Hi all, I have a new baby in the house a 12 weeks old Boston and he is the most gorgeous and sweet puppy. I also have a house cat (doesnt go out at all) and they already had several encounters    but for the first couple of days they were keeping their distance (my cat is very reserved and calm) but now the puppy barks and jumps when he sees her, to me it looks like he wants to play with her but she just ignores him and walks away. I would love them to keep each other company and play / sleep with each other but do you think that they will ever be friends or will they carry on living two separate lives under the same roof?

I have a friend that had the same problem. She eventually knew that everything was okay when the cat brought a mouse in and dropped it at the dogs feet for him  to play with. It must have taken a minimum of 6 months though.

When we first got our cats they took a ew weeks to stop hissing at our dog who was already there, when we added another dog they weren't too sure about him to start with but now......they all sleep together! :-)

When we brought home our first puppy our 16 year old male tom cat wasnt too impressed!

Took them a while but as soon as Mitz learned her boundaries with him they were sleeping together and everything :)
Time will help!

Always supervise them together and stop the pup from trying to chase etc.  Bostons have very prominent eyes and they could easily be caught by a claw from a fed up cat boxing pups ears.

thanks for your replies  I am not forcing them onto each other and am aware of the vurlnerability of the puppy's eyes so I am always on the watch out for that and also tell him a firm NO when he chase and barks at the poor cat. But I cant deny that cant wait to see them happy together!

I have a cat that teases the pup ;-) When my 5 year old dog was a puppy I had to watch very carefully as the dog and cat would chase one another up and down the hallway. The cat started it, not the dog :-) Dog just joined in. When my youngest one first saw the cat it was as if she had found a new toy. The cat still doesn't like being chased by her, will deliberately lie in hiding for my 5 year old. Youngest is now learnin that when cat hisses it means he doesn't want to play that game. She is now 9 months old, whereas Josh (cat) is now 7 years old. I just have to make sure that Josh can escape if he needs to. He keeps coming back for more though. :-D I'm sure that he thinks he's a dog sometimes. He even growls at my next door neighbours :-)

Our cats and dogs have been living together for around 3 years now,they still have absolutely Nothing,zero,zilch  to do with one another,and the dogs still chase them at every opportunity :(

my cat is about 6/7 (not sure of her age as she was rescued) we got kia when the cat was around a yr old.for the first few weeks they didnt get on at all but that soon settled.
the cat would often come over to kia when she was sleeping to cuddle up to her but kia would get up and move away but that changed when we got tiger a yr ago kia straight away would let him cuddle up to her and somtimes she now lets the cat come an lie by her.
tiger has chased sammy from the first day we got him and still hasnt stoped! we thought it was all tiger winding the cat up but its not its the other way around!!! the cat comes and picks up the toys that he is playing with and runs off with them!

> I'm sure that he thinks he's a dog sometimes. He even growls at my next door neighbours <IMG alt=eek src="/images/eek.gif"> <IMG class=sml alt=:-) src="/images/default/sml_pos.png">

my cat too! she runs to the door with the dogs when sombody is there! she sits for her dinner aswell :-)

My cat, Sonny, was about 6 when we got Bramble. Sonny and Dakko tolerated each other, Dakko was there first so Sonny knew him from when he was a kitten, he would even rub himself off Dakko when they passed each other as if to say, OK I know you, you're my dog. But... Bramble is now nearly four and Treacle is nearly three and the cat hates them, especially Treacle, who still thinks she must chase him up the garden every time she sees him. Bramble got a very nasty scratch right across her eyelid from him when she was a puppy, fortunately he missed her eye, so don't believe anyone who tells you that a cat won't go for the eyes! Fortunately the cat lives with my mum and dad in our granny flat (he decided to shift digs 6 years ago when we redid our kitchen!!) so they don't have to be together 24/7 but when the dogs come in the cat leaves, even after 4 years. I think if they had been forced to live in the same house they would have got along better eventually but because they don't, they haven't really had a chance to get used to one another.

Our cats and dogs were great friends, the cats were decidedly miffed when the first dog arrived as a pup.  They hid upstairs for 3 weeks growling and snarling/hissing.  Knowing Burmese as I do, I decided they'd had enough time to object and started them coming down in a cat basket one by one (otherwise they'd wind each other up ;) )  at first we put the basket on chairs so that the cat and pup could see each other, and pup on a lead so she couldn't pester (she thought cats were new toys to chase ) when both were calm they got really nice meaty treats.  Then as they got more relaxed we put the basket on the floor, and treated with meaty treats.  This took about 4 weeks of twice a day visits.  Then we tried putting pup in a crate and cats roaming free, treats again, we then progressed to cats downstairs and pup on lead.  When we were sure pup would be calm and not chase/pester the lead was removed.  From that day they were all great pals, sleeping together in cold weather, grooming each other etc.  When the next pup came along it was all very relaxed, she was home bred :)  when each cat died of old age the dogs spent days looking for them.

thanks for all these lovely stories, makes great (soppy) reading :o)

My puppy and Cat seem to hate each other!
Our cat I ave had since he was 8 week old and he's almost 2 now. He's very laid back, lazy and quiet. Likes nothing more than to sit on my bed in the sunshine and sunbathe flat out on his back.
Our pup who is now 17 weeks old, we've had since he was 8 weeks. He's very loud, in your face and playful. Our cat hates it. The puppy will chase him all over the house until the cat is out of reach. If the puppy see's the cat peacfully laying on the bed or sofa he well sit very close to him and just continually bark very loudly at the cat right into his face. If the cat is sitting on the stairs he will go up to the step above the cat and again just continually bark very loudly at the cat.
The puppy does this about 4/5 a day to our cat. The cat can't move an inch without the dog chasing him.
He managed to pin the cat down a couple of times when the cat hasn't been fast enough. The puppy never hurt the cat just kept barking at him very loudly but he soon got a 'slap' from the cat.
If the dog is inside and he can see the cat outside, the dog will sit at the door and bark until you either let him out or remove him.

It is very annoying and I feel sorry for the cat. I dont know why the puppy does it. The same thing happens every time. I just hope that once the puppy as clamed down then the cat might want to be 'friends'.

He does it as he want the ct to play.  Did you by any chance have younger brothers and sisters that would pester you to play or be really annoying banging on your bedroom door etc when you wanted time to yourself, or with your own friends?  I unfortunately had FOUR younger brothers, and courting was no fun at all :D

Cats and dogs of course have different body language. it would be a good idea to keep a long line on the pup indoors and stop him from being able to chase the cat, also it sounds like the pup has to much freedom in your home.  Until his manners are what you would have them containing him to one or two rooms of the house is best as then you can monitor and control his actions much more easily.

To be honest I would make upstairs out of bounds, so the cat has a safe haven and also it isn't good for a pup to climb up and especially down stairs.

Couldnt of said it better myself Brainless :)

He does this because he's allowed to :(

He is behaving exactly like a pup, he wants to play and, as has been said, cats and dogs have different body language and play in an different way, so he won't know how to be calm with the cat, unless you teach him otherwise!   If a young child did this to the cat would you let him?  ;)  In the same way, your pup needs to learn that pestering the cat is not allowed, and he will only learn that if you teach him ;)  

In addition to following Brainless' excellent advice, you could also try rewarding every calm and gentle interaction with a nice tasty treat - for both of them ;)   I taught both of my terrier pups to be gentle with my cats in just this way and they often slept together (the cats were elderly and have now passed on) ;)

I do think you have been very fortunate up to now, that the cat has not retaliated, one swipe with those claws could do some serious damage if the cat decides he's really had enough ;)

Our cat is very laid back and will just walk off if things get too much for him.
Our pup isn't allowed to pester the cat in anyway. He gets a sharp 'Ah' or 'leave' if he starts on the cat and is taken away. But this is something that never changes. I can't reward him for being calm around the cat because he never is. As soon as he see's the cat he'll make himself as big as he can and get right into the cats face and just bark at him. I dont know what to do with this situation. We're now getting a stair gate to stop the dog going up stairs but the cat gets harrassed by the dog as soon as he comes any where near him. This makes eating for him difficult. We moved his food the cats food off of the floor as soon as we got the pup. I've tried feeding them at the same time so the pup is distracted by what he loves most. I've fed the cat when the dog isn't in the room. No matter what happens the dog has always done this to our cat and I cant seem to break him out of the habit.

i have three newfs and a 13 year old cat who is loving and wonderful with people but she will not make freinds with the boys.
at best she will be in the same room but only if they leave well alone.