Cat and Dog Buds

Written by Jennifer Evans, DVM

We’ve all heard the saying ‘fighting like cats and dogs’ but sometimes cats and dogs can be the best of friends!!  If raised together, dogs and cats are often great buddies; playing, sleeping and even eating together.  There is something quite profound about seeing a large pit bull snuggled up with a cat, they should be enemies yet they aren’t.  Kind of makes you wonder what we should be capable of as a ‘more intelligent’ species! 

Baldwin (cat) and Bean (dog)

While it’s true that some dogs just simply can’t safely be around cats, many can be taught appropriate ‘cat manners.’  The easiest way to start integrating the two species is either with a youngster of each or with an adult dog or cat that is used to the other species and a youngster who doesn’t know they should be afraid.  An adult cat that runs unfortunately becomes a really fun game for a puppy and can actually become ‘prey’ for adult dogs that don’t know better.   Whenever introducing the two, always have the dog under control with a leash and have the cat’s nails trimmed.  See how they do and progress from there.  Keeping the cat in a crate for short training periods and rewarding the dog when he ignores the cat or possibly squirting him with water if he’s too fixated will sometimes help an adult dog learn how to peacefully co-exist with a cat.  Always be cautious when introducing new critters to each other and never leave them alone unsupervised until they have proven they can get along safely.   Sometimes it takes a while for them to become friends. 

Rocky (cat) and Petey (dog)

Our office manager Lavella adopted her “chiweenie” from the shelter months ago and it took a while for her cat ‘Rocky’ to accept the new addition, but in time he realized the benefits of having another four-legged buddy in the house.  The rewards of having a dog and cat that love each other are quite numerous, not the least of which includes really awesome photo ops!