Kitty Behavior

Sid (Sidi Kitty), our first cat, is at his new home, finally. We had put a tremendous amount of research and thought into our new kitten, especially welcoming him into a home with two dogs. What would our cat's behavior be like? Would he get along with the dogs? That said, the drive home with Sid possessed a bit of trepidation. We had to assure his safety. We weren't sure of any cat behavior problems we might encounter, or how this transition to a dog-only home to a cat and dog home would go.

We kept Sid close in our arms the first week. We did - while gently holding him - slowly begin to introduce him to Lady and Missy, our two dogs. There was mutual interest between Sid and the dogs. I knew in time they would be palls. Specifically we,

1. Did introduce them to each other very slowly. Holding onto both the kitten and the dogs we let them smell each other, begin to touch and be close to each other.

2. We never let them be alone together for at least four weeks. During that time the kitten started to show some interest in playing with the dogs, and it was clear the dogs were tolerant of this so after four weeks we felt it safe to let them be more exposed to each other without our direct involvement, though we watched closely.

3. We did make sure that it was clear where the cat food was kept and water as well as litter box; and that the kitten knew this. Equally, we assured that the dogs did not interfere with the kitten's food or litter box. The kitten knew he had his own space.

4. For the most part the kitten slept on one of us or in bed with us the first few months, but if not he had his bed to sleep in and we assured that the dogs did not or were not aggressive toward the kitty when his guard was down.

After several months, things were going great and our initial concerns were unfounded, and the cat and dogs are becoming best of friends. But In fact, he is playing so well he followed Lady out the doggie door one night. Sid is not an outside cat. We had put up many barriers from Sid accessing the doggie door - but ashe had figured out how to penetrate them Sid got his first taste of a freezing Kansas City night. We found him within a few minutes - looking in the deck door - wanting back in his warm bed and on his kitty heating blanket.

We learned that he was a bit self minded, and may challenge us with some cat behavior problems. It was an issue for month how to keep our indoor cat just that, indoors. He wanted to go outside all of the time so it took a lot of commitment and follow through to assure at all times that the kitty gates were up and working, and that he did not sneak out. That was a large commitment but had to be done. When the kitty gate was down, one of us had to hold the kitten to assure he would not go out the doggie door, or the doggie door had to be shut. It is something to this day that we have to watch as even though he is an indoor cat, naturally he wants to go outside so it is a large commitment that we always have to stay on top of.

After the first few months, and what I knew would happen, just last week Sid went over to Lady and they slept belly-to-belly and paw-to-paw, too cute. I cannot express how much laughter, warmth and love Sid has added to our life!