got along good Oh and good work on taking in the cat, it's good to hear that people are doing good things

 

[Bradleigh Chapman]

If its a young dog it shouldn't be a problem. But never leave them alone, if the dog even growles immediatly tell him/her off to show whos boss. Don't just remove the cat, almost force the dog into being nice to it.

 

[£??¢???gl??]

The dog is old. He is probably just scared that that younger, stronger cat might try to attack him. Or, he is unsocialized. If he is unsocialized there is pretty much nothing you can do but wait for him to die, because it is simply IMPOSSIBLE to re-socialize your dog from the very beginning. You are supposed to socialize him well with both cats and dogs. If you have, then maybe you socialized him at the beginning but then thought 'he's already socialized, so I don't have to take him to visit any more animals'. That is wrong. Very wrong. But then again, he was in a shelter for 5 years. This could've definitely had an effect on him. If so, do this: Give your cat a toy to play with for a couple of days-- no more than 4. Then give it to the dog so he can smell it, and give the cat a toy of the dogs while they're in separate rooms. If your dog EVER growls, scold him like if he just peed on the floor. You have to be HARDCORE mad for this to work. Leave them with each others toys for about 2 or 3 days, then switch the toys back. They will realize that their toy has their own smell, plus the smell of a new animal. Once again, any growling or tenseness must be stopped immediately.No petting or calming your dog down, because when you 'calm' your dog down, you are just petting and stroking him and using a nice voice, which will make him think he is being congratulated for growling. Feed the cat first in one room. Once he is done, leave the empty plate there and take him out of the room. Then feed the dog his food in the same room near the bowl of the cat. He will smell around it to see what is up. Once he is done, take him out again, and make the cat smell both the bowls together. Do this for 3 to 4 days. Then, you can try letting them hear each other. Make the dog bark a couple of times. Make the cat meow a couple of times so that the other can hear it. You can put the cat in one room with the door closed and the dog on the other side of the door, so they are literally inches away. Growling must be stopped as soon as it begins. If your dog does it too much, take him to the bathroom for a time out until he stops barking, which might take well over 15 minutes. Once he is calm, take him out and let him smell the cat again. Do this for about 3 days, more than once a day, and gradually increase the time they spend smelling each other. You can then take them behind a glass door or window, so they can see and smell each other. If anyone, even the cat, starts growling, off to a time-out place until they calm down. There should be two people here, one with the cat and the other with the dog. If everything goes fine, start giving them treats, especially to the dog. You can then move on to a gate. Keep on doing this until you are 100% sure they will not react greatly, since they have seen and smelled each other before. Then, open the gate and see what they do.

Good luck!