If you’ve read my posts before you are probably already aware that we have three cats. Last Saturday we gained another furry, four-legged friend. This one is a dog.

Adding a dog to our family was not a decision we made lightly. In fact the decision is not yet finalised – we’re undergoing a one month trial period to see if Urho (that’s his name) fits into our lives. I’m hoping he will because I love him already! Ultimately the decision is down to my husband, and of course the cats. They were here first, and if they don’t like him then we won’t be able to keep him.

On that note, you’re probably wondering what the cats think of this new addition.

When he lived in England Sampson had a dog friend. My brother’s dog Wispa was a puppy when we got Sampson as a kitten, and there’s only a couple of months age difference between the two of them. And whilst Urho is no Wispa, Sampson at least had an idea of what to expect from the large black creature in the hallway. He hissed a little but other than that has mostly been content to ignore the dog.

Elvis was already fully grown, and approaching old age, when we adopted him. We don’t actually know much of his first seven years so I’ve no idea if he’s had any experience with dogs. Nonetheless after some initial suspicion, tail puffing, and arched back, he settled down and, like Sampson, is happy to ignore Urho.

The foster home where Lola lived as a kitten did have several large dogs, but I think they didn’t really interact with each other much. Lola is certainly the least happy with our new family member. She avoids him as much as possible, which is easy enough as we’re not letting him in the living room yet so she’s able to stay out of his way there. She has ventured beyond and sniffed around him a bit but she’s definitely suspicious of him still.

Getting the cats and dog used to each other will of course take time. It definitely helps that Urho is a fairly laid back dog, and very well-behaved. (At least most of the time!) He doesn’t pester the cats at all, though he certainly gets interested (and perhaps even a little worried) when Lola yells!

Love,

Lady Joyful

Do your cats get along with dogs? If you have both, how did you go about getting them comfortable with each other?

Filed under: Elvis, Lola, Sampson Tagged: #katzenworld, ねこ, cat, cats, cute, 猫, funny, ﾈｺ, katze, katzen, kawaii