Rescued greyhound x adult cats

[RIOandFELI]

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum but I’ve been following and getting tips from here for over a year and I am so grateful to all of you! So, first of all, thank you!

 

I’ve adopted a 4 years old greyhound (Felipe) from Spain a year ago and 4 months ago I’ve fallen in love with another one (Rio, he just turned two). 

 

Recently I’ve been spending a lot of time at my boyfriend’s house and he has two adult cats. It’s been quite complicated for us to spend time together because either me or him have to leave our pets alone when we are visiting each other. 

 

It would be ideal to have them meet so we can all be together and no pets left alone but my two dogs have a bit of prey instinct when it comes to cats. 

 

I haven’t introduced them yet because I feel like I need much more knowledge on how to do it safely but I was wondering if anyone has been through a similar experience?

 

Felipe is a super shy boy who listens to me a lot but if he sees a cat he will run closer to the cat, he never got close enough though. 

 

Rio, on the other hand, gets super excited when he sees a cat and can bark in a high pitch and shake if a cat gets close to him. Once he got too close and a cat nailed his face. He just stood there and let it happen but he was also leashed when it happened. 

 

Any advice would be highly appreciated! Thank you so much!

[macoduck]

A couple of suggestions:

- always muzzle the dogs when the cats are around
- crate the cats away from the dogs and where they will not be seen by them
- babygate your dogs away from the cats. Hopefully the cats are smart enough to not slip through the bars
- I would not put the dogs behind a closed door
- when your dogs had cat encounters, was that outdoors? Their reaction indoors may be different.
- are your boyfriend's cats outdoor cats? If so, this may not end well
- a friend cat-tested by holding a fluffy duster on her lap. She'd pet it like a cat and flick it like a cat's tail. That gave her some idea of how a foster dog might act.
- have an understanding with your boyfriend about how you'll deal with an injury to his cats or your dogs.
- never let your guard down

[greysmom]

If you haven't yet, search through the forum for "cat tolerant," "cat introductions," and "prey drive around cats" to help you decide how to move forward.

It's difficult to tell from your description how strong your dogs prey drive is.  If they are actually Galgos from a Spanish rescue, I would speculate that they will not ever be safe around any small prey animal.  They had to live for too long on the streets, hunting their own food, to make that a good option.  Galgos in general also seem to have a naturally higher prey drive than our retired racing greyhounds.

If you introduce a cat to a dog and they shake, drool, whine, pull, stare intently, refuse to be distracted even by high value treats, it's highly likely you have a non-cat-tolerant dog that will not be safe around them pretty much ever.  You can speak with a trainer/behaviorist, and a (very) few owners here in GT have successfully managed to change their dog's minds, but it takes A LOT of consistent training, and constant management.  

It also takes very confident cats.  If your boyfriend's cats are scared or run at all, it just charges the dogs up for the chase.

So really evaluate your level of commitment to this task.  Talk with your boyfriend frankly about the dangers, and see what he thinks about exposing his cats to them.  Your best short term option is to safely confine the cats to their own room when/if you visit with the dogs.

[palmettobug]

Chris and Ducky have it right. I have three greys and two cats. My cats were used to my old Lab, so they were ok with dogs.

My first grey, Johnny, really only cared about the cats (I had four at the time!) if they got too close when he was asleep--a snark and ZING went the kitties. My tortie would rub around his legs, he'd give a little growl, off she went.

G doesn't like the cats near his bed, he's space aggressive with everyone anyway.

Fuzzy is ok with indoor cats, outdoor cats are HEY A CAT, LET ME GET THAT CAT!!

Roman is still learning not to chase the cats, they won't give him a nose full of claws, which is what he really needs. He is allowed to sniff the cats, but only on MY terms. I have him go to his bed if he starts getting riled up.