Cats AND Dogs ? Or Best Not ?

We have a very old Spaniel dog, and my younger sister is dying to get a cat. My parents are worried about whether the older dog will get on with a cat.

I've been researching here on ilikecats all about cats, and wonder what other people think about this ?

We dearly love our old dog and do not want him to feel pushed out or marginalised in his older years.

What should we do ? All advice would be great.

Thanks

Anne

We had an old dog who we rescued when she was a tiny puppy. Sadly, she died last year.

But about four years ago we found a kitten abandoned in the road outside our house. My mum took in the kitten, and found that our dog (Max) was very kind and protective towards the kitten.

At first he sniffed the kitten all over, and then licked her nose, and from that point on, they were best friends.

Now we are thinking about getting either another puppy or a kitten for our cat.

I think that cats and dogs can live together and be happy, but in the case of our dog, I probably was because the incoming animal (the tiny kitten) was not seen as a threat to the dog, who was already a firmly established member of our family.

Hope this helps.

We had two golden retriever dogs (one was massive) and we also rescued cats.

One cat we rescued had to have one of his front legs amputated, and after he recovered from that, he became the boss of the household (2 dogs and 4 cats).

One of the dogs, a female, was absolutely terrified of this three legged cat. All the cat had to do was waggle his stump (left from the amputation) at this huge big friendly dog, and she would go running and whimpering to hide under the bed.

Whether it was because she was a female, and he a male, or whether it was just their personalities, I don't know. But they did live happily together for many years. They just avoided each other.

It worked out ok.

Sandy