Introducing new 4 yr. old cat into house with three small dogs....

[judith1949]

We just adopted a four yr. old female Snowshoe Siamese. She is very friendly, laid back, and affectionate. She was around one small dog before coming to our home. We have three small dogs, all under 5 lbs. each. Our smallest Yorkie, Ellie, age 9, only weighs 2 1/2 lbs. and she ignores the cat. Our Biewer Terrier, Zoie, age 3, weighs 4 1/2 lbs. and she also ignores the cat. But our 3 yr. old Yorkie, Abbie, who weighs 5 lbs. wants to chase her and bark at her. Abbie is our dominate dog here. She is the most friendly, most fun, most playful, and greets everyone. (She is my fav of the three dogs.) She is everyone's favorite who enters our door!
Right now I have the cat in a small area with a baby gate keeping her away from the dogs. She has her litter box, food, water, bed, and cat condo in her area. She can get out any time that she wants to, as she can jump or climb over, which she has done. In the night she did so and was roaming around the house when I got up to get some water. We put Abbie and Zoie in our bedroom and we shut the door last night, to keep Abbie from getting out to pester the cat. Ellie sleeps in the great room in her bed with a heat pad, as she is so small and that is where she wants to sleep.
Does anyone have any idea how long it will take Abbie to get used to having the cat in the house and how long until she will stop trying to chase her and bark at her?
Also, the cat has the name of Priss, which we hate! She is 4 years old. Is is too late to change it?  We can't think of any name that sounds similar that we like. We have changed pet's names before, but usually to something similar sounding. We changed Zoie's name at 18 months and she got used to her new name quickly, but she is a dog.
Any advice anyone can give us would be appreciated. Also, anyone out there who owns a Snowshoe Siamese and has any advice would be appreciated. We have owned part Siamese cats before, but never a pure bred Snowshoe before. Thank you!

 

[msbedelia]

You might have to do some training with Abby, who may not know how best to interact with a cat.

 

[judith1949]

I agree that our Yorkie, Abbie, is the one who needs some training as to how to act around our new cat and also how to treat the cat.   But I am not totally sure how to go about this.  Right now we have the cat, who we have named Annabelle, in my sewing room with all of her "stuff" and have a baby gate at the doorway.  Annabell can see out the baby gate and Abbie can see into her.  Annabelle can jump over the gate, if she wants to.  But Abbie cannot get over the gate.  Abbie has not been barking at Annabelle this afternoon.  So that has improved for now.  We will see how that continues.   But how long should we keep our cat, Annabelle separated from the dogs?   How should we introduce Annabelle to Abbie and how often? 
Again, anyone out there own a Snowshoe Siamese cat?

 

[melesine]

Teach Abby to "leave it" when she looks like she will chase the cat. It's best if you can give the command before she takes off running, but that isn't always possible. If you have to, you can put her on a leash in the house to help with the training. We did this with our dog, but she was a puppy at the time. 

As for how long to keep them separated with the baby gate. It depends. The cat is new to your home so she is still getting the lay of the land. It helps if there are places all around where she can get up out of Abby's reach if she chased in the other rooms without the cat tree. That probably isn't too hard to work out since yorkies are small. I'd keep them separated for now especially when you are not home. Once you see the cat knows all the escape routes and hopefully Abby stops chasing her you can probably remove the gate, although make sure that the cat can't be bothered when she is trying to use the litter box. 

 

[msbedelia]

I agree with Melsine.

Basically, reward Abby for ignoring the cat in the moments you catch her doing it. You can also use a leash an reward her for not pulling toward the cat.

I'm sure if you google "teaching dog to ignore/respect/leave alone cat" or some variation, stuff will come up. Karen Pryor also dedicated a few paragraphs of her clicker training cats book to describing how she trained her dog to behave with the cat.

 

[melesine]

Opps sorry I spelled Abbie's name wrong. 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I agree with Melesine's post also.  It's been a while and I had larger dogs; but we did similar with keeping them on a leash when they were around the cats.  The cats were there first in our cases.  They were also trained to go to a certain spot on command.  It was a corner in the kitchen near the door to the garage and their food and water bowls.  We would just say "corner" and they knew to go and sit.  But that truly was my step-dad's training; not mine.  They didn't question that he was the alpha in "the pack." 

I would think; when it comes down to it, it's similar to training them with anything.  Praise the good behavior, stay consistent, and baby steps.  Start with the leash and maybe consider a spot for Abbie to go to when she starts to chase the kitty.  I would think how long this takes just varies by each of their temperaments.  

Hope that helps!

 

[katluver4life]

How does the cat react to Abbie? Sounds like the cat has a safe room to run to if needed. I agree that getting a cat tree will also help, or

<added> any vertical elevated space you can give the cat as an escape spot.

If you could teach Abbie the simple command of "sit/stay", that would work wonders.

 

[judith1949]

Thanks everyone!   Our new Snowshoe cat, Annabelle, has been here over a week now.  Things are going better every day!   Abbie is doing sooooooo much better.   We were given a cat condo with Annabelle and she does jump upon it when she wants to get up away from Abbie.  Also, by leaving the baby gate to her safe room up for almost a week, worked out great.  Annabelle could jump over the gate, but Abbie could not go into the room.  She could see Annabelle in the room.  Each day, she tried to chase or bark at Annabelle less and less.  Now, she will walk by Annabelle or vice versa and she does not bother her at all!  It is amazing!   And today, Annabelle was actually trying to get Abbie and Zoie to play with her.  It was adorable!  
So I have taken the baby gate down.  I put the cat's food up during the day and put it down at night, as we put the Puppy Girls in our room at night.  That keeps the Puppy Girls out of the cat's food.  Does anyone have any suggestions about how to feed your cat and keep the small dogs out of it, other than the way I am doing it? 
Thanks again.
Judith
 

 

[katluver4life]

Wow. Wonderful news!

Scheduled feedings is the only thing I can think of. Feeding all at the same times with Annabell's food up on a table or something. Scheduled feedings for a cat is better then free feeding all night.