About a year and a half ago my wife and I adopted two little kittens. Right now they were about a year and a half old and even though they are not true siblings they act like brother and sister.

I've been in the market for another hunting dog for the past few years, and last night my buddy called and said his German shorthair pointer had eight pups, and I said I take one.

Does anybody have dogs and cats living under the same roof? I am hoping that since the dog will be an eight week old puppy when I bring him home he will accept the cats as brothers and sisters but hopefully the cats accept him too.

The cats are both very social and the male runs around like a crazy person all the time, but I'm just curious if anybody had any luck introducing the puppy to a household that had cats in it already and what the good or bad points were.

We are now catless but we had both for a long time. How well they get along really depends on the individual animals. One of our cats loved the dog. One wanted nothing to do with him.

My old English Springer, didn't care if the cats were there or not, and the little dog is friends with the small cat, the Maine Coon Cat hates all dogs, and only cares about himself.

But they all get along in the same house.

A GSP? Lay in the sedatives!

When we has 2 cats and 2 dogs at the same time, everyone got along. They all joined the household at different times and different ages. Cats were both Siamese, and cared little whether the dogs were there or not. Actually got one of the cats for the Chow dog who was super cat aggressive (would almost tore the storm door off the hinges when she saw a cat outside). Got the Siamese kitten and introduced them slowly, and the Chow was "OK so this is a cat", and they became the best of friends.

When my daughter comes to stay, she often brings her cat. Our 12 year old Brittany gets a little nervous, but is OK after a few hours. Not sure if a younger dog would tolerate it as well.

My dog was raised from 8 weeks old with our cat. They get along but she will walk by sometimes and antagonize him until he takes off after her and gets in trouble.
Of course he is an Australian Shepherd so it may be the crack that flows through his veins in place of actual blood.

My alley cat and GSD were very good friends, even curling up together for naps at times. I got both when they were very young (pup and kitten), so they grew up together. My GSD never tolerated any other cats or dogs, only his original cat buddy. My cat avoided other dogs like most cats, and our neighborhood did not have many cats at that time.

All animals have their own personalities, but they are much easier to socialize when brought together at very young ages.

The GSP pup will want to play with the cats but they may not accept him since they did not grow up together. YMMV

Just my $0.02 and experience,

Mike

Thanks so far guys. It should be interesting to see what happens, my wife is less than happy with me LOL!
She thinks this is the worst idea ever and will end in disaster. But I think if I use my head and try to socialize them slowly and keep boundaries initially hopefully it will turn out well.

Our Akita was 5 years old (female) when I brought home an abandoned kitten that I found at a customer site.

She adopted him & they slept together and he would barge in and interrupt her while drinking to help himself to water.

(She would kill cats that got into our fenced-in back yard if she could)

The next Akita we got was nowhere near as friendly to the cat & we had to keep them separated, even though the dog was the new (pup) addition to the house.

Agree that it depends a lot on the temperment of the individual animals.

Years ago, my wife had three cats. We adopted a three month old English Mastiff. The first time he walked in the door, the cats went bonkers. Running around, climbing things, trying to escape.

Jesse Mastiff was really mellow, he never even noticed the cats.

Eventually it got to the point where the cats would curl up next to him to sleep.

4 dogs and 2 cats. Everyone gets along. Never a dull moment until they all wind down at bedtime.

Mass hysteria! I can’t believe someone hadn’t used that quote yet.

back in the 70s (11 yrs old) when leash law was a suggestion my irish setter was a cat killer she would be all over them. Then me and some friends found some kittens in a tree hollow and momma dead on the street we all took one home. it only took a few weeks and the cat ruled the roost

We had an 11 year old chiweenie when my wife found & brought home a kitten from the side of the road. I hate cats, but as you can guess, we now have a cat too. They get along great most of the time, but every now and then the cat can be a little bit of an asshole.

We had a 16 year old cat and a 7 year old cat when we brought home a 3 year old Chow. The one cat and the dog didn't care about each other at all from the first meeting, and they never had an issue. Very live and let live. The other cat went ape shit and that cat and the dog didn't get along. Eventually they started to get along, but then that cat passed away.

Guess it all depends on the animals

quote:

Guess it all depends on the animals

Agreed. You won't know until you try it.

My sister, a long time ago, had a German Shepherd and a calico cat that were bestest buds. When that dog died, the cat and the subsequent Doberman Pinscher sort of tolerated each other. So it's quite possible.

We had a lot of cats and one dog. The one dog didn't get along with the cats so he stayed away from them and they left him alone.

Last year we adopted a baby Shepherd and she grew up this past year with the cats. She plays with them and they play with her. She knows to be gentle with them since if she gets rough, they smack her.

Yep, 9 lb cat smacks 70 lb dog and the dog listens. But come near the house or my kids and the dog goes into defender mode.

4 dogs and 1 cat, no real problems. Ymmv. I think if the German shorthair is a puppy it should be easier because the cats will put him in his place from the start..
Best of luck.

Thanks for the feedback everyone