Introducing a dog to a house with a cat

[x-Marmite-x]

How do you go about it? I miss having a dog so much (my old dog passed away due to a brain tumour a few years ago) and now i have my cat, who i've had since July. I don't plan on getting a dog anytime soon - not whilst i'm still living with my mum anyway - but when i do get my own house - how would i introduce a dog to my cat's home? I had always planned to get a dog when i moved out, but the cat was an unexpected arrival into my life :p! She's already used to the smell of dogs (most people i know have one so i make a point of letting her sniff all over my clothes and see that the smell is normal) and she's met quite a few on her trips to the vet - didn't seem phased at any stage - but how can you know how they'll react? What i wouldn't want is her getting territorial and menacing the dog, the dog menacing her :eek:, having issues with jealousy, or them generally not getting on - i would feel terrible if i made her unhappy in her home - after all she was there first :p! How did everyone else go about introducing dogs to their cats?

[ginny!]

well if the dog is brought up with cats, i doubt there will be a problem there, unless its a terrier, as they can be a bit snappy so you need to watch them a bit more. my dog, Dexter was brought up with cats, and Oscar could attack his legs (:p) and he would look at us as if to say " could you help please, he's kinda on my leg here" but he wouldn't touch him, or act vicious in anyway.

as long as you spend lots of time with the cat, im sure she wont mind sharing as long as she gets a fair share:)

even if she doesn't like the dog, im sure she will make it apparent, and if the dog has any sense, he/she will steer well clear:p:D

[x-Marmite-x]

Thanks :) - my cat is rather spoilt and is convinced that the world revolves around her :o:p. She jumps up between me and another person if she thinks i'm paying them too much attention :D (she was only 7weeks old when we got her though :(, so she's quite attached to us) not sure how she'd feel about having to share my affections :D - but would love to have both a cat and a dog around the place :D!

[ginny!]

im sure she'll be fine, our old cat had to get used to 4 dogs and 1 cat, not including the puppies!!:p she wasn't very human orientated though, and acted like a wild cat sometimes:rolleyes:
saying that by the time we got Oscar and Dexter (Oscar been cat and Dexter dog) she was quite old, and stayed in a lot more. as long as we made a fuss of her when she wanted she was happy:D

when we got Oscar he was only 6 weeks. bless.:( glad we got him when we could, as he had ear mites (fairly bad) and was on a poor meat diet (normal cat food, not kitten food, with a load of cats who tended to get the food before him.:(:mad:)