Looking For Testimony Of Greys Living With Cats

[Guest Trentsmom]

I have a friend who has been thinking of getting a grey for a very long time and I think she would give it a wonderful home. The only thing holding her back is her two cats and the fact that her vet told her horror stories of greys killing cats. I was sad to hear that because I've heard that they can be cat safe. So thought I'd ask for testimony from those of you who have brought greys into homes with cats. Obviously every dog is differnt (not sure if years raced makes a difference)- I think she is just worried that she would never be able to leave the animals alone and of course does not want to bring harm to the cats. PS- the dog she is considering is beleived to be cat safe. Any good or bad you have to share is appreciated.

[Guest nuri]

my grey could care less about cats. my cat is young and wants to play all day. she chases my dude down the hallway, entangling herself in his legs and batting at him. he just keeps on walking and settles in for yet another nap. i have brought him around other, non familiar cats and he does exactly the same thing. it definitely depends on the dog, but some greys and cats can live together very easily and safely.

[maryz]

Sherri walked in and never looked at the cats. Three years later, she still ignores them. She is, in fact, afraid of my female, who has swatted at her a couple of times. She won't enter a room if the cat is

in the doorway, whining until mom chases big bad cat away. I even have 10 outside cats who live on my property and two of them actually jump the fence to come in the yard and see her, nuzzling

against her. Sherri is happy to see them! When I was ready to adopt, my only stipulation was that she be cat safe. Your friend will be able to find the perfect dog for her household.

[rallyp]

I don't have cats, but off the top of my head, I can already think of six different friends who have greyhounds that have lived with their cats for years.

[Hawthorn]

I've owned four greyhounds who have all been safe with my cat.

 

My cat was 6 years old when I adopted my first greyhound, and I was apprehensive too because I'd heard the horror stories, but I'm happy to report that the cat lived until he was nearly 20 and died of old age.

 

It's just a matter of making sure your friend gets the right dog.

[retiredracers]

11 greyhounds in my house + countless fosters and 6 cats over the last 12 years and only one incident with one grey playing too hard with one cat. Otherwise no issues. Currently have 8 greys and 4 cats. They all get along. One of the cats thinks he's a greyhound (head trauma patient at the vet clinic where I work and I think he imprinted on the greys when he woke up) and spends his days and nights lounging with my greys on the couch and bed. He is desperately in love with Elphie. She somewhat returns his affection.

Edited May 14, 2011 by retiredracers

[FiveRoooooers]

It happens

 

RIP Molly-O

[cacky]

We had three cats and a german shepard when we brought Red home, right off the track. After a couple of sniffs and one good back hand from mommy cat he could care less. By the end of the month my Boo kitty was nest under his arms, you could see it in his eyes he was not happy but he dealt with it.

Never a problem didn't chase them once unless Chillens' stole a piece of chicken from his bowl.

[robinw]

Phoenix, Treasure and Allen Ginsberg (my cat) are all best friends. Before I adopted Treasure, my bridge angel Loca wasn't cat safe at first. With a lots of training and patience, she also became best friends with my cat.

[Guest Trentsmom]

It happens

 

RIP Molly-O

Love it!

[Guest chimni]

That was a concern for us as well. We have 2 older cats who give Sofia a wide berth in general (they don't know what to make of her) and Sofia mostly ignores them. Out in the back yard, they'll play a little. If Sofia gets too rambunctious a swat or 2 (with claws in first, then out if she persists) and Sofia will find something else to do.

[GeorgeofNE]

Racing career length has NOTHING to do with a hound being cat safe or not. Frankly, the notion of "prey drive" being a huge factor in racing ability (dogs who are no good at it don't do it long!) is overstated. I think for many of them, it's much more about running faster than the dogs behind them and next to them than thinking about catching the stuffed animal speeding in front of them.

 

My dog raced for close to 3 years, and has what I would call a very low prey drive (squirrels, rabbits, etc. don't get him even a little worked up), but was a successful racer.

 

Despite his lengthy career, as you can see, he is about as cat safe as you can get!

 

The key is to work with an adoption group who has at least one skilled person involved who can evaluate the dog's "cat workability," and to take their recommendation!

 

And be smart about the introductions! A good adoption group can explain all that to your friend.

 

Witness a cat safe dog (and trust me, the spotty/striped cat is probably about as annoying as a cat can get! He's not known as both Da Ebil Won and You Little Bastard for no reason!):

 

George with Tiger

 

George with Mister Bigglesworth as a kitten

 

A classic!

 

Probably my favorite picture ever

 

George and Tiger again

 

 

Not sure really who is in MORE danger here?

 

I rest my case!

Edited May 14, 2011 by GeorgeofNE

[Guest Flysmom]

We have a cat and Greyhounds and they get along just fine! I also fostered for my group and I did not have any problems.

 

We always introduce a new Greyhound to our cat with the muzzle on and the muzzle stays on as long as it takes to be sure that there are no issues.

 

My cat is even able to be on the patio outside without the boys bothering her... I still don't like for the cat to be outside when the boys are outside also, you just never know what could happen.

[Guest BassoonMo]

We adopted our greyhound about three months ago, and the transition has been a little difficult for our cat, not the dog. Our cat is an indoor only cat who has never been around any other animals except for our two dogs (one of whom passed away last year). She was terrified of our greyhound when we first brought him home and spent the first month living in the bathroom refusing to come out. We have the door propped open with a heavy weight so that she can come and go as she pleases, but the greyhound can't go in, so it's her safe place. Our greyhound couldn't care less about her, but she still runs every time she see's him. After three months, she is finally getting to the point that she will come out of the bathroom when he's downstairs as long as he's not too close. I don't worry about him hurting or chasing her though, and hopefully she'll eventually be friends with him (although at the rate we're going, it might be a while...).

[DesiRayMom]

Desi would eat a cat before you could say "would you like fries with that." Since I'm not much of a cat person myself, and

have waged war on the neighborhood feral cats that use my flower beds as their personal toilette, ours was a match made in

heaven.

 

Moral of the story.....there IS a hound for nearly every situation.

[Guest KsFrets]

We had our cats before the greyhounds. We have two cats and three greyhounds and one mutt. We have fostered 5 greyhounds. I'm not going to make it sound like rainbows and roses, but really it's never been any real problems. The cats have an uncanny knowledge of which dogs are trouble and which dogs are ok. We have found that it's very important that the cats have a save zone in the house where the greyhounds can't get to. That way they can escape if the play or attention gets too rough. That also includes dressers and table tops in rooms that greyhounds and cats co-exist. Never leave the house with a place available that the cat can get cornered in, like the bathroom, with no high furnature or escape route. 99% of the time we've had no troubles at all. Every now and then things get dicy, and that cat runs or jumps on something the hounds can't reach, event over. It's actually our mutt that starts the chases, that are actually all in fun and games and very entertaining. But every now and then, it's very enticing to the greyhounds, and if more join in, it can escilate (mob mentality) in a fraction of a second to being serious. Cats are smart and fast. As long as they have an escape route. Usually just a couple waps in the nose and the dogs back off.

 

HOWEVER. NEVER EVER EVER trust a greyhound outside, with an outdoor cat, or a indoor cat that can go outdoors. I can't believe how their personality changes when outside. At least that's been our experience. Anything that moves in the back yard, cats/squirlls/birds/bunnys/whatever is going to ripped into a million bloody pieces before you can take a breathe to screem.

[greyhounds1234]

I'll second what KsFrets said about not trusting a greyhound outside with cats.

 

Our grey, Bay, was absolutely the best dog indoors with the cats. They would sleep with her, crawled over her, played with her tail, etc and she never, ever made an attempt to hurt the cats. However, outside...she was totally different.

She stalked, caught and killed numerous squirrels and had zero tolerance for fast furry squirrels and bunnies in the yard. It was like she had an on/off switch when she was inside or outside.

 

We have 6 housecats and over the years, 5 greyhounds and are currently fostering another. The dogs have shown no interest in the cats other than the initial "what the heck are you" sniffs.

 

One of the cats is an Abyssinian and she is about 4 pounds of possessive (of me) attitude. She will put herself between me and a dog and lets them know they are far too close to me for her liking. She has the stupidity/audacity to walk up to a sleeping grey and squall in their face. I've yet to figure out why she hasn't been bitten by the dogs....but she is 15 years old and I don't think I'm going to convince her not to do that.

 

At our maximum, we had the 6 cats and 4 greys co-existing with us.

 

We have always had safe places for the cats to retreat--just in case. We adopted a whippet in November and I worry far more about her hurting the cats in play than I ever did they greyhounds.

[Guest krystolla]

Personally, I think a cat-tested greyhound is less risk to a cat than a similar size member of another breed who has not been tested.

 

Greys are generally low energy, which is much less threatening to a cat than a high-energy (even if playful) canine. Stepped-on and tripped over injuries are much less likely. And it's less likely that the kitty will feel the need to swipe at the dog for being overly excitable. This is a problem when my mom's golden retrievers visit; no prey drive, but their idea of play is not compatible with the kitties. Both cats and greyhounds understand the value of a good nap, a comfy sunbeam, maybe a cuddle.

 

There are lots of dogs that are not cat safe, of all sorts of breeds. Friends of ours have a keeshond that isn't cat safe, no one would expect the giant toasted marshmallow to be such a fierce hunter but it happens. Even cats can be unsafe around other cats, there's always a risk. But IMHO tested is better than guessing.

[pabozem]

Racing career length has NOTHING to do with a hound being cat safe or not. Frankly, the notion of "prey drive" being a huge factor in racing ability (dogs who are no good at it don't do it long!) is overstated. I think for many of them, it's much more about running faster than the dogs behind them and next to them than thinking about catching the stuffed animal speeding in front of them.

 

My dog raced for close to 3 years, and has what I would call a very low prey drive (squirrels, rabbits, etc. don't get him even a little worked up), but was a successful racer.

 

Despite his lengthy career, as you can see, he is about as cat safe as you can get!

 

The key is to work with an adoption group who has at least one skilled person involved who can evaluate the dog's "cat workability," and to take their recommendation!

 

And be smart about the introductions! A good adoption group can explain all that to your friend.

 

Witness a cat safe dog (and trust me, the spotty/striped cat is probably about as annoying as a cat can get! He's not known as both Da Ebil Won and You Little Bastard for no reason!):

 

George with Tiger

 

George with Mister Bigglesworth as a kitten

 

A classic!

 

Probably my favorite picture ever

 

George and Tiger again

 

 

Not sure really who is in MORE danger here?

 

I rest my case!

 

Susan, Mr B as a kitten. :wub: Your pictures are just priceless.

Edited May 14, 2011 by pabozem

[greysmom]

Currenty we have five greys and three cats with no problems. We don't muzzle the dogs when we leave and the cats are free to roam the house with them. Our cats were all raised from kittens around big dogs (Great Danes) and I think they think they're really little dogs and not cats!

 

It all depends on the dog. "Prey drive" has absolutely nothing to do with cat tolerant. My best and longest racer is absolutely terrified of the cats. Your friend's group should be able to help her find the right greyhound for her. One caution: often the cat testing that's done prior to adoption is not conclusive, and a dog might be classified as "cat safe" or "cat workable" when s/he isn't. Then the dog gets into the home and reacts completely differently than expected. So your friend will need to be careful and vigilant in the beginning until she is sure the cat and dog will get long.

 

Muzzles - definitely - in the beginning

Give the cat places to hide in every room

Give the cat multiple ways to exit every room

The cat should have a place in the house that is their "safe" place where te dogs don't/can't go ever

Make sure kitty litter and cat food are someplace the dog can't get to

 

 

[Fruitycake]

It not only depends on the dog but the cats. Our grey is great with the cats (well, he could wish that the 6.5 lb Fruitcake would leave him alone - she's a bully toward him), but the cats had already been "dog-trained" by a dog that was great with cats. She didn't see them at all (which meant exactly that, she was blind to them and would trample them if they were in the way as if she didn't see them at all), and had come from a home that had cats so it was perfect. It took Marlie about 6 months before my cats calmed down enough to hang with her - more for the spooky Shade Man, less for the confident Fruitcake. They didn't like that she was active and strange, but at first she was supremely obese so didn't move much (except at dinnertime).

 

When Monty came in we "no kitty" trained him, and after 2 days we knew it was a good match. It was certain when Fruitcake did kitty zoomies through the house and went to jump over him and he lifted his head and she slammed into his neck. His reaction? To come over to Mommy and Daddy and whine and roll his eyes back toward his bed so we could tell him he was OK - that the big mean kitty wasn't going to get him. He has absolutely no prey drive, though. Once a squirrel being chased by another ran *under* him on a walk and he flinched back from them. Crazy dog.

 

It is possible. If your dog is good with cats, see if you can bring your dog into the home for a visit (with leash) and see how the cats do. And how long is the owner willing to work with the issues of cats and dogs that don't get along (we had a litterbox in the bathtub so the dog could never get into it, and the bedrooms and bathroom were all territory of the cats only for about 6 months).

Edited May 14, 2011 by Fruitycake

[Guest artur_ganate]

We have two cats and two dogs here living together without much stress.

Our male cat is escorting us regularly on our evening walks. A short episode - one day, as the dogs (both with high prey drive) detected a hare sitting on the meadow nearby they started to cry in lust (to hunt), but the cat could move between the two of them, completely untroubled.

Our male dog would defend the cat, if another dog would try to chase him. I observed that.

On the other hand our male cat regularly brings mice in our house, informing the dogs with a special miaowing, that he has prey for them with him.

He is letting the mouse loose after that, so that the dogs can chase the mouse (if I am not quicker by chance.)So obviously the cats are part of the pack.

 

Dominic

[Guest Trentsmom]

Racing career length has NOTHING to do with a hound being cat safe or not. Frankly, the notion of "prey drive" being a huge factor in racing ability (dogs who are no good at it don't do it long!) is overstated. I think for many of them, it's much more about running faster than the dogs behind them and next to them than thinking about catching the stuffed animal speeding in front of them.

 

My dog raced for close to 3 years, and has what I would call a very low prey drive (squirrels, rabbits, etc. don't get him even a little worked up), but was a successful racer.

 

Despite his lengthy career, as you can see, he is about as cat safe as you can get!

 

The key is to work with an adoption group who has at least one skilled person involved who can evaluate the dog's "cat workability," and to take their recommendation!

 

And be smart about the introductions! A good adoption group can explain all that to your friend.

 

Witness a cat safe dog (and trust me, the spotty/striped cat is probably about as annoying as a cat can get! He's not known as both Da Ebil Won and You Little Bastard for no reason!):

 

George with Tiger

 

George with Mister Bigglesworth as a kitten

 

A classic!

 

Probably my favorite picture ever

 

George and Tiger again

 

 

Not sure really who is in MORE danger here?

 

I rest my case!

Laughing and laughing more. Pictures are worth a thousand words. Thanks so muchl

[Guest tricolorhounds]

Our cat Simba does some of the cat testing at our groups kennel. We test in a small enclosed patio area, the cat is loose when we bring the dogs out:

 

1. Dogs are leashed and muzzled. Most of the dogs come out and are very curious, wanting to sniff the cat. Dogs that are not going to be safe will generally be 100% focused, unable to be distracted and dig their nails into the concrete. Their testing usually ends there. If a dog can be distracted by a loud, sharp noise and moves on to check out the rest of their surroundings we'll move on.

 

2. Leashed but unmuzzled. We encourage dogs to get good sniffing in... Simba will come when called so we get him to walk around the patio so the dog see him move around. If all is still good we move on again.

 

3. Unleashed but muzzled... and then

 

4. Unleashed and unmuzzled. We've had dogs lay down on the dog bed where the cat is lying down.

 

 

We have 6 greyhounds and have had too many fosters and boarders to count. Only one has ever fooled us and gone after the cat and only when we picked the cat up did she react.

 

When we first brought our Savannah home, she had a broken leg and was confined to an x-pen. She had pretty extreme space aggression with the other dogs, they could not walk near the xpen without her getting very upset... the cats on the other hand could climb up the side and even put their paws through the bars and play with her water. Once she was freed, she allowed the cats to sleep on the dogs beds with her. And to answer your question about racing-prey drive... Savannah was a grade A racer who raced 140 times.

 

We currently have a cat that lives in our front yard. He frequently comes and sits outside our glass front door. I wish I had a camera with me the day I saw both are Greyhound Tammy and our cat Simba sitting next to each other at the front door starring out at the cat outside.

 

 

[GreytNut]

My first greyhound Argus ignored the cats from day one.

 

Second greyhound Raven was cat-safe after some training. She wanted to play with them, but she played too rough and could have hurt them. She had to learn to be gentle. She allows the cats to share her dog bed.

 

Third greyhound Tiny was like Argus... the cats didn't exist.

 

Fourth greyhound Riley is a challenge. He is cat-workable. He shows more interest than I am comfortable with, and I don't trust him unsupervised with them. When I can supervise I let the cats out and he is required to lie on his bed. He is not allowed to stare at them, follow them, etc. He is rewarded for ignoring them. He will eventually be cat-safe, but it will take more work. Right now I'm just glad that we've progressed beyond the leash and muzzle.

 

None of my dogs have been cat-safe outdoors. Even Argus or Tiny would have killed an outdoor cat. Riley literally drools when he sees a cat outside, he wants it so bad.