How to Introduce a Ragdoll Kitten to a Resident Dog – Reader Question
Buzz
Meet Buzz.
Buzz has a problem he is not aware of. He’s about to have a roommate, of the Ragdoll kitten variety.
Recently, Kate, a Floppycats reader from Australia emailed me to ask me how to introduce her Poodle to a new Ragdoll kitten she is getting soon. I wasn’t quite sure on what to suggest as I have not had adult experience introducing a kitten to a dog (OK I introduced my parents’ dogs to Charlie and Trigg, but my parents’ dogs are already cat trained!).
Here’s what Kate had to say, “I am also getting a Ragdoll kitten who arrives in five weeks, however we have a small poodle who becomes very excited at newcomers into our home. We recently had guests who brought their small dog with them and our poodle gets very jealous when we pet him or give the other dog attention, meaning he would try to pounce at the new dog. I was just wondering if you have any advice to introduce the kitten to our dog, who will probably want to play with the new one straight away. ”
Can you share your experience introducing your kitten to your dog? What steps did you take? How did they work out? Do you have any suggestions for Kate and her Poodle? Thanks in advance!
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Category: Cat Introduction
About the Author (Author Profile)
Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat, Rags, I created Floppycats to connect, share and inspire other Ragdoll cat lovers around the world,Subscribe
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Hi, I’m Jenny Dean, creator of Floppycats! Ever since my Aunt got the first Ragdoll cat in our family, I have loved the breed. Inspired by my childhood Ragdoll cat,
We introduced our Ragdoll Mulsanne to our resident Newfoundland dog like this: We brought the dog Jewel with us on the road trip to get our kitty Mulsanne (who remained on my lap in a soft crate driving home while Jewel and he could sniff and see each other. Once home, we had a large dog crate set up like kitty condo (room enough for food/water, litter pan, toys, small soft basket to sleep, etc that he would stay in for overnight and/or when we were at work. We held the kitty in our arms and let them sniff and see each other and with kitty above the dog, Jewel would get a sense this is something to protect and be careful with while training her with that–to be careful, etc. Very cautiously let them play on floor together with us monitoring, correcting if necessary and really the kitty loved the big dog and they’ve always gotten along. Sometimes Jewel will bark at Mulsanne as he zooms through the house. Now Jewel is protective of Mulsanne when we’re out walking the neighborhood; she’s taken on the role of protector and this kitty is part of her pack. They play differently and have different food, treats and toys, so not really a competition. Always have places the kitty can climb (cat tree) as necessary. Within matter of weeks, Mulsanne was able to safely sleep on top of our bed overnight, dog on floor and seemed to naturally outgrown the need for kitty condo protection. First few days critical the dog learn this kitty is something you love and protect and new part of family. Do not tolerate bad behavior from dog toward cat—scolding/retraining if necessary. Our dog is pretty sweet kind soul, so she learned quickly and we were lucky. Mulsanne teases and torments the dog more than the other way around. They really love each other now and even share some snacks and nestle together and take walks together. So, good luck, be careful and they should be okay in a matter of weeks. Set them both up for success (with protection). Don’t let anything bad happen or the damage/scare will be harder to get over. —Karen
I just would like to point out that while Karen made some excellent points, newfies and poodles are not even comparable. Newfies are the gentle giants, as she as well said, really kind souls, while poodles tend to be little energy rockets, with much less gentle personality.
This is not a bad thing, it is a breed-thing and nothing is wrong with that.
What I would like to say is that not only the dog can harm the kitten. The kitten can very seriously injure Buzz as well, so you have to pay attention to that too.
The other thing is, you have to make it clear that the cat is now part of the pack, and agression towards it is something that is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. Any kind of agression. I understand you are rather afraid of the dog getting over-excited than agressive, but dogs react very sensitively when a new pack-member joins and for example they see that that member without any fight, immediately is above them. They will not understand it and they will want to fight their own fights to show that they won’t give up their beta position (humans are all alphas and with one dog in the family it is necesseraly beta).
So do not stir up frustration in the puppy for example with giving food to the cat first and then to him, because he will not understand what has happened to the pack-order, will be confused and will want to take care of it (he would not have right for that, only alphas have rights to take care of anything but if he gets overly confused it can happen).
With such an enegry-bomb kind of dog I would say let them be at the same place so they can smell eahc other without direct contact (crate is good), after a bit of time the dog will get used to the “new being” in the house, and will not make such huge fuss about it.
Cats and dogs in my opinion can live in peace only if the cat is above the dog in the pack order (I know it seems to be the opposite of what I said above but it is not). Cats take care of that in no time they show the dog who is “boss”, and that is fine, because it means they “fought” that fight, and the cat did not just come and immediately became the member above them.
Just my 2 cents
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Hi Jenny,
We foster cats. Though we have no direct experience introducing a new kitty to a dog, we do have a lot of experience introducing a new kitty and a cat to a multiple cat household.
I like Karen’s advice and we do it in a similar way. I would restate that the dog needs to know that the kitty is loved and is to be protected and is a new member of the pack. It’s important.
What we do is fix up a spare room for the kitty for a few days with a litter box, water dish, food dish, and toys. We keep the door closed and don’t let any of the cats in for about 3 days.
This way the new kitty can get acclimated and the other cats can smell her from under the door and on the other side of the door. They start to get used to the smell.
Then we put her in a kennel and open the door. The other cats are free to come up to the kennel but can’t harm her. She also gets to see and smell them. We do that for one or two days – as needed.
Then we supervise a face-to-face one cat at a time and see how it goes by letting one cat in at a time while the new kitty is out of the kennel. We shut the door after the cat walks in.
There is often tension with some growling and hissing but everyone seems to want to get past it most of the time.
Gradually all the cats get used to the new kitten (time varies with each new kitten) and she becomes part of the population.
It’s less threatening and less upsetting for all the cats this way.
I’d imagine that it would work with a dog as well. Just incorporate some of Karen’s advice and it’ll be a good plan.
=^-^= Hairless Cat Girl =^-^=