Just a musing, really... Remy has always chased cats, since he was a pup - despite being brought up with 3 - but with my cats at least it's only been play, I know he wouldn't harm them.

What I'm wondering is, would he accept new kittens as family members - i.e. not to be chased - if they were round him from the very start and no chasing was ever allowed to occur?  I did try to stop him as a pup, but a) he was darn fast! and b) my cats always ran and never stood up to him.  The one time a cat did, he ignored it and kept barking!

It's only a contemplation, sadly I had to have my 20 yr old cat PTS last night and I'm finding the place very quiet without her whispers (she couldn't meow).  I've always said no more cats after my 9 yr old goes, as I'm fed up with living in a split household because of Remy's chasing, but if it's possible he could learn to accept some ickle kittens as friends - not toys - I'd think about rescuing a couple of littluns.  He did get better with the oldun in her last month or so as she took to sleeping behind the stair gate - he could always see/smell her - and she didn't run away so long as I followed her round if she decided to come through the gate and wander about downstairs.

I have taken in 2 kittens at separate times. My dogs (thanks to my now ex-hubby) were taught to chase cats out of the garden, but no further. When the first kitten arrived one of my dogs tried to eat it but thankfully after a few days they all learnt to get on really well. They used to sleep together. The second kitten arrived a few years later and settled in almost straight away. So yes, dogs can be taught to leave their own cats alone, but it will take a bit of work. You have to make sure that they meet under supervision. Preferrably after the animals have had their own time in the living areas of the house without the 'enemy' in sight. ;) That way the scent is in the house and the dogs will accept the scent of the kitten better.

I think it very much depends on the dog, the ideal way to do it is to introduce a puppy to an adult cat not the other way round. I love cats and really miss having one in the house but can't contemplate it till my last two borzois have went to rainbow bridge. I did try to introduce a kitten several years ago and what a disaster that was. The dogs never got over seeing him as prey and would do anything to get to him and eat him :(  Poor Toby had to live upstairs and the dogs downstairs and there were a few heart stopping moments - like when he was sleeping on the windowledge in the bedroom and fell out into the garden, one zoi picked him up and was running round with him like a squeaky toy while the other tried to get him. Then there was the time that he was sitting on the garden fence tormenting the dogs and fell off! Poor cat used up all his lives and eventually died of a kidney problem at only 5.

I'm sure however that I could introduce a kitten to the collies as they don't have the same prey drive and are better behaved. They will look at cats outside but a NO is enough to make them walk on - I'm hoping it'll be the same in the house.

> the ideal way to do it is to introduce a puppy to an adult cat

That was the original idea - Remy came home at 7 weeks old, when my cats were 16 and 6.  But they never took to him - always ran away - and he tried to chase them the instant he saw them, right from day one, so I ended up like you, with cats upstairs and dogs downstairs.  But, he's never, ever tried to hurt them - he cornered one once (one of my brother's dog-friendly cats) and waped her with his paw, like he would another dog.  He did the same thing to my oldy about a few weeks back, when she slipped through the gate when I wasn't looking - he did stop when I told him to though.

I'm in two minds about it really... I'd like to hope he would be better if the kittens were raised round him, but at the same time I have my other cat to think of, how she'd be with kittens considering she doesn't like adult cats.  It's a tricky one.  Would it be worth fostering some rescue kits perhaps, to see how things go?

Fostering may be the best way to go, if the rescue people involved are able to take them back if things don't work out. I'd be worried you'd end up trying to keep three groups seperate if neither the dog nor the exsisting cat liked the kittens

I have brought two kittens home in the last eighteen months and not had any problems I tried to intoduce the dogs gently keeping the cat in one room and bringing the dogs in occasionally to sniff and meet them then they are on there own to get on with it kittens are normally smart enough to find hidding places and know when to use them the dogs occasionally join in when the cats are chasing each other around when I am out the dogs are in the kitchen the cats can go in with them if they want and the little one does quite regularly to eat the dogs food.  My male will chase other cats out of the garden but nextdoor has recently got a new kitten a black and white little devil who has smacked Milo on the nose when cornered by him and Milo did not retaliate at all they get on quite well now but all the cats know when they run he will chase but if he catches them he does no harm.  The hardest problem i have found is getting my Mums older cat to settle with the dogs.  You know your own dog best and I have a friend who had tragic results bringing a kitten in to her house but in the dogs defense I think she was playing not trying to kill kitten it went horribly wrong as she was only a young dog later on in her life she accepted another kitten but I think you need to be able to give the kitten a safe place to go when things are to hectic like a baby gate on the stairs that the kitten can get through or over but not the dog.

It might be a better idea to get an older more confident cat rather than a kitten that will stand its ground. Your dog has already learnt he can chase cats and a little fragile kitten could easily be injured, even if your dog is only 'playing'. Thats not to say that you cant teach him not chase them. Personally I think its down to the individual dog and how he reacts to cats.

We've got 4 dogs and 4 cats. The dogs will chase but only if the cats run, if they dont run then the dogs arent bothered by them. In fact one of our rescue cats adores our rescue rottie and he is frequently purring and rubbing up against her. Funnily enough all the dogs are scared of our smallest cat, Amirrah. She will fly at them, hissing and spitting if they annoy her. Concequently they leave her be.