[Dailydrool] Our cat and dogs

[Val Brewer]

Several droolers have recently posted about cats and dogs and how to get them to live harmoniously. I recall a good post from Saraberry awhile back this year which is probably in the Archives and well worth looking up. I thought I'd share our experiences too.
Lynx, our large (20 lb.) male Maine coon cat was 5 years old when we acquired our first basset, Bo. Bo is a very timid creature by nature and he did not really try to bother Lynx, so there was little to no problem. Lynx scratched Bo's nose once, and Bo said "Master, I'll ask permission before I ever approach again".
Harley, who arrived two years later, was another story. Fearless by nature, Harley loves to chase cats and was not the slightest bit respectful of Lynx. Lynx was not amused, and we feared for Harley's safety primarily, but also for Lynx's, as Lynx tends not to eat when stressed, and not eating for a fair amount of time for cats can be quite serious (they can develop hepatic lipidosis, which can be fatal, and which Lynx did once have when stressed. Most cats don't develop this, but it is a risk and we were unwilling to risk a second episode with Lynx ).
We designated one room of our house, my painting studio (a spare bedroom), as "cats-only/no-dogs-allowed. In that room we built a shelf just under the windows which runs the length of the room for Lynx to look out of the window. His feeding dishes are up on that shelf, so he can eat in total safety, as is a carpeted pad for sleeping. The litter box is on the floor of the room, but is an electric, self-scooping one and, mercifully, my dogs do not have the taste for cat poop that Morse and others seem to have. 
The shelf is accessible by a cat climbing post and also the back of a piece of furniture. It is not accessible to short-legged bassets, ot at least to my two. Neither is the gazelle that some of the other hounds on the Drool appear to be.
 Additionally, we put a 24" high board across the door of that room on the floor completely blocking the bottom of the door. People can step over it, and Lynx can clear it easily but scaling it is not easy for our bassets. On one side of the board we also put a very large laundry basket which is about the same height as the board, as long as the door opening, but only about 12" in width. The basket sits there as a second barrier (basically its sides adding two more hurdles, fairly narrowly spaced). The addition of the basket makes the room inaccessible to our bassets. A person can step into the basket with one foot and into the room with the next foot. A cat can jump into the basket and then jump immediately into the room. A basset is just too long and unbendable to clear both barriers and would end up uncomfortably pretzelled if he could make the first barrier. Harley seemed to realize this and did not try.
The door to the room itself is open, so from the start Lynx could observe Harley from the safety of the room and the safety of the high shelf, and Harley could observe Lynx, but the two were separated by at least 12 feet of horizontal distance and 5 feet of vertical distance.
There are places all over the house which are also safety zones for Lynx-under the sofa, on the counter, on the diningroom table--but Lynx initially felt too threatened to use any of these and stuck to his own room. Since I work in the art studio/spare bedroom for a large part of each morning, Lynx did not seem to feel lonely, although I suspect he was quite miffed about Harley's adoption.
Lynx mostly stayed in his cats-only room for the first six months Harley lived with us! During all this time if Harley barked at Lynx, we corrected Harley. Eventually Harley lost interest in Lynx, and Lynx got over his fear of Harley. One day Lynx simply came out of the room, did not run if Harley approached to sniff, and the conflict was over. After this, we removed the door barrier--board and basket-- (but not the shelf or other safety spots). All of the animals now keep me company when I paint during the day. Lynx and Harley sleep next to one another at the foot of our bed at night. During the day Lynx still usually hangs out on his shelf because he likes it there, though he does not seem afraid to stroll around other places in the house, which he also does. Lynx and Harley sniff one another and seem to get along fine. Bo, of course, gets along fine with both.
The key feature to all of this, I think, was the combination of a very large safety zone that was cats-only, but also the visual exposure of the cat and dogs to one another at the same time. For us, it was also letting Lynx choose his own timing, I think.
On "The Dog Whisperer", Cesar does something similar, having the cat in a hard-sided carrier (with a see-through) gate in an area with the dog, or taking the cat in a pet stroller on a walk with the dog, while closely supervising the dog. As with most of Cesar's interventions, he seems to be able to work miracles in minutes. Not us. We tried the carrier for Lynx at first on the day Harley arrived, but this didn't seem to work--not because of Harley, who did bark but was able to be calmed (the dog has been the problem on the Dog Whisperer), but because Lynx was too frightened and we didn't want to put too much stress on Lynx. (In our case, the cat was the bigger problem). 
Similarly, at first Lynx was not happy being on a table in the same room with Harley, even though he was safe there (Lynx didn't believe he was safe). When I have talked to others introducing cats and dogs, their cats have ben more comfortable with safe zones in the same rooms with the dogs.
Good luck. Our solutions worked great for us and all are now friends. I was shocked at how long it took, but then Lynx is a very determined, strong-willed cat (our vet even comments on this), so Lynx may not be a typical example. As I am typing, Lynx is sitting on the computer desk, and Harley and Bo are sleeping peacefully on either side of my chair.
 


      
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