Getting a kitten and a puppy together

eris348

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Hi all,

My other half and I, having lost our darling Pickle far too young a couple of months ago, are thinking about getting a kitten to succeed (never replace!) him, as well as a puppy - until my partner met Pickle, he was always a dog person!

I want a tom cat, and my partner wants a Retriever / Labrador (actually he wants a St Bernard / Newfoundland, but I have told him that is a 'no' until we get a bigger house!).  Has anybody brought up a kitten and a puppy together, is there any advice you can offer please?

This is just information gathering at the moment - we cannot act on any of this until my partner's Westie, who lives with his Gran and is 16 and a half, crosses the bridge - she needs stability and security as she is deaf, has cataracts and cannot support herself on her back legs all the time any more - so a kitten and a puppy would not be good for her - she comes to stay with us quite often as his Gran is 84 and finding it hard to cope with an old, incontinent dog!

Many thanks for any advice :-)

Eris
 

melesine

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We did. We got the kittens when our German Shepherd puppy was 6 months old. This dog is from strong working lines and I chose to get the kittens while she was still a pup because I was worried about introducing cats to her as an adult if she had not been around them. This turned out to be a really great decision. She is BFFs with my cats, and I honestly think she thinks they are her kitties lol. And she has ended up liking all cats. She is fine with the neighbors outdoor cat too. 

It took a lot of work but part of that was her breed though. It took months of supervision and training for her to learn that the kitties don't play like dogs. They don't like to be chased or barked at. The cats learned not to run in such a way to induce her prey drive also. We did a lot of "leave it" commands. The kittens had a gated room that they could escape to and were never left alone with the dogs ( we have two other dogs, different breeds). When we weren't home the cats were put in the bedroom with the door closed. 

Now six months later we leave them home alone without concern and the gates are gone, other than where the cat box is, but that is because my other dog is fascinated with the cat box 
  

One of the cats regularly sleeps cuddled up with her and both of them play with her by laying on their backs and batting her face with their legs, while she shakes her head. She also tries to share her toys with them LOL. 
 
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ducman69

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My suggestion would just be to try and avoid a breed that has a very high small prey drive and low biddability.

For generation after generation, some dogs were bred to chase/bite when they see a small furry animal running away and paying little to no attention to direction from outside sources like humans, and sometimes a switch can flip.    Doesn't mean it'll ever happen, but its just a good precaution.

My sister has a Boxer for example, and personally I would recommend against such a breed with cats in the home as one "spaz attack" due to the size difference could cause serious injury.  

A Golden Retriever on the other hand is just more likely to be soft and gentle and caring towards the kittens.
 
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nekochan

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I would not get them both at the same time. A large breed puppy can be very rambunctious especially as they grow, and they could easily hurt a kitten by mistake. I would either get the kitten first and wait until they are older/larger before getting a puppy, or get a puppy first and wait until they are past the puppy stage before getting a kitten.

Here's a good post about this on another forum:

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/general-information/171310-kitten-puppy-same-time.html

I have a German Shepherd and she is really great with the cats. I got her as a 4 year old adult, but she was raised with cats.
 
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thembcat

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I wouldn't get a super small kitten. If you get a slighly older kitten, say 4+ months old you should be fine getting a puppy but I would NOT leave them alone unsupervised. Like previously stated, a puppy can be a little overly rambunction and a kitten could get hurt....and visa versa because the puppy could get a couple good scratched on the nose too.

I've a few dogs in my lifetime, german shepherds when I was real young, they were great around cats and kittens, then we got a carin terrier which was good with cats and kittens too. Now we have Diesel who is a shepherd lab mix and he was raised by cats and then raised a kitten when my dad brought Ghibli home. Ghibli and Diesel are the closest just because Diesel is just a waste of space if you happen to ask the other cats.  Diesel acts as a sheriff and breaks up cat fights too and under proper supervision and guidance even huge dogs can play and rough house with cats, they just need to learn what's proper play and cats are pretty good at letting dogs know when the play is getting to rough or when they have had enought.   I brought over my cat Chacho over to my parents' house and Diesel was all excited about there being a new kitty in the house, unfortunantly for Diesel, Chacho didn't appreciate the nose in  his butt so Diesel got a good whallop on the nose and have several beads of blood on his nose.  Needless to say, Diesel kept his nose away from Chacho the rest of the evening.  XD
 

nekochan

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I've a few dogs in my lifetime, german shepherds when I was real young, they were great around cats and kittens, then we got a carin terrier which was good with cats and kittens too. Now we have Diesel who is a shepherd lab mix and he was raised by cats and then raised a kitten when my dad brought Ghibli home. Ghibli and Diesel are the closest just because Diesel is just a waste of space if you happen to ask the other cats.  Diesel acts as a sheriff and breaks up cat fights too

I keep trying to get my dog to do that, but she doesn't get it.
Not real "fights" but when the male cats are being too rough on Harley my little female cat.
 

calico2222

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We raised Snickers (chocolate lab) and 3 bottle fed kittens (Gizmo, Corkie and Missy) together and everyone survived. In fact, Snickers snuggles with the cats. Now, we did crate Snickers when we weren't home so that separated them, and when we were home it was a lot of "leave it", "stop it", "Giz is NOT a chew toy", etc. so training was involved but she wasn't trying to hurt them, she was just playing a little to rough. Honestly, from my experience, I think Labs are one of the best breeds to mix with cats. 
 

miagi's_mommy

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I would get one or the other. I love baby animals, but I don't think I'd get a puppy and a kitten together at the same time! Why not an adult dog that is good with cats? I am not saying that it can't be done but even if they grow up together, the dog's prey drive can kick in when he or she matures no matter the breed and you have to be careful! My hound and cat Miagi grew up togehter (Miagi was 9 months, Buster was 8 weeks.) and still do well! Miagi is about 9 and Buster just turned 8. But there's always that chance you just have to be careful to never leave the pup and the kitty alone together when unsupervised. Pups can be rough with their mouths. Best of luck in your decision. :)
 
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