I have a 95 lb, 3 y/o Olde English Bulldogge. My boyfriend has two cats, one is a 6 year old female and the other is a 2 year old male. All of them are fixed. I have a 6 year old son as well who adores my dog, they’re inseparable and best of friends.
We all moved into a 3 bedroom house together last week and I’m 6 months pregnant.
We did our research online prior to moving in together about blending adult animals and it hasn’t been easy. My dog hasn’t been around cats and the younger cat hasn’t been around dogs.
We currently have the cats in our bedroom where the dog can’t get to them. We feed them on opposite sides of the door. My dog is crate trained and I have his crate set up in my son’s room, which is where he sleeps now.
We have a large patio and we do allow some interaction between the male cat and the dog. (The female cat would rather just not be around the dog and couldn’t care less about his existence) My boyfriend will sit in a chair holding the dog on a leash and I’ll bring the cat out and put him on the cat tower that we have outside. The cat will sit on the tower and ignore the dog for the most part. These interactions are short and sweet because the cat has a lot of hostility toward the dog. Once the cat hops down he gets uncomfortable. He puffs up his fur and walks the opposite direction. We reward good behavior with treats which seems to be somewhat effective. Then we put the cat in the room and resume daily activities.
The problem is the male cat and the dog had a not so great interaction on day one. I was home alone and had the dog in the kitchen and the cat hopped over the baby gate we set up for our bedroom. I had the leash on the dog just in case something like this happened. They met nose to nose and the cat hissed so I pulled the dog back but the cat wouldn’t back down and started swatting at and scratching the dog’s face. The dog lunged toward the cat and I separated them. So now anytime they are close enough the cat swats at him.
The dog seems to be getting more comfortable. But given the chance I’m scared he would chase the cat. And if the cat tears the dogs face up, I don’t know what the dog would do. He’s so much bigger than the cat so we’re being super cautious. The cat is still very uncomfortable around the dog. We put the dog up in my sons room periodically so the cats can come out and not be stuck in the room all day. And they both come out quickly so it’s not like they’re petrified.
It’s a very stressful situation. We love all of our animals and having to re-home anybody would tear our relationship apart. We aren’t giving up. So I’m looking for advice to try and have this all figured out prior to the new baby’s arrival in early December.
Thank you for any advice you may have. Sorry this is so long. Also posing from the mobile app so I apologize for any formatting issues.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/picvzf/need_advice_on_blending_my_95_lb_dog_with_my/
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