introducing a cat to a new puppy

[honky-tonk]

What is the best way to do this, bearing in mind my cat has had 16 years of being the only family pet . Any tips would be much appreciative.

[ELVIS68]

Adding gravy usually does the trick

[honky-tonk]

Elvis if you cant give a proper answer to the question why bother ?

[legend006]

I at the deepend honks.
Just leave em together and hope they bond



D T H ?

[ELVIS68]

Jeez, take a joke!

Ok serious answer, make sure you don`t over fuss the puppy infront of the cat

Try not to feed them together as puppy will probably eat the cats food as well as his

And make the cat feel like it`s still No1 pet, the puppy will get used to this

[jules77]

I have introduced a puppies to an older cat, the second time was probably worse than the first, but they lived together happily in the end.

Initially the cat would hiss even from the other side of the patio door, and we had to keep them apart as I was frightened of the puppies eyes. But as puppies sleep a lot, I started to let the cat come in and 'inspect' the puppy while he was asleep, obviously under observation from me in case puppy woke up. Then we started to allow them together with the puppy on a thin slip lead so we had control and he couldnt chase the cat, everytime he 'lunged' forward to the cat, we said No, and went from there. It took a few months to be able to trust them completely, but they all lived happily ever after not taking any notice of each other.......although if the dogs saw another cat, that was another story.

[madboutcats]

i seconded what jules said. if the pup is small enough to fit in a pet carrier that could also be a way to introduce cat to pup as theres bars in the way to stop any fighting and you can supervise their time together, start at a few minutes then gradually lengthen the time etc. hope they soon become friends, good luck.