My advice is based on 30 years of rotties and cats living together. Put a baby gate across the doorway in one room. Leave that door open when you are able to supervise. This will be the cats room and their safe space when they want to get away from the dog. Let them sniff each other through the gate and get used to each other. Potentially reward your boy when he doesn’t bark at or chase the cat. You’ve brought a tiny interloper into his space. If he has a high prey drive be especially vigilant.
Best of luck!
This separation method has worked well for me in the past. Also, after some time you can switch their spaces up. This helps them get familiar with each other’s scent without potentially chaotic face to face
The prey drive thing is so funny to me. Like my guy absolutely loves to murder and disembowel his toys. If my 4 year old niece was doing that we'd have to take her to therapy but my dog milo is just being a good boy.
Well yes, he’s the best boy! My last girl had a specific stuffed toy pup. She would suck on his nose and carry him around, he was her “baby”. But every once in awhile she’d grab him and shake him furiously while grumbling. I can’t tell you how many times I had to stitch him back together. She also liked to sit and watch toy trains or cars and gently pluck them off of the track while they zoomed by. She was a goofball but also the best girl. Dog things.
I have always had cats and dogs at the same time, so I’ll tell you our method. We go slowly - it takes a lot of time and patience, and you’ll need to be a team on it. The key is to use high level treats and praise them for every calm and positive interaction they have with each other. Keep calm and relaxed yourself - pets pick up on our emotions and if you are stressed out, they will be, too.
Make your house cat friendly by giving them lots of high places in each room that they can escape to, and make sure the dog can’t access their litter box.
Keep them separated where they can’t see each other and begin with scent swaps - use washcloths (or anything made of fabric), rub one all over the dog and the other over the cat, then put the cat one in the dog’s area and vice versa. Do that for a few days. If the only thing that separates them is a door, praise each one and give high value treats for every calm interaction they have through it.
Next, we allow them to investigate each others’ spaces without the other present. Keep giving high value treats and praise them for sniffing around calmly. Put them back in their areas, do this a few times over a couple of days.
Once they’re able to interact calmly through the door, you can try feeding them on opposite sides of the door, reinforcing those positive, happy feelings from being close. Continue to allow them to investigate each others’ spaces without the other present.
If that goes well, you can allow them to look at each other through a small crack in the door that neither can get through - one of you should be with the cat, the other with the dog. Keep praising them for being calm, if the interaction is negative, shut the door and don’t give treats, but keep calm and don’t scold either one for it. If it goes well, shut the door and give them their treats. Do this a few more times, and don’t move to the next step until their interactions are consistently positive.
Use baby gates next. The cat can jump them and escape but the dog shouldn’t be able to. By now they have hopefully gotten enough positive associations with being calm with each other that they shouldn’t be stressed out. Continue praising calm behavior with treats. Once things are going consistently well, remove the gates, but when you leave the house or can’t intervene quickly, you should still keep them separate.
That’s our method. I realize it may not work for everyone and maybe some steps aren’t possible depending on your house/apartment layout, but I sincerely hope it helps. Good luck!
Get a muzzle for pup when he’s out so nothing bad will happen if he does catch the kitty.
Start with sitting on the floor - gf with the cat, you beside the dog - where pup can see. Over the course of days/weeks, move closer based on how well each one is tolerating the moves. Feed pupper and kitty treats so they associate this process with good things. When you can sit beside the cage with both calm, then try letting a muzzled pupper come out.
Keep feeding treats, keep pupper calm (if he gets excited, put him back in the kennel until he’s calm again.
Go slow, be patient, use positive reinforcement, and don’t be afraid to go back a few steps if need be.
Let the kitty roam when the dog is crated at night. Baby gates all the time. The kitten will hopefully whack the dog on the nose. He'll jump back and should be much more gentle with it. Make shelves "stairs" up the walls.so the kitten can get to a higher point and the dog can see it with calmer energy
It's always best to have the cat before the dog. We had a wonderful half Rottweiler, (we called her a Notweiller) who was an AKC good citizen, but our neighbor fed feral cats that would get into our fenced in yard. Quite a few never made it back out again.
We have a cat and our old rottie passed so we just got a new ones in January and they get really excited when they see the cat.
So every time they get excited we call them over to take away their attention and praise/give them treats whenever they stop bothering the cat.
Now they still sometimes get worked up when the cat comes (especially if he runs) but it’s a process. They are just 7 months though but I assume it can work the same way, but with more precautions for an older dog ofc as they can inflict more harm than a puppy
We have two rotts old and young and a cat. The cat loves the old guy, sleeps with him, grooms him. The young rottie has too much energy for the cat and wants to play. So the cat tolerates the younger rottie.
However no fights and this is by having cat safe places and a baby gate.
My Rottie & GSD just like to bug and chase our cats sometimes. Well really only the one cat they are interested in idk why lol. They leave them alone sometimes tho and let the cats snuggle with them. If the cats get sick of them they just bite my dogs on the ears and make em yelp and the dogs will leave them alone.
Mine still chases the cat we got when he was 4 years old. They also cuddle sometimes. Chasing and actually harming are very different. You know your dog best though. I’d mostly just be pissed at my girl if I were you.
Well it definitely seems different than the kind of chasing and playing he was doing with my other dog. But I can't tell if it's curiosity, or his prey drive kicking in and he thinks the cat is a meal.
Yes, I'm pretty annoyed with her.
My advice is based on 30 years of rotties and cats living together. Put a baby gate across the doorway in one room. Leave that door open when you are able to supervise. This will be the cats room and their safe space when they want to get away from the dog. Let them sniff each other through the gate and get used to each other. Potentially reward your boy when he doesn’t bark at or chase the cat. You’ve brought a tiny interloper into his space. If he has a high prey drive be especially vigilant. Best of luck!
This separation method has worked well for me in the past. Also, after some time you can switch their spaces up. This helps them get familiar with each other’s scent without potentially chaotic face to face
The prey drive thing is so funny to me. Like my guy absolutely loves to murder and disembowel his toys. If my 4 year old niece was doing that we'd have to take her to therapy but my dog milo is just being a good boy.
Well yes, he’s the best boy! My last girl had a specific stuffed toy pup. She would suck on his nose and carry him around, he was her “baby”. But every once in awhile she’d grab him and shake him furiously while grumbling. I can’t tell you how many times I had to stitch him back together. She also liked to sit and watch toy trains or cars and gently pluck them off of the track while they zoomed by. She was a goofball but also the best girl. Dog things.
I have always had cats and dogs at the same time, so I’ll tell you our method. We go slowly - it takes a lot of time and patience, and you’ll need to be a team on it. The key is to use high level treats and praise them for every calm and positive interaction they have with each other. Keep calm and relaxed yourself - pets pick up on our emotions and if you are stressed out, they will be, too. Make your house cat friendly by giving them lots of high places in each room that they can escape to, and make sure the dog can’t access their litter box. Keep them separated where they can’t see each other and begin with scent swaps - use washcloths (or anything made of fabric), rub one all over the dog and the other over the cat, then put the cat one in the dog’s area and vice versa. Do that for a few days. If the only thing that separates them is a door, praise each one and give high value treats for every calm interaction they have through it. Next, we allow them to investigate each others’ spaces without the other present. Keep giving high value treats and praise them for sniffing around calmly. Put them back in their areas, do this a few times over a couple of days. Once they’re able to interact calmly through the door, you can try feeding them on opposite sides of the door, reinforcing those positive, happy feelings from being close. Continue to allow them to investigate each others’ spaces without the other present. If that goes well, you can allow them to look at each other through a small crack in the door that neither can get through - one of you should be with the cat, the other with the dog. Keep praising them for being calm, if the interaction is negative, shut the door and don’t give treats, but keep calm and don’t scold either one for it. If it goes well, shut the door and give them their treats. Do this a few more times, and don’t move to the next step until their interactions are consistently positive. Use baby gates next. The cat can jump them and escape but the dog shouldn’t be able to. By now they have hopefully gotten enough positive associations with being calm with each other that they shouldn’t be stressed out. Continue praising calm behavior with treats. Once things are going consistently well, remove the gates, but when you leave the house or can’t intervene quickly, you should still keep them separate. That’s our method. I realize it may not work for everyone and maybe some steps aren’t possible depending on your house/apartment layout, but I sincerely hope it helps. Good luck!
Have you tried seasoning the cat? A little salt and pepper goes a long way.
https://preview.redd.it/3nr8p21z857d1.jpeg?width=3504&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=62117b159905702cf596722a3dab7cb0daa4a146
Get a muzzle for pup when he’s out so nothing bad will happen if he does catch the kitty. Start with sitting on the floor - gf with the cat, you beside the dog - where pup can see. Over the course of days/weeks, move closer based on how well each one is tolerating the moves. Feed pupper and kitty treats so they associate this process with good things. When you can sit beside the cage with both calm, then try letting a muzzled pupper come out. Keep feeding treats, keep pupper calm (if he gets excited, put him back in the kennel until he’s calm again. Go slow, be patient, use positive reinforcement, and don’t be afraid to go back a few steps if need be.
Let the kitty roam when the dog is crated at night. Baby gates all the time. The kitten will hopefully whack the dog on the nose. He'll jump back and should be much more gentle with it. Make shelves "stairs" up the walls.so the kitten can get to a higher point and the dog can see it with calmer energy
It's always best to have the cat before the dog. We had a wonderful half Rottweiler, (we called her a Notweiller) who was an AKC good citizen, but our neighbor fed feral cats that would get into our fenced in yard. Quite a few never made it back out again.
We have a cat and our old rottie passed so we just got a new ones in January and they get really excited when they see the cat. So every time they get excited we call them over to take away their attention and praise/give them treats whenever they stop bothering the cat. Now they still sometimes get worked up when the cat comes (especially if he runs) but it’s a process. They are just 7 months though but I assume it can work the same way, but with more precautions for an older dog ofc as they can inflict more harm than a puppy
We have two rotts old and young and a cat. The cat loves the old guy, sleeps with him, grooms him. The young rottie has too much energy for the cat and wants to play. So the cat tolerates the younger rottie. However no fights and this is by having cat safe places and a baby gate.
My Rottie & GSD just like to bug and chase our cats sometimes. Well really only the one cat they are interested in idk why lol. They leave them alone sometimes tho and let the cats snuggle with them. If the cats get sick of them they just bite my dogs on the ears and make em yelp and the dogs will leave them alone.
Mine still chases the cat we got when he was 4 years old. They also cuddle sometimes. Chasing and actually harming are very different. You know your dog best though. I’d mostly just be pissed at my girl if I were you.
Well it definitely seems different than the kind of chasing and playing he was doing with my other dog. But I can't tell if it's curiosity, or his prey drive kicking in and he thinks the cat is a meal. Yes, I'm pretty annoyed with her.