Introducing lab pup to cats?

[morganalefae]

Me and the hubby (mostly me tho) have been thinking of getting a puppy for quite some time, but had put the idea on the back burner once my girl had kittens now the kitten will be 10 weeks old and will be going to their new homes this sunday and needless to say the last 4 days my mind has been on over drive looking for a labrador pup (which I found one and will be going to view him and his mum and litter mates this sat). with that said if I do buy (well put a deposit down on him) I will not have him til the first weekend in May.

So that now turns to how to introduce the pup to the cats with out putting the pup and cats under to much stress?

Both my cats were born and raised around dogs both small and large. But they have not been near dogs since coming here. the cats don't get flighty or anything when the odd dog jumps up to the window and stares at them nor do they hiss and yowl when they see a dog in fact they look interested in it.

I was thinking if I bought the pup bring it in and put it in a dog crate for a bit and let the cats smell and investegate the new animal. then maybe move the cats into a room or the crate so the dog can get a little smell for the house for a few mins and do that for a bit (a few days) then maybe put him on a harness and leash and let them meet face to face.

Thats bout the best I can think of better then what my family did when we had cats and got a dog (they would just bring the dog in and let "nature" take its course thankfully no cat or dog was harmed and they got along really well).

Any ideas or tips?

 

[molly92]

I think the dog will adjust very easily, but the problem will be him wanting to play with the cats and not necessarily knowing what's an appropriate amount of force to use during play. So definitely start training him early, specifically the "leave it" command so you can ask him to leave the cats alone if they feel uncomfortable, and they will feel safer around him. Clicker training is great, and puppies can definitely be trained. Just practice with him for short (like a minute-long) sessions throughout the day because of his short attention span. This is a good video that summarizes how to start: 
It depends on the cat's reaction, but you'll probably need to keep them separate most of the time at first. If you were introducing a new cat I'd suggest leaving the new cat in a room while the old cats have the rest of the house most of the day, and then switching them for short periods, but a puppy really needs people and attention so it will probably be better to put the cats in the room and the dog can have the rest of the house if that's where the people are. Puppies do nap frequently, though, so you can take advantage of those moments and put him in a crate in the room and let the cats out in the rest of the house to explore his scent. You can also do scent swapping and feed the animals on either side of the door like you do with introducing cats to get them to associate each other with good things. When they meet for the first few times, the dog does need to be on a leash or in a crate. I think keeping these moments short and sweet at first is going to help a lot, so the cats don't get too overwhelmed and feel like the dog causes a lot of anxiety. Then you can read how everyone's doing and either continue, go back a few steps, or increase their time together until they can interact freely and safely without restraints.

 

[morganalefae]

One of my friends suggested using feliway or something like that and said there was a dog verision called apaptil. wonder has anyone here used at lest the cat one?

Molly92 great tips will use those as well.

 

[molly92]

Feliway is great. It emits synthetic happy cat pheromones, although some cats respond to it much better than others. The plugin is best for this kind of situation, although it usually works best just for whatever room it's in. I've never tried adaptil.