Any cocker owners also have cats? How do they get on?

[MrsS]

My husband and I are looking at getting a cocker. Our indoor cat is 5 years old. She has never minded dogs coming into the house (tends to run away but sometimes sniffs them) but living with a dog is going to be a big change for her.

We're keen to choose a breed that generally gets on well with cats. I know it varies from dog to dog within a breed, but it would be helpful to know how your cocker gets on with cats?

Any tips on introducing them?

Thanks for your help.

[fiona2]

i have 2 cats and 4 dogs one of which is a cocker providing theyre introduced slowly and the cat has somewhere to go if dosent want to be around them they are fine altough my cocker will bark at them

[Opher]

Hi we recently got a rescue cocker and have an 11 year old cat, we were advised by the RSPCA to set up a safe area for the cat where they know that the dog can't get at them. We brought a stair gate so that eddy the dog can not get upstairs, This seems to be working well and our cat still comes down to go outside. She is slowly getting braver and spends time in the same room as him but I think it will all spend upon the personality of the dog. Good luck!

[twiceover2]

My cocker and cat don't get on too well.  My cat Kira is 6 and has always been very nervous.  We also have a stairgate and upstairs is the cat's domain.  She even goes in and out through the upstairs windows onto the kitchen roof.  She will tolerate my basset fauve as he is calmer than my Pippa, my cocker, and they will share a room, ignoring each other.  However,  Pippa gets far too excited when she sees the cat.  She does her best bum waggling, play bows and barks to try to entice the cat to play which results in hissing and paw swiping from the cat.  I think they will always have to live separate lives.  As I say though, Kira is a very nervous cat and if your cat is friendlier and more confident it may cope better with an excitable cocker.

[JeffandAnnie]

We have two cockers and four cats. Well, three now because one has gone off to live with some other people in the village because he didn't like the dogs. The other three cats tolerate the dogs (one quite likes them) but none are keen and avoid them as much as possible  No nice pics of cats and dogs snuggling up together there sadly. Having had rough collies prior to cockers, they were much more cat friendly and completely ignored the cats - both cockers are very keen to interact and play with them and will chase them if they run (hence Tomsky leaving, because he always ran away from them so was chased).

[black taz]

It definately depends on the cat and the dog.  I have a cocker and a labrador and the cat from hell .  She torments the life out of them, she runs under their noses when we leave the house for a walk, sits with her tail hanging over the worktops.  She definately isnt frightened of them, but they cannot resist the temptation to chase her.  The lab has cornered her a couple of times but never done any harm.  If she (the cat) is lying on one of the lads beds, the dogs will just go and lick her.

I think if you have the cat first it is easier, but then again i could be wrong.

[Poppypuppy09]

We have Cam the cat    she is 11 yrs old and rules the roost  she came from a spaniel breeder and has always thought she is one of the dogs  Poppy my 3 yr old cocker likes to play with the abut it's always on the cats terms  Bella my rescue cocker had never been around cats before but stayed a healthy distance for her and really they ignore each other, the Cat has given up trying rollick Bellas nose 

As others have said it all depends on the individual's character 

[ebony girl]

my cat honey was 7 when i bought my first cocker puppy, shes now nearly 11 (i now have 3 cockers)......she doesnt particularly like the dogs but shes not afraid of them and they have never attempted to hurt her in anyway.

She sleeps on the window ledge in the room that the dogs sleep in and it doesnt bother her as she knows they cant reach her. They are inclined to bark at her because they want to play, but generally just ignore her.

[Cockertime Blues]

We got a little rescue cat last December.  She's terrified of people, though she now tolerates me and OH, but she adores the dogs.  She also loves winding them up.  Genie especially loves the cat.  We've always had cats and we've always had dogs, and they've always been good friends.  Careful introductions necessary I guess.

[*MaryG*]

We tried all the recommended ways to introduce our dog to our cat, but he still gets very excited when he sees her and chases her. she is a quiet and would not stand up to him. we have a stair gate and she lives upstairs  and goes out when we let her. she has less freedom than she used to but seems fine as she is quite independant and likes to be out a lot. others have been more succesful! Good luck!

[PennyB]

I have 5 cats, 2 cockers and a sprocker. Best thing I did was to make sure the cats had their safe haven (2 of my cats had never met a dog before I got my 1st cocker) - in my case the dogs don't go upstairs and its proved the best thing ever. I have a gate across the stairs to stop them getting up there but the cats can.

The dogs still chase the cats from to time but at least they can run away and jump away to peace.

The cats met the dogs in their own time - same happens when I have fosters here - the cats will stay upstairs more but they eventually come down.

They all get on and sometimes the cats will be up on the sofa with the dogs

I do feed the cats upstairs as the dogs would just eat the lot - same goes for the litter tray (cockers or any other dogs love to munch on them) - or at least put somewhere where the dogs can't get at it and can be in peace. I put a bowl of water upstairs too as while cats do drink out of bowl downstairs it can get a bit 'busy' so not as peaceful as cats would like.

[PennyB]

I would also look into cocker characteristics and their needs as well - some cockers don't get on with cats just as a lot of other types of dog get on with cats (I've had lurchers here that get on with mine + staffy crosses etc. but have had some cockers that hate the cats - so haven't stayed long re when I've fostered them)

[Clare B]

My cat and dog get on well ( or did since my cat is now living with my parents because we're soon to relocate to the UK).  My cat was 6 when we got Flo ( our cocker ), we had a stairgate to prevent Flo going up the stairs, and we put all of the cats good up on the laundrey bench and blocked off pups access to the litter tray.  Our cat is a confident and very big tabby and with a few wacks ( didn't use claws) he soon made sure he was boss, once that was established fFlo and Lu ( cat) would sleep together, cuddle up and enjoy.  Flo still wanted to play with Lu bit Lu usually wouldn't tolerate, although sometimes they would play chase, but only because Lu had Flo scared of him. Lu eventually came to treat visiting dogs the same way... Not running but standing his ground.  I had cockers and cats growing up and when our cocker had pups our then cat would guard the pups and wouldn't let anyone but family near them,  and when our cat had kittens our cocker would lie with them and tolerate the kittens trying to suckle her( must of hurt with their needle teeth and paws kneading).  
So you can have great success, it just depends on the personalities, it seems like your cat is pretty confident if already sniffing visiting dogs, my vet did say it's best that the cat is older than the pup.
Good luck.

[Honormum]

We had a Springer with our 3 cats - one of the cats was here first, the other 2 came as kittens when she was 8.
She would tolerate them sitting still, but if one if the cats got up to leave the room, she would chase them...but stop dead at the doorway lol!

We still have our 11 year old lab and she us brilliant with the cats and chickens :-)

[supergirl]

I have 4 cockers and 3 cats (and a rabbit).  I would say it really depends on how confident your cat is.  All of the cats have known two of the dogs since they were puppies, the other two dogs were rescued adult dogs.  2 of my cats have no problem with the dogs and I have to say that two of the dogs will chase the cats if they run (the other two dogs are not interested).  Unfortunately one of my cats can't cope with the dogs and more or less lives upstairs, going out when the dogs are tucked up in bed at night.  This seems to work most of the time - there is the occasional meeting in the garden which really upsets Tigger (cat), but I tend to make sure that she is able to come and go without any interference from the dogs.  Weirdly Tigger doesn't mind the dogs if they come upstairs to see her, though when she's on the move both Roly & Lexi can become quite obsessed by her  .  The other two cats don't seem to mind being chased by the dogs and seem to see it as a bit of a game, when they've had enough they just stop moving, which is just no fun for a dog

I think you just need to make sure that there are plenty of places that the cat can go to without being followed by the dog - for a long time I had child gate across the stairs so that if necessary the cat could have a means of escape.  It can work quite well especially if you have a single dog - Tintin  my eldest cat was Roly's babysitter for many months when he was a puppy as he really didn't like to be left, and I would quite often come home to find them curled up together