AS with most animals, the longer theya re separated, the worse things can get. As long as your kitty has healed from her surgery, and has an escape to get away from the dog...I suggest you just let them be. Loose supervision, making certain one is not stalking the other, and correcting the behavior of either the dog or the cat when misbehaving will go along way towards keeping the peace. Dont forget, your pets pick up your energy, the more tense you are about this, the more upset the pets will be. Good luck

Thanks Laurie. I have never had a cat do that before and it threw me for a loop. Hissing and growling yes, but never trying to attack.

I agree that she needs time to decompress, I'll leave her behind the closed door for a few more days and then go to either gates or see if I can get a cheap screen door. That definitly would make getting into the room easier.

I have a cat harness and leash that I've used in the past and had thought of using that for the intros. I guess she will need more time than any of the other cats that I've brought in the house.

I've had cats who integrated almost immediately, and I've had cats take up to 4 1/2 months before they were ready to join the family fray. Annabelle, who was perfectly tame when she got dumped here fresh from raising a litter, attacked my poor Tasha (Aussie mix) quite viciously when I made the ill-fated mistake of allowing Tasha into the bedroom with her. Annabelle flung herself onto Tasha's back repeatedly until I managed to get Tasha out of the bedroom. Scared poor Tasha half to death, and Tasha's no pushover!

Once Annabelle got her bearings here and figured out that the other animals weren't out to get her, she never demonstrated any aggressive behavior again. BTW, among the female felines of the household, Annabelle is at the bottom of the social hierarchy. She rarely holds her ground when any of the other cats approach her.

So, is your new girl the "omega" cat or the other one you mentioned earlier?

Laurie

Laurie, the experience you had with Annabelle and Tasha is exactly the scenerio what played in my mind when I saw the new cat go balistic. My German Shepherd is 11 and is moving slowly now. Her right rear foot is starting to drag and I pictured this cat attacking her which freaked me.

The cat I adopted was the one from the town shelter, not the omega in the no-kill. I'm sure she will still be there when I'm ready for another cat.

I realized late last night that her reaction to my dog may also have been caused by the setup at the shelter. They have 2 separate rooms for the cats, to get to the one that she was in you need to pass through the dog kennels. There are about 6 kennels on either side of the walkway and the dogs go crazy when someone walks through. While my dog didn't bark at her, I wonder if her experience with dogs has just been the ones at the shelter, on the other side of the door to the cat room.

I hope she can get passed her fear because she is very sweet otherwise.

As usual (no offense to Mazer), Laurie is on target with this. The longer they are separated, the better they will adjust.

Be patient. Be creative! Allow the cat access to the house and keep the dog contained in another room for awhile, so the cat gets used to the rest of the house.

Good luck!

I'm sure your new girl is just in a state of heightened self-preservation right now. The gates/screen will help tremendously to acclimate her to your family. The setup you describe at the shelter must have scared that poor girl to death. She's just trying to make sure your dog knows that she won't be an easy meal.

One more thing about Annabelle. When I did start bringing her out of the bedroom for visits in the harness and leash, she was absolutely TERRIFIED. That first "visit" day I think I only had her out of the bedroom for a couple of minutes before I had to let her return to the safety of the bedroom. Each day I had to force her to stay out of the bedroom for a few more minutes, holding her quietly on my lap on the couch while the other animals ignored her and went about their business. It only took a few days before Annabelle settled down enough to notice that the other animals were completely ignoring her and presenting absolutely no threat at all. Then she started to relax while out of the bedroom, and it wasn't long before she was fully integrated.

If I had allowed her to be off-leash during those first few visits, though, she either would have hid or she would have attacked every animal she saw. She was all about protecting herself until she realized that the other animals weren't interested in hurting her.

Your girl just needs time to observe your family and reach the same conclusions that Annabelle did. She'll be fine as long as you can prevent your older cat from going after her.

Laurie

My last cat was such a good fit in my house that I was spoiled. After five days in the spare bedroom, I opened the door and put up a 4 four ft gate for her to see my dog and cat. She jumped the gate that night and jumped into bed with me. The next day she met my crew and she was totally integrated by the end of the week. I still miss her so much.

I will have to go much slower with my new cat. My older cat will not try to attack. She can be grumpy, but she wouldn't go out of her way start a fight. She will not initiate friendship either. For as much as she wasn't buddies with my other cat, they would occassionally sleep together and coexisted well, but on her terms.

Katsmah, I just started reading about the first day with the new cat! I was sort of surprised the new cat would display that much aggressivity.. For us, it always came and comes from the older resident. All situations are different!! Naturally her background is the why.. As Laurie put it, she has been through HUGE changes in the last few months. FEAR is at the source of her reaction, and the setting at the shelter was not to encourage positive attitude towards dogs. So I am convinced that love and patience will take care of that. Lots of TLC! In our situation, the 2 sisters had each other to keep them company when no one could be with them.

By the way, I have been attacked quite a few times by my 'old lady' (bites & bad scratching), and I have learned to always keep a pillow nearby to put between her & me (we keep several in strategic points). She can't stand it when we get in between her and the girls or close a door, and she attacks--can't recognize her! Had never seen anything like that before!

I still think that getting cats to get along with others has a lot to do with age. We never went through a methodical introduction with our first 3 cats, but we got them within 2 years and they were roughly the same age. They were not close buddies but they got along.

Well, there is nothing I can add to what Laurie suggested.. so, good luck.. and keep us posted. Tell us a little bit about the new resident, when you get a chance!!

And.. congratulations again for giving a home to this little one!
Anne-Marie

A sad update, I had to return Maddie to the shelter yesterday.

After her reaction to my dog, I put gates in place so my cat and dog would stay downstairs. They usually hang out in the family room where I spend most of my time so it wasn't too hard on them. I figured this would put the least amount of stress on her. Things were fine until Thursday night. We were in the guest room with her for about 40 mins, playing and just hanging out. BF left to go home and I stayed about 10 more mins, reading a magizine while Maddie lay on the bed next to me. I had some things in my hands and she came running to the door when I went to leave. I tried to shoo her away with my foot (stupid...stupid...stupid) and she nailed me again. I was just wearing slippers and never touched her, but it set her off and she attacked my leg. I got her off my leg - I have a big bruise where she attacked - and waited a couple of minutes for us both to calm down again so I could leave. As soon as I took a step she attacked again. I pulled her off my leg and she latched onto my left arm. The only way I could stop her from attacking me was to get her into the cat carrier which I had luckily left in the bedroom with the door open. Then I went into the bathroom to clean the blood from the bites and scratches off my hands, arms and leg. Then I cried. At my BF's suggestion, I used my rose gloves to let her out of the carrier that night.

My hands hurt. There were no warning signs prior to the attack. I just kept thinking about her interpreting a move made by my cat or dog as aggression and her going off on them. Or a child. I took her back and explained to the volunteers what happened. I hope that they give her a chance and can have someone work with her. I feel badly about it, but I couldn't have that behavior in my house. They offered for me to see if there were any other cats there to adopt, but I couldn't do it. Bringing her back was heartbreaking but I just couldn't adopt another cat so soon after this.

So sorry. If you do decide to try again, perhaps you can find a kitty who has already lived with dogs. I promise you cats and dogs CAN learn to live together. And I hope that Maddie finds a home where folks can work with her and she can eventually feel safe and loved.

Maddie's behavior sounds a lot like what my Feather went through before I got him integrated into my household. Because Feather showed up at the same time as two other young adult toms (I've always assumed the three are brothers), and because the boys were quite aggressive with each other, I had to keep each separated until I could integrate them. Feather ended up in the master bathroom for a while where the isolation really did a number on his tender psyche.

Feather would hiss at me each time I entered the bathroom to spend time with him, then he'd crawl all over me, writihing in joy as I stroked and scratched him in all the right places, then he'd attack me viciously when I got up to leave. He just couldn't stand being left alone. I started wearing my tall rubber barn boots into the bathroom so that he couldn't shred my legs when I had to leave him again. Because he was so overwrought about being left alone, I had to integrate him into the rest of the household more quickly than I would normally do.

Feather hasn't attacked me since I let him out of that bathroom, but he's still a very emotionally unstable cat. He is intermittently aggressive with several of the other male cats. I never know what is going to set him off or when, so I can't trust him unsupervised with the other cats. When I leave the house for more than a few minutes at a time, I have to put Feather into a bedroom to keep the other cats safe. Sometimes I even have to give him timeouts when I am in the house and he just can't control his own volatility.

Like Maddie, Feather is a very sweet and loving cat. He just isn't stable, and he isn't reliably safe around the other cats. Dealing with this sort of animal isn't easy, so I can certainly understand you returning Maddie to the shelter. It's heartbreaking when you've already connected, but you do have to consider the safety of your other animals.

I'm sorry for you and I'm sorry for Maddie. I hope she can be placed as an only cat into a loving home.

Laurie

Thank you. While it is a town shelter they do have volunteers who work with them and the ACOs seem to really care. I do hope they have someone to work with her. At the very least, I hopefully kept someone else from getting hurt.

If I didn't have my seniors I would have given it a try, but I couldn't do that to them. I've dealt with bad behavior from pets before, ranging from fear aggression (my dog) to urinating outside the litter box. Because I made a committment to them, I've adjusted to dealing with their behaviors, but none have ever put any of those who live in my house in danger.

I am very sorry this did not work out. It certainly is easier to accept aggression from your resident cat (I've gone through this!!) Yet, I can't help thinking that Maddie had gone through a lot and that she was trying to say something to you... something as simple as "please don't leave me alone!" She picked up you were heading towards the door, and that meant being alone again, and fear set in. I suppose she was alone during the day. She enjoyed her short time with you so much that she did not want to be left alone again... This was a new situation for her. My (resident) cat always attacked me when I tried to stand in between her and the new cats.. especially by closing the door to their room. Never thought she could turn so nasty!

The shelter would not have kept a cat with a propensity to attack people, and, as you said, she was very sweet when you met her. So, I really hope she finds a good match soon...

Also, I hope this won't deter you from trying again.. in a while.

Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie, If it was just her not wanting me to leave, she wouldn't have gone for me a 2nd time or as fiercely as she did. I've been bitten by a resident cat before, one cat I had would bite when she was tired of being pet or brushed, but it was one bite and then she was done. In Maddie's case, there was something in my movement that she perceived as a danger and instead of flight, she chose to fight. As an aside, I went to my DR for a physical today and where she attacked my leg looks to be infected, so I'm on antibiotics for 2 weeks.

I do hope that the shelter volunteers can work with her so she can be adopted. I was involved with breed rescue (German Shepherds) for about 6 years and have seen enough pets in shelters to know that the behavior you see in that environment is not neccessarily what you will see once the pet is in your home. I hope that they listened to my recommendation that she not be adopted to a home with children or dogs.

I haven't given up on getting another cat, I'm sure before the end of the year I'll have found one who is a good fit.

There's only one way for dogs and cats to adjust to each other and that is to let them be together. We have a cat that my wife brought home and he was terribly defensive toward the dog. Then one day they got together and have been best buddies ever since. It may take awhile but sooner or later they'll adapt to the situation. On the other hand, cats are not like dogs and if they don't like a situation they'll pack up their things and hit the road.

Sam, in the past I have done just that. But in this case the playing field wasn't level. While my senior cat could most likely have held her own, I think that if my senior dog had been attacked as I was, it would have had 2 possible outcomes and in either case the new cat or my dog would have ended up getting hurt. I just couldn't forsee a good ending.

I bet in a shelter she wouldnt get another chance, sats say 70% of cats in shelters get put to sleep- thats all cats naughty or nice/ kitten or adult. But you did what you had to, some cats that live like this are too wild to be allowed to live with people. I do think however putting her into a barn cat living arrangement as somebuddy's mouser would have been a better move. Such cats often love life as a wild thing.

I heard somewhere that if every unwanted cat in the usa found a home- then every home in the usa would have 36 cats! So its good that you want to adopt.