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Integrating Dane & Feline

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  • Integrating Dane & Feline

    Please help. We are new Dane owners and have had our 2 1/2 year old lady for 36 hours. She is fabulous with humans and acknowledges other dogs minimally with some sniffing if close enough.
    Currently my 2 cats have been camping out in our bedroom while Raven, our Dane, roams about the house. At night, Raven resides in her kennel and the cats now have access to the entire house. Today Raven started sniffing our bedroom door a lot. One of my cats got a little nervous and hissed at this. So far only sniffing and curiosity from Raven.
    Any wisdom is so very appreciated because I very badly want to make this new family member work.
    (fyi, my cats were rather tolerant of a small, high energy dog that we watched for 2 weeks. It took a couple of days and the dog soon joined us on our bed at night)
    sigpic
    Raven the Dane

  • #2
    Welcome!

    Why did you get Raven? I mean, you said you only had her for 36 hrs. So from a rescue?

    Do you cats get along with the other dogs? I would let the door sniffing continue for a bit. Then somehow set a place where the cats can roam, and Raven can see the cats but not get to them. Like a glass door, but make sure she just doesn't run up to the door and bark and the cats hiss. That's no good. If it does get like that, then keep Raven away from the glass door, or whatever you have set up, so she can see them but they are far away. Just keep them far away from her for a few days. Slow is best.

    Oh, and you could also take the cats out of the room and have Raven sniff the room they were in. Then have the cats sniff the area the dog was in.

    Good luck!
    sigpic
    Willow and Liv

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    • #3
      Meeting the Felines.

      Yes, we rescued Raven.
      I think my 1 cat will probably hiss... he's kinda an ass. My other one I'm not really worried about.
      I will definitely let Raven sniff our room, where the cats have been hanging out. So far the cats smell the whole rest of the house when we put Raven in her kennel for bed.
      We can start with Raven outside and let the cats see her through the glass door.
      After all of the above, do you think having Raven in her kennel so a cat could safely approach is a good idea?
      Thanks for your reply!
      sigpic
      Raven the Dane

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      • #4
        I think the crate introduction would be a good idea, let them see each other but keep them safe. I would also make sure the cats have places to escape, like high cat trees or wall shelving to climb on top of a book case for example. We also had a tall baby gate with a cat door that we put in the hallway, so our cat could go back in the bedrooms when she wanted a break.

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        • #5
          Thank you for your input. I was thinking about getting one of those gates. Already have a cat tower. I'm feeling better prepared for this. (epic fail on inserting Raven photo into my signature:P)
          sigpic
          Raven the Dane

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Raven the Dane View Post
            epic fail on inserting Raven photo into my signature:P
            It's working now, !

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            • #7
              I'm curious about this too, as we had two cats before bringing home an 8-week-old Dane (Horton) ~7 weeks ago.

              The more dominant of the cats will be in the same room as Horton, but stays about one foot away from him. She seems curious about him, but not really interested in being his friend. This isn't a surprise from her. She's kind of a jerk - even with our other cat.

              Our other cat is probably the sweetest cat I've ever met. Not a mean bone in her body, BUT she is very fearful. We adopted her and suspect prior abuse. She takes a few days to warm up to new people, and in the last six weeks, she hasn't actually "met" Horton. If he gets within a few feet, she puffs up, hisses, and runs away.

              I did have one relatively successful "introduction" session with them a few weeks ago. We got Horton nice and tired, and made him lay down on the kitchen floor. I gave Horton treats to keep him still, while my fiancee gave treats to the cats, placing them in close proximity to the dog. They were a little freaked out, but there by their own free will. I want to do more sessions like that, but haven't gotten around to it, as there are a million other things we've been trying to teach him.

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