Whenever my husband and I go away for a week (cruise, etc.), we leave Ruby with our daughter and her husband and our granddaughter. Ruby enjoys the week away and we've never had a problem. However, my daughter is planning on getting a cat, probably about 3-4 months old. My husband does not want to leave Ruby there with a kitten as he is afraid she will get her face scratched or she will eat the cat's food or venture into the litter box, etc. Would appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks.

Hi Ruby!

I think as long as the cat and dog can acclimate themselves with each other under supervision for a bit they will get along just fine.

My cat was here prior to getting my 2 girls and she was a hissy cat at first..

but now..they LOVE each other and sometimes I find her sleeping on top of the girls at night.

i understand your anxieties, but probably none of the problems you anticipate are big enough to outweigh the benefits of having your dog cared for in an environment he knows and with people you trust.

my dog has always lived with cats, and the situation is different with each cat. one cat is on his wave length, and they play happily together, but the other cats found him a bit too much, especially when he was a puppy, and they would drive him off however they could. it usually meant hissing and howling, but they took a swipe at him from time to time. a scratch on the nose is not a big deal --hurts like crazy, but teaches an important lesson. what i didn't want it a scratch in the eye. i have always let his fur hang a bit over his eyes, to protect them --that's what it is for. the chances of him getting scratched in the eyes is very, very small. probably about the same risk as him running into something on his own that could do damage.

cairns definitely will consider eating from the cat box. i now keep my cat box in an enclosure that the cairn is too big to enter. a simpler solution, which i used successfully for a while, was the cat box that has the opening in the top --the cats entered happily and had plenty of room to do their business before jumping out again, but the cairn could never reach the litter, even if he put his head through the entry hole. in any event, the dog is unlikely to derive any problems from the cat box that anti-worm meds won't fix if necessary.

eating cat food is the one problem you fear that is a serious one. dogs absolutely cannot eat cat food without putting themselves at risk for kidney disease, liver problems, or pancreatitis. i have found that a simple solution is to put the cat bowls up high enough that the dog cannot bother them. a cabinet top, counter top, or the top of the refrigerator (my usual solution) does the trick. my cats enjoy the privacy, benefit from the exercise, and usually get up on top of the refrigerator whenever they want to show me that they are ready to eat.