Shelties and cats

S

skstylez

Forums Regular
SO the day has finally come where i am able to get a sheltie!! I am so excited! We are lookin towards the bi-black, one of my best friends had it and i fell in love!

The only thing in our way is the cat. We have a 14 y/o cat and love her. She seems pretty healthy for 14, maybe not as energetic much more mellow ever since she fought a raccoon around 2 months back. she DID have a friend back before our neighbors moved, a cat next door, and there was another stray cat that she barely got along with that some ###hole neighbors left behind. What i am trying to say is she takes a while to ADJUST to anything we bring or do.

Now i KNOW she will be able to adjust to a puppy coming in, but my dad, thinking i did not do any research, wonders if it causes psychological effects (which to me sounds absurd). Our cat is free, we let her out any day that isnt too wet or too cold, and she comes back in from time to time if the door is open, for food, and in the evening. Of course we would not let her out the first few days we get the puppy, but my dad is still afraid.. of something. Any experiences/ideas/comments?
 
An old girlfriend of mine (who introduced me to shelties) had 4 cats, a sheltie and a lab mix. They all got along just fine, except the sheltie would convince the lab mix to do bad things.

When she moved into a new apartment with a roomate who also had 2 cats, the sheltie again was fine. The new cats on the other hand...well they weren't too thrilled with the dogs at first, it took about 2-3 months before they would venture next to the dogs and not bolt away as soon as one moved.

That said...

I would introduce the cat to the dog in a controlled enviornment. Make sure the dog is on a leash or in crate or a puppy playpen. Put the cat outside of it and let them get to know eachother. This will give them some time to say "hello" and you won't have to worry about the puppy trying to bite, jump, or agressively play with the cat.

Cut the cats claws short so that if the cat decides to smack the pup upside the face there will be little damage to the pup.

Never leave your cat alone with the dog, at least until you feel comfortable with how they are interacting with one another.

I'd probably get the pup into some basic obediance classes fast so you can teach him "Sit", "Stay", "Come", "Drop" and "Down" before I'd let the cat and dog interact outside of a controlled enviornment (leash/playpen/crate).

Other important things in my opinion are..

Buy a litter box with stairs on the inside. Then close off the opening so that only the cat can get into it. Dogs love to eat poop, but there are a ton of diseases a pup can get from eating another dogs poop or cat poop (worms being the biggest issue). The last thing you want is for your new pup to be eating cat poop especially before he's had all his vaccinations/de-wormings. It's doubly important if your cat spends his days outside, god knows what he could be eating/doing/getting into. You can find other styles of litter box's which will prevent the poop eating as well. Alternatively you could put the current litter box in room that's only accessible to the cat (I.E. your block off a room with a baby gate that the cat can jump over and the dog can't.)

I would get the cat checked up at the vet before bringing the pup home. A bath wouldn't hurt either. After this is done, I wouldn't let the cat venture out into the wild until your pups had all his vaccinations. The cat could be interacting with other dogs or other animals while outside and you'd be inadvertantly exposing your puppy to something that could make him ill. When the last round of puppy shots is over with (4 months old), it should be safe to let the cat out again.

Put the cats food dish somewhere only a cat could get into the food. Your puppy will eat anything on the ground. (and I do mean anything, I found mine gnawing on a solid steel table base today) Cat food is extremely high in protine and it's really not good for a dog, if your dog eats it he will likely have problems when he has to poop.

My old girlfriends sheltie used to get into the cat food of her roomates cats and afterwards would have very lose stool and on occasion diareah. You want to avoid this, especially in the first few weeks you own the pup because if the dog gets into the cat food you might not be able to tell if the pup is ok. Not to mention it's much easier to clean a carpet when a dog poops solidly in the house, if it's loose or mushy then you'll probably be spending a fair amount of time trying to get the poop out of the carpet visually and if a dog smells his poop he'll likely try to poop in that same round about location again.

Hope this helps you out.
 
I have always had shelties with cats - and usually had an older cat when I got a sheltie pup, atm I have a young cat I introduced to my adult shelties and they are great mates. Never had any problems. Remember shelties were bred to look after small animals, the main thing will be controlling th exuberance of a puppy - which can be trying for any species.

I think you will find Adult cats are pretty good at telling puppies when they overstep the line, just make sure the puppy isnt always in her face and she has somewhere to retreat to get away from the puppy. Dont push them to interact or even like each other, if your cat learns to tolerate the puppy then thats good. My experience is cats learn to get along better with other species than they do with other cats.

Just one thought to add to Jerros' suggestions, don't change your cat's schedule too much - you dont want her to see the puppy as the problem. I would also suggest getting a puppy pen and perhaps crate training your pup.
 
My Shelties are great with my cat.

It is the cat I have to watch with the Shelties. Cause the cats rule, you know :lol: She is the boss.....and makes that known every once in awhile.
 
When we brought our two shelties home,we introduced them to Bumper with no issues what so ever.Bumper is blind,but we just supervised them,and made sure the new pups were not over the top with pouncing,or play biting her.

They are the best of friends all of them.I made no changes in Bumpers routine,I left her food & litter where it always has been.With her being blind,I needed to make sure she was comfy & content wothout changes to her lifestyle.Other than a new puppy,she was very settled in her space,and knows this house inside out,and can & does get to high ground if need be.

I never block her off from the puppies,and they have learned not to touch her food or litter.That took a bit,but they respect her space.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how well your 14yr.old kitty does do.One thing that I do know for sure,since she is the elder,don't worry she will put them im thier place with a sufficiant warning,if things get out of hand.

Stay calm,let them get aquainted at thier pace,supervise~
 
skstylez, My cat is 11. And I worried alot about him when I brung Ember home, but he is FINE. He likes to pick on Ember, which I can't stand, but overall, everything is good No health problems at all.

Oh, I think it's cool you like the bi-blacks! I think they are often over looked. They are my youngest son's favorite color sheltie.
 
if you are bringing home a puppy nothing to worry, cat will adjust even if she has to spend next few weeks in the basement ... what we did initially are got our 2 cats outside and let the pup have a run of the house, then put pup in crate and let the cats in, after short time pup knew for sure that cats will protect themselves... we did cut their claws short for the time being just to be on safe side...
now if you are bringing adult dog then you might have a problem if the dog is not grown with cats they might have a high desire to chase them ALL the time so that will be pretty stressful for cat....
other than that I will put my bet on my cats any time... now I have one cat which likes to go for walks with our dog...
 
Abby loves cats...beats up on them bad and they keep coming back for more:eek2: The litter boxes are down cellar with a small cat door for them to go thru. The cat food is upstairs and we have a gate at the bottom of the stairs to keep Abby from going up. I have had cats and a sheltie for 23 years...they will be fine.
 
Bumper is so silly when she romps with the two puppies.she will gently put her paw out,to judge the distance they are from her,and she taps them on thier heads.Never puts her claws out,just little love taps~

Her favorite is squirming along the floor,and they will stand over her,and she scoots her body all around.Of course they see her,but she can't see them,but manages to squirm thru.They can't her out sometimes I think. Those are the times I wish I could read all thier minds.

I still think if she really knew how big Earnie was..she probably would not cuddle next to him or walk on him as she has been known to do~
 
I have a 15yr old cat. He raised all 3 of my shelties, got the first one when he was 7yr. It took about a week for him to decided the new puppy was ok and then they were best buds, played, wrestled and ran.

I was alittle worried when I got Diva as he isn't as young as he used to be and she was wild. But again he took it in stride. They would play and Diva would bite his head and body like puppies do and when he had enough,he would stop and put his paw behind Diva's neck and if she didn't stop at that point, he'd put his claws in her neck.:lol: It was funny he'd make no other move but pop the claws out. You could tell he did it because Diva would suddenly freeze and get this "yes sir" look on her face. :smile2: Then he'd just walk away. :cool:
 
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