My wife and I adopted a 5yo Treeing Walker Coonhound yesterday. He’s a real sweet boy with the temperament and mobility of a dog 3-5 years his senior (and the stubbornness of a donkey). We also have a cat. She is probably the chillest cat on earth, but is very curious and touchy.
We had received and read all sorts of advice about how to phase in their introduction, so we were keeping the cat in our bedroom while the dog could roam the living room, letting them each get used to the other’s scent. Wellll, last night as we were slipping through the door, the cat slipped through as well. The dog saw and ran towards the cat. He wasn’t growling or anything, but was very intent on getting to her in a hurry. (The cat, meanwhile, pretty much acted like she didn’t notice.) We hurriedly grabbed the dog by the collar and got the cat back into the bedroom.
Since then, the dog hasn’t acted aggressive towards the bedroom door at all, but has definitely been keenly aware of it. Realistically, he’s probably spent 80% of his time awake sitting at or laying at that door, staring intently.
All the advice we have read or received about these intros emphasize not letting either animal see the other one for at least a few days, and ten slowly and incrementally increase exposure. Almost everyone says, “Don’t rush letting them see each other, or you could doom them to fail.”
So... has that ship already sailed? Any advice on what to do from here to make this introduction possible?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/bqfslr/botched_dogcat_introduction_what_now/
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