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advice please! Old cat vs new puppy

K

Katie

Well-known member
Our 18 yr old cat (very tolerant of our kids btw) is in denial about our new addition of 1 week. She is mostly sleeping and pretending it hasn't happened, although she has now deigned to sleep in the same room.

We keep Scampi crated or in her ex-pen and I am fairly sure the cat is too arthritic to jump into it. However, she keeps hissing at the puppy and once when we had the two of them restrained on our knees on the floor, she took a swipe at Scampi's face - luckily only resulting in a squeal.

Any advice on how to get them to assimilate? They will obviously need to sort it out themselves, but I am anxious that Scampi doesn't get her eyes damaged.

I can see it will be tricky to make cat retreats high up because she has v stiff knees.
 
In my experience, once a pet gets as old as your cat is, it is very comparative to an older person, VERY set in their ways with a "my way or the highway" attitude.

I would just make sure that the puppy is steering clear of the cat. I am not sure there is a way to make them cohabitate happily. :(
 
There's a whole set of links and advice in the Library section on introducing cats and cavaliers. In general your cat should be your first priority -- a puppy will easily accept a cat bit cats get very stressed, far more so than dogs, by change. The cat is the one you will need to give plenty of escape places to and restrian the puppy at all times in the presence of the cat.
 
Thanks Karlin. I thought it might be that way round. We are definitely making a huge fuss of the cat and expect we will be keeping the pup at bay for some time to come. We realised the timing might not be ideal from the cat's point of view, but we couldn't wait any longer for other reasons - like the kids growing up - to have our own dog. She is reaching a much greater age than we anticipated (luckily!). I'll visit the library and do my homework again.
 
We have 2 cats, one is just 6 months, and the other is older, but both are declawed.. so that kind of took the fear of eye scratching out of the equation for us. Even still, there was a lot of hissing the first couple weeks. The kitten was generally more accepting, but our older cat was pretty annoyed with the whole situation.. she had just adjusted to having a kitten around, then we hit her with a puppy :lol:

I think the best you can hope for is tolerance... and that will come with time. They could even become total buddies, you just never know! Just make sure she has her own space, and as Karlin said, lots of attention! Cats are such creatures of habit...
 
Those soft claws are bizarre!! I have never seen anything like them! Has anyone used those? They seem like a good idea because my cats are reaking havoc on my furniture...unfortunately they go outside frequently so I can't use them. I have a big fenced in yard and they never leave the back....hmmmm icon_whistling
 
MishathePooh said:
If you're really worried, you could try Soft Claws.
Click to expand...

PMSL a cat with blue claws :lol: I wonder if it'll catch on !

I couldn't imagine any of the cats I have had to sit still long enough to have those things glued on!
 
I've had Reilly for 2 years now, and him and my grumpy cat still get into it. Even if your pup and cat don't get along, they will most likely reach a point where they tolerate eachother, especially when the pup gets older. Good luck. :)
 
Let's hope they will settle. Actually the cat is happily sleeping on a chair 2 feet from the ex-pen most of the day, and probably the night too, so I am clinging to that as progress! Will edge her closer and observe the hissing
 
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