Getting Dog & Cat to get along

TL;DR at bottom...

Ok so on mobile so just bear with me here. I have a 3.5 year old dog, a mix breed and extremely hyper. From 7 months to almost 2, she lived with a cat around the same age. It was my exes cat. They got along really well aside from Ellie (dog) trying to play a lot and being bigger. We broke up, and she kept her cat and I kept the dog. Eventually I got a house and she’s had free roam.

A month ago, my new gf moved in and brought her 3 year old cat with her. Aside from the first 3 or so months of its life, this cat has been in single pet homes. We kept them pretty separate at first, with cats “domain” being upstairs in the unused former and Ellie having run of the house. Sometimes during work, we put ellie in the bedroom and the cat can have free roam, allowing scents to mix a bit.

We’ve had them meet and the cat DOES NOT like Ellie, and will his, deep growl/meow at ellie, which of course causes Ellie to bark and it’s just a chain reaction. Or even sometimes Ellie thinks the cat is after me and will chase it.

Summer is around the corner, and I don’t have AC upstairs yet, so it WILL GET HOT. To the point last year I blocked it off entirely so ellie wouldn’t try to go up. It’s bad. There is no way the cat can stay up there all summer, but with just a window unit I can’t shut them in rooms because well...it will still get hot eventually with no cool air flow. I don’t plan on central air for another year. I live in Northern Ohio so temps go from 20s in winter to 90s in summer.

Does anyone have tips to get them to like each other? Or at least co-exist to where they tolerate each other and not fight? And no, getting rid of one/giving to family is not an option. These pets are like children to us and everything.

I can clarify more later if needed.

TL;DR - dog and cat don’t like each other right now. Need ways to get them to co-exist before summer heat. Giving one up is a non-option

submitted by /u/IronStorm613
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ar5gcm/getting_dog_cat_to_get_along/