will they ever get along

[beak]

I am new to the forum, and a new carian owner. Beaker is his name and he is 4 months. He is as cute as a button.My question is I have a 10 year old cat that is not taking new baby very well, will they ever get along? And any other advice that will be greatly appreciated

[eastofeden]

All is not lost...soon they will come to an understanding. They may not ever be the best buddies that share the dog nest...but they will figure each other out. We have an older cat, an older dog (a Dalmatian) and a 9 month old Cairn.

The cat and the Dal tolerate each other well enough and can be on the same bed or couch togather. Dottie can even go up to the cat to sniff him and the cat will head butt her to scent mark her. Now if the cat runs or moves quickly, then Dottie will chase the cat and he will simply get out of her reach. It is a bit of a game with them.

Our Cairn likes to bark at the cat, and he can only take so much of this undignified behavior. When he finally gets fed up with Izzie, he will hiss at her. If she gets to close he will take a swipe at her with his paw. Izzie has quickly figured out to respect his claws and dodges out of the way. If Izzie attempts to chase him, he will only run from her about 20 feet or so and then he turns around and chases Izzie away. It is pretty funny to watch. I think once her fascination with the cat goes away, they will develop an understanding like the cat and Dalmatian have. But for now he has to tolerate the antics of the Cairn youngster in the house.

[Eliz222]

We have an 11 year old cat and two Cairns who are 2 and 4. They "coexist" with each other, but they are far from friends! My 4 year old leaves the cat alone, but my 2 year old will chase the cat every once in awhile. They will never be best friends, but they are learning how to be in the same room at the same time.

[JerryLv]

Our situation is very simular to what is discribed by 'eastofeden'. Zen our 1 1/2 year old Cairn and Daisy our 6 year old female cat co-exist. You can't really discribe them as best buddies, but they sleep on the same bed, drink out of the same water bowl, and while we are watching TV they are both on the couch or on

the chair next to us. When Zen is in one of his hyper moods, which is quite often, he loves to get Daisy trapped in the hallway or one of the bathrooms and roll her around. He never bites, just pushes her around while she protests VERY loudly. When she can't take it any more she dodges him and takes to the high ground...meaning a the top of a dresser, table etc. What has been funny lately is that Daisy seems to want to do what ever Zen does. When ever my DW takes Zen out for his morning jog, Daisy cries to go out too.

As she can be trusted to go out on her own we let her. She comes back just before DW and Zen.

When Zen is getting groomed, she demands her turn at getting brushed. Of course Daisy's dining table is

elevated so that Zen can't get to it. Yesterday, I caught Daisy trying out Zen's food before he came in from his jog. Quite funny. I can tell that they both feel equal in our small family but I doubt that they will ever

be kissing cousins.

[tena]

I have two cats and Sophie. The cats are adults and had no previous dog experience other than watching them out the window, or sniffing the occasional visiting puppy. They have lived together 9 months now. It has been suprisingly peaceful.

Support the cat and let her set the pace. Make sure she has a perch or two that the puppy can not reach. Expect some pouting from the cat. Puppies will get slapped and some fussing is going to happen. We do not allow out and out fighting, and worked hard on socializing the two species. Sophie is allowed to protect her food dish and has to share water dishes.

Puppies usually alternate between fascination and being skittish around the cat and quickly move to the torment the critter stage. She will learn the signals your cat gives off that should signal retreat.

It can work out

[beak]

Thanks for all the advise. I have seen in the past couple of days that Footsie (the cat) is now trying to com e

out of the bedroom a little more, but is very cautious to see if Beaker is around. So from the replies there is hope.