? Moving to a new house with a dog?

[Natalie and Ziggy]

Hi everyone. It’s looking likely that Ziggy and I will be moving into a new house next month and into what should be a much better living situation for me. I think Ziggy will love the new place, but there is a concern: one of my prospective roommates — whom I already know well — has an older dog, who will also be moving in.

The dog and Ziggy have already met on a couple of occasions. Ziggy does not get along with other animals (he’s been stalking and beating up my parents’ cat during our holiday visit), and this big dog is no exception. Ziggy in fact attacked the dog last time she visited our apartment and left a few scratches on her nose. Not only that, it was almost impossible to keep Ziggy away from the dog’s dry food, and he managed to eat a few bits here and there every time the dog visited.

Since these two will be living together, I’m wondering a.) how we will make sure that Ziggy’s blood levels won’t be affected by the stress of living with another animal and b.) how to prevent Ziggy from eating the dog’s food without us having to constantly monitor him? I already hate having to supervise my parents’ cat for large chunks of time while she uses the litter box (Ziggy attacks her while she’s peeing) so I can’t imagine having to keep a constant eye on him to make sure he doesn’t eat the dog food.

Just looking for some advice!

 

[Hogan]

a) It all depends on the layout of your new place, but physical separation is the best way to start, and then slowly let them be around each other. It's also important that Ziggy has a place that he "owns", like your bedroom, where the dog doesn't go. Usually cats will go on the offensive when they feel like their territory is being threatened. If they don't have a defined territory, then they feel the need to try to defend the entire living area.

b) It's not your dog so obviously you can't control what the dog eats, but in my experience, if a dog leaves his food in his bowl all day, he really doesn't like his food. I had this same problem with my dog and cat - the dog would leave the food in the bowl all day and would only eat it in resigned defeat, meanwhile the cat would venture out and eat a few pieces of the kibble, probably just for the novelty of it. My best solution was to switch the dog's food to something it liked better that it will eat immediately.

Hogan also doesn't play well with others, and when we got a young rescue dog, I thought I would be playing referee for the rest of my life. But after a couple of months, they got used to each other, and now can be within a couple of feet of each other with no bloodshed. He still will have a go at the dog if the dog starts invading the cat's territory (to poach the cat food, example), but the dog very quickly learned to keep it's distance from the cat.

I know these are not very practical suggestions - there are so many factors beyond your control, but just wanted to mention what worked for me.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Try to get the dog owners to get the dog to each all food (twice daily) in one short setting. During that time keep Ziggy separated. My dog and the foster's I have had finished eating fast, like 2 minutes.
Regarding stalking/attacking likey not much you can do except keeping them separated. My BunBun (GA) would sometimes attack my cat Raggy. It was not that bad. Raggy generally kept clear. This summer I fostered of Honey, a beagle. BunBun was just attacked her and I had to keep them separated. Luckily Honey was soon adopted and I decided not not to foster any dogs when BunBun was still here.

 

[HereKittyKittyKitty]

Since you will probably need to leave food out for the cat to graze on, make sure the dog cannot get to it. Ditto for the litterbox. A small cat door in your bedroom door would work nicely, as long as the dog is too big to wiggle through. This also gives the cat a "safe place."

 

[ohbell]

Hi Ziggy!

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

I agree that you will need to provide Ziggy a space where he can go that the dog will not have access to. Since it sounds like the previous interactions with the dog was in Ziggy's home, part of his agression may have been do to Ziggy protecting his territory. With you moving to a home where the dog lives, you may not have the same issues.