How Can My Dog and Cat Get Along

What Do You Do If Your Cat and Dog Don't Get Along? - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats.

Hello, my name is Dr. Carolyn Quagilata. I am the owner and founder of City Pet Doctor, New York City's premier house call vet service. What do you do if your dog and cat do not get along? Well, the good thing is that it is actually pretty rare that dogs and cats do not get along in households. A large percentage of my clients have both dogs and cats and in almost every instance, they get along beautifully. The main thing you want to do when you are introducing a dog to a cat is to do it very gradually. You never want to put a dog and a cat in a room and just let them work it out.


The other thing is you want to make sure that the cat has a safe place to go, potentially an elevated surface or another room that the dog cannot get into because you need to be very, very careful that the dog is not going to kill the cat because that can actually happen. Cats have claws and they can definitely do damage to dogs when they scratch them but, you do not have that same fear that the dog is going to kill the cat. So, the last thing is to just be patient. It may take weeks. I t may take months but the payoff is huge.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• dog and cat get along
• managing your pets
• managing your cat
• managing your dog
• pet care
• pet health
• cat dog fight
• City Pet Doctor
• Expert Series

[geobeats]

How do you get your cat and dog to get along? Tell us in comments!

[oopqooify]

@chinchillalovers1 It doesn't matter when you get them, and it doesn't matter on the age. It matters how good you are as a trainer. And it doesn't matter whether you get a collie or not, because breeds DO NOT REPRESENT TEMPRAMENT. Also, collies have a strong herding instinct, so you need to be a very good trainer to manage that.

[chinchillalovers1]

I don´t have a cat or a dog yet.. But I want both! Would it be a good idea to first get a kitty, then maybe some months later get a nice collie puppy.. would they maybe get along? or would it be better to get the puppy first? :) thanks <3