Often-times, pet owners that love both dogs and cats have to make the impossible decision of choosing just one.
Getting these two animals to live together is quite the challenge as, most likely, your dog will chase your cat in an attempt to intimidate her, while your poor cat will go hide somewhere by herself.
It doesn’t have to be that way, however!
It’s possible for your dog and cat to coexist if you simply follow these 5 useful tips to make your dog and cat get along.
Remember, for your dog and cat to get along, their respective breeds are what ultimately determine their personality type and, in turn, their ability to get along with the other.
Certain breeds of cats and dogs are able to get along with some species as opposed to others. So when deciding which cat or dog to adopt, always be very careful about the breed.
Certain breeds of dogs tend to be territorial. A territorial dog would not be okay with a cat sharing his space. If you know for a fact that your two pets do not have a personality match, you most likely should have some sort of a backup plan.
For example, you can make arrangements so that both of your pets do not have to spend too much time with each other in the same space.
If you are adopting a pet from a shelter or from a friend, make sure to ask how comfortable the pet is with other pets. These things are important to consider before you can go about adopting any pet.
Since dogs are the more territorial of the two, it is important that you focus on training your dog to adapt to living with another pet.
Dogs end to act on impulse, so before you can bring in a cat, you need to teach your pup how to control his impulses, such as his impulse to jump on the cat as soon as he sees her.
You can test how impulsive your dog is by, for example, dropping a cookie on the floor of your room and noticing whether your pup jumps up each time he sees the cookie drop. If he does, your dog is probably driven by impulses which he will need to learn to control, well before you bring in your pet cat.
You don’t want your poor cat to be startled or terrified as soon as she enters a new home!
While dogs are the more territorial of the two, personal space is just as important for cats. Cats love when they have space that’s only theirs.
Make sure to create such safe cat spaces around your house where the dog is unwelcome. This will allow your cat to feel safe at your home, and she will be more confident even when having to deal with sharing space.
A smart thing to do is to purchase cat trees or to install tall shelves in your house. Cats love to climb. This way, your cat will stay busy and will be able to view your dog from a distance, so as not to get intimidated by him.
It’s also important to keep your dog away from your cat’s litter box at all times. Dogs often like to chew on cat feces, but this ends up being detrimental for your pup’s health. It can cause a host of health problems such as anemia, diarrhea, vomiting, and loss of weight.
If you do decide to keep both a cat and dog as pets simultaneously, you will need to be careful about a number of things.
One important thing to remember is to keep their food bowls in separate places. If not, the consequences could be disastrous.
If, for example, you keep both of their food bowls in the same vicinity, it’s possible that your cat may walk up to the dog’s food bowl and begin to eat from it.
The dog, being territorial as usual, will, of course, just be protective of his food bowl and might just attack the poor kitty. You don’t want that!
So if you do decide to raise both pets together, you will have to take the necessary precautions.
While having both a dog and a cat as pets in your home can be challenging for sure, it’s certainly going to be easier if you decide to do this at a young age.
Puppies and kittens tend to be far more malleable than full-grown dogs and cats.
You can socialize them from a young age and teach them what it means to be coexisting so that by the time they are older, they understand what it means to get their own space, even while living in a shared space.
This step is more important for dogs. It can be nearly impossible to teach adult dogs how to behave because, at this point, they are already possessive of their space and will most likely attack any cat that threatens to enter it.
These were 5 useful tips to make your dog and cat get along. If you have made the decision to raise both pets together, you will have to keep in mind their different personalities and breeds, so that you know just what to do and what not to do when bringing both pets home.
by Bobby J Davidson || You can’t buy love, but you can rescue it™ .
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Here are a some adoptions for consideration: puccicafe.com/adoptions