Cocker Puppies & Cats

[JW1989]

Hi all,

My first time posting and pre-first time dog owner hopefully. Me and my wife have both grown up with and had cats for 30 years so are fully appreciative of the responsibilities in caring for a little animal around the house. My wife has wanted a dog since she was a child but it has never been an appropriate time in both of our lives. We are due to move from an apartment in to a house shortly and so it is the hope that we will be able to find the right pup for us some time in 2021.

We recently lost our cat, she was a very shy and timid girl who we rescued from a shelter at 6 years old and suspected she had been abused prior. I always felt it was too unfair to her if we got a dog and potentially caused a very stressful living situation given we live in a 2 bedroom apartment at present. It took almost 9 years for her to feel comfortable enough to sit on our laps.

As i have always had a cat i cant imagine my life without another and so i turn to the internet of all knowledge for advice on having a cocker puppy and a cat.

From my reading up on cockers i know their personality traits are typically very friendly and that the earlier they are socialised with cats the better they will tolerate/be friendly with them.

Is there a best time to have the cat and pup together from? My wife is concerned if we have both at the same time from day 1 it will be too much work. We are both a little nervous that we don't make mistakes with the puppy having never had a dog before and want to make sure it is given the right training and doesn't develop undesirable behaviours.

What are your experiences with this? Would it be better to get them around the same time or perhaps have the pup say 6 months, to the point they are getting established and learning commands or will that be too late in the pups life to adapt to a cat?

Also is it a potential hazard to have a pup and a kitten with the size difference and potential for the dog to injure the cat through normal playful puppy behaviours?

As you can tell, having never owned a dog i have so many unknowns. At the heart of all those questions is having the best interest of both animals come first.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[LucyJ]

We had 3 cats and 2 dogs when we got Pepper in February (WCS, 8 week old puppy when we brought her home) - so the cats were already used to dogs.

Pepper is incredibly sweet natured so might be an exception but she has been so good with the cats from day

[LucyJ]

Sorry, as I was typing Pepper was trying to climb on the table to groom Sooty (our 22 year old cat) and managed to post too soon

Anyway, as I was saying, Pepper has been amazing with the cats from day 1 and they are really relaxed with her too - they walk up to her and stick their faces under her nose to get a groom, and she climbs into their beds to sit next to them while they sleep.  So it is totally possible to have really happy puppies and cats together.

One of the cats isn't massively confident and is wary of one of our other dogs, who does chase her.  We were really firm from day 1 that Pepper couldn't chase the cats, and if she got too much for them we always distracted or stopped her rather than taking the cat away.

I would be tempted to get the cat first so you aren't introducing a new type of animal into the dog's environment.  If you wanted to get both at the same time, could you maybe look for a rescue cat that has previously been happy living with dogs? 

Sorry to hear about your old cat, and best of luck in your search for your new animals.