Kitty Questions relating to new pup

[Cherry Heart]

I have several small questions that I kind of feel dumb asking but I haven't seen them any other place. We get our pup in 8 weeks and I am starting to get first time mommy doubts/jitters.

We have 2 cats in the home and their toys are of course small. Besides keeping a good eye out do most of you end up having to take away all the little jingly kitty toys and tiny mice? Do you give them back as the pup gets older and learns thoes arent for him/her. I understand keeping an eye out on your puppy/dog but it seems sad to either take away all the kitty toys or fear blinking to slow and having the puppy choke. No more kitty toys?

How do you feed your cats and dogs so the dogs don't mess with the cat food and vice versa? Feed kittys on counters? Or is this just my hint to stop free feeding my fat felines?

How well do baby gates really work? I plan on putting one up to keep the puppy out of the kitchen/laundry area as that is where the cats are fed and where the litter box is. Since you all have more experiance, does a 50lb or more rottie that could easily jump the gate not do it because they see it as a barrier or do you have to train them not to (i would think the later but I'v never seen people talking about how to train a rottie to stay on one side of a gate, just bring them back around it and treat when they sit by it for a periode of time without going over?)

I have a million more questions as my nerves are in ball waiting for the pup to come home. I have read alot of the archives but haven't really seen these specific questions asked. Thank you so much this has been the best learning tool I have found. Sugar coated or not.

Cherry

[Patty1231]

1) No cat toys downstairs.

2) Cat dishes and litter box are on the 3rd floor, dogs are fed on 1st floor.

3) Baby gates work for me. I have one at the bottom of my stairs. Dogs stay on first floor - cats stay on 2nd and 3rd. My cats have no desire to rub noses with my dogs.

They say if you introduce cats slowly to the new puppy all will be well. Well, it didn't work for me. My cats didn't like Rocco when I brought him home as a puppy and they stayed out of his way. Still do - except to come down and sit on the stairway just enough out of reach to toy with the dogs.

[hmeadq]

Consider a baby gate which swings open... They are SO much nicer...

[Canadianrotti]

The best thing to do is to give the cats their own space. Use a baby gate or simmilar, to section off a room for them to have to them selves. Small cat toys are dangerous to a pup, cat food is not the best for a pup, and cats (especially with claws) are dengerous as well.

We have 3 dogs and 2 cats, and 2 of the dogs could care less about the cats them selves. The youngest pup has a VERY high prey drive and it has now been over a year and she still goes after the cats. We have done all that we can to stop her from going after them, but it is just programmed into to her to chase things that move. I feel that once she hit about 3 years of age it should slow a little, but I do not expect her to live in peace with them, it is just not in her nature.

Cats and dogs can co-exist nicely, but it has a lot to do with the dogs and cats themselves. Try to give your cats a private place so they are not always under stress.

[kaylynn143]

I have three swinging baby gates and no baby. I love them. Merlin doesn't go over them, but Harley will. I extended the top so she can't get over it. I have one on Pumpkin's room where his litterbox and food are. Same thing for Mopar's room. The last one is on my bedroom so I can keep the dogs with me without closing the door.

I don't buy cat toys anymore. The cats don't play with them and the dogs eat them. Paper bags or homework is the best to play with.

Out of my two cats, Pumpkin is the only one who interacts with the dogs. He is almost always in whatever room the dogs are in (I call him my catdog). Mopar on the otherhand would much rather I get rid of all the other critters.

[Spoiled Rott'n]

My three cats have their own bedroom where their food is kept and a baby gate to keep the dogs out of there. My cats love the comfort of having their own bed and lounging area away from the dogs, esp. when the boys get the zoomies.

Our litter box is downstairs in the basement, it is hooded for kitties privacy and to keep big ole rottie head out of there to collect kitty box crunchies!!

As for the cats toys, well they have none. I used to buy toys for my girls but they would rather play with balled up tin foil or the lid from the gallon of milk!!
My cats and dogs get along very well for the most part, in fact sometimes I have to separate Spike and Sasha from my rottie, Sabre as their affection towards him is just too intense sometimes. Good luck with your crew

[Brooke&Ryan]

Part of our mudroom is sectioned off & that is where Poof's (our cat) litter box & water/food dishes are. Julius has no access to that area.

We also closed off our music room so that Poof could have a safe place away from Julius. Especially when he was a puppy, this was pretty important to Poof. Now our bedroom is gated off & Poof will usually hang out in there if he gets fed up with Julius.

Julius has never even thought of jumping over a baby gate, and we even do agility with him. He respects them. We got our baby gates at Wal-Mart for about 9 dollars each.

Poof lets Julius know when he's had enough. He was really freaked out at first when we brought Jules home. He hissed & was pretty ticked. If Julius got within 8 feet of Poof, the claws would come out. Julius learned pretty quick to steer clear of Poof...& even now, if Julius gets a bit too crazy, Poof will let him know to calm down.

It's all worked out in the end & usually we find them sleeping side by side.