They’re as universal an example of opposites as up and down, day and night, right and left. Even the line “cats and dogs getting along” is sometimes used as a turn of phrase for unbelievable events.
Thus there’s an idea out there that one has to be either a cat person or a dog person. One can’t love both equally, or one certainly can’t have both as pets without inviting a fur-flying frenzy into the home. At best they’ll get along by avoiding each other for the most part, and at worst they’ll need to be separated.
Except that simply isn’t true. It’s very possible to have cats and dogs as pets living in harmony. Previous pet blogger Aimee Aimodo took steps proving this in her recurring series on introducing her two dogs to the two cats of her new roommates. The ultimate dream was to get the two species to cuddle together.
_01.jpg)
I shared that dream for years. It was one of the visions I had for my future home life when I envisioned it before my marriage. Now that I’ve achieved it, I’d like to share the story of my success for others that might have the same goal.
Creating a home environment conducive to making friends of your feline and canine pets can be a complicated process reliant upon various factors.
One is the age and background of your pets. Kittens and puppies who have never met the opposite species are much more likely to take to each other more quickly than their older counterparts. If you induce the two when they are young enough, they simply don’t know any better than to get along.
That’s the situation that benefitted me when I got my cat and dog. My puppy was around 5 months old when I adopted my 3-month-old kitten. Their wariness around each other lasted mere hours, rather than the days, weeks, or even months it could take otherwise.
If you can’t or don’t want to get a cat or a dog that young, there are still ways to ensure that they’ll get along. One is to purchase or adopt a pet who’s already had exposure to the other. This is frequently the case with shelter animals, who might have encountered their opposites in foster homes.
Adult cats and dogs who haven’t encountered the other ever before are those most likely to not get along at first. Most dogs love the chase, and while cats are not their natural prey, they are great for chasing. In turn, most cats do not appreciate being chased, or having their personal space constantly invaded as dogs are often fond of doing.
But successful integration between older dogs and cats unused to each other is still a very possible, albeit slow, process, as Aimee’s series demonstrated. You should make sure that your cats have places they can escape when they need to be alone.
If the dog is too aggressive towards the cat, or just stresses the cat out too much, only let them interact under supervision. If possible, don’t declaw your cat, so it will have the ability to defend itself against the dog should the dog become too aggressive.
Praise both the dog and the cat when they interact positively. And if it appears they start to fight, don’t panic. In some cases cats and dogs might play fight the way dogs do with each other. I was alarmed when my cat and dog first started doing it, but it turned out they really were enjoying their play time.
So it is possible to have not only a harmonious home with cats and dogs, but a home in which they are friends. However, they still might not like to cuddle all the time (my pets rarely do, even though they are clearly found of each other).
Do you have any stories of cats and dogs getting along?
Related Articles:
Intro from a Lifelong Animal Lover
It’s Raining Cats and Dogs: Need An Umbrella?
Mr. Meow and Tabby: How Goes the Positive Reinforcement Training?