My niece's cat had kittens and I have plans to bring one home this weekend (two days shy of being 9 weeks). Shippo is 10 months old (Pembroke Welsh Corgi) and unfortunately I couldn't get him around any dog friendly cats because I don't know of anyone who has one but he has been around a lot of cats. He barks at the cats he was around before and I can't seem to get him to stop so that's one thing I need help with. When he barks I shut his mouth and tell him quiet (and praise for being quiet) but he can't seem to grasp the concept, however he hasn't been around the cats for an extended length of time nor very often so that could be why. Should I just continue that? And I know the herding/chasing instinct will have to be curbed, having owned the breed before, I just never had one that barked so much at them.
But now I have a new problem... maybe. I brought him over to my niece's house on Sunday to see how they did with each other (my mom brought her Yorkie there before and my kitten was the only one that warmed up to him after a few minutes) so I could see what I was up against when I brought the kitten home. The mother was supposed to be upstairs but she must have gotten past my niece when she went to go get the kitten because she practically flew at Shippo and attacked him. Which I understand of course but I fear it may have damaged his previous relationship with cats because it scared the crap out of him. He screamed and tried to get away from the cat while my niece and I tried to get her away from him, she got scratched pretty bad and I got a scratch on my foot in the process. But when she brought the kitten out he was scared to go near him and wouldn't stop barking. He calmed down after a little bit but he still refused to go near the kitten so we (boyfriend and I) took him home.
I think tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm going to bring him over to my mom's house and see how he reacts to one of her cats, the one he has seen the most. But in the meantime, just how should I introduce the two? I never had to do delicate intros before because cats were already in the house when I got my last Corgi and my Doberman several years ago but my cat had passed away in December and I didn't get another because I was living at my mom's house at the time and she already had two cats, there wasn't enough room for me to get one. This is probably going to give me a headache.
But now I have a new problem... maybe. I brought him over to my niece's house on Sunday to see how they did with each other (my mom brought her Yorkie there before and my kitten was the only one that warmed up to him after a few minutes) so I could see what I was up against when I brought the kitten home. The mother was supposed to be upstairs but she must have gotten past my niece when she went to go get the kitten because she practically flew at Shippo and attacked him. Which I understand of course but I fear it may have damaged his previous relationship with cats because it scared the crap out of him. He screamed and tried to get away from the cat while my niece and I tried to get her away from him, she got scratched pretty bad and I got a scratch on my foot in the process. But when she brought the kitten out he was scared to go near him and wouldn't stop barking. He calmed down after a little bit but he still refused to go near the kitten so we (boyfriend and I) took him home.
I think tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm going to bring him over to my mom's house and see how he reacts to one of her cats, the one he has seen the most. But in the meantime, just how should I introduce the two? I never had to do delicate intros before because cats were already in the house when I got my last Corgi and my Doberman several years ago but my cat had passed away in December and I didn't get another because I was living at my mom's house at the time and she already had two cats, there wasn't enough room for me to get one. This is probably going to give me a headache.