How to stop a cat from attacking after bringing home a puppy
Cats may hiss, run away, or suddenly bite and scratch out of fear or annoyance toward a new dog, while the dog's barking and whining only escalates the tension. Relying on physical barriers like leashes and gates keeps them separated, but leaves owners stuck without knowing how to train the pets to get along safely.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 13.7× more often in r/cats than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1giving her some time aloneDid this help you?
- 2keeping the puppy on a leashDid this help you?
- 3using a baby gate to separate the dog and catsDid this help you?
- 4distracting the puppy with toys or ballsDid this help you?
- 5rewarding the puppy with treats for calm behaviorDid this help you?
- 6leaving the cat alone to live its life as a solo petDid this help you?
- 7getting a third catDid this help you?
- 8putting a screen between them for scent acclimation and supervised visitsDid this help you?
- 9quarantining the new cat in a separate room, getting a vet check and microchip scan, and doing a slow introductionDid this help you?
- 10having consistent food available and not needing to fight for itDid this help you?
- 11they both have a bowl outside when its food timeDid this help you?
- 12I have the cats eating on counters in my utility roomDid this help you?
- 13Letting the kitten choose to explore the new space on his own rather than carrying himDid this help you?
- 14Playing with the kitten hard with a wand toy for 15 minutes before bringing him downstairs to burn off energyDid this help you?
- 15Using split sessionsDid this help you?
- 16Giving them time to work out their differencesDid this help you?
- 17Reintroducing using the Jackson Galaxy methodDid this help you?
- 18Waiting to see if the cat eventually accepts the dog or if the dog gives upDid this help you?
- 19Keeping the cats separated in different rooms or behind closed doorsDid this help you?
- 20Putting the resident cat on an enclosed balcony overnight to stop scratching and meowing at doorsDid this help you?
- 21Choosing not to visit family members' houses to avoid housing conflicts with catsDid this help you?
- 22Separating the cats into different rooms when play gets too intenseDid this help you?
- 23Timing meetings for after eating, sleeping, or playingDid this help you?
- 24Using toys and food to distract the kittenDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“When she runs he follows her at full speed and she gets scared.”source ↗
“He's so bothersome and boring, he's really annoying. He's acting like the kitten and doesn't give her any space.”source ↗
“Also, I noticed that his pupils are very dilated the whole time that they spend together.”source ↗
“She’ll scratch me or bite me for no reason, even before the dog came.”source ↗
“On day three, while I was cutting her nails and doing regular brushing, she suddenly bit me and scratched me.”source ↗
“My question is, is she scared of the dog? Or is she annoyed by his existence?”source ↗
“Honey Badger got their name because they are very food aggressive and protective of Lego.”source ↗
“However I have noticed they always put themselves between Lego cat and anyone/thing that tried to approach.”source ↗
“My sister got another cat to keep her adult cat Stella company and it ended up becoming friends with her dog Millie instead.”source ↗
“He's behavior changes when I take him to my mom's room downstairs, he's meowing, attacking me, mom, my other sisters and our dog, not only that but he's constantly knocking over his food or anything near him.”source ↗
“His attacks aren't playful, he's digging his claws into our skins, bitting, hissing, slapping. I don't know why is he aggressive towards us.”source ↗
“Just walking by sometimes she chooses violence. She hurts her feelings deeply more then actually hurting her.”source ↗
“The other cat is sulking in the bedroom.”source ↗
“The problem is that I have two cats already, and one of my cats is fine with the strays that come around, but the other is *very* aggressive toward them.”source ↗
“Even when they’re outside and she’s inside, she’ll try to fight them through the window and gets pretty worked up when she sees them.”source ↗
“I do pick him up when we are going downstairs, he doesn't like being picked up, but I have no other choice, we have door outside that are probably older than my mom and they are not closing, so I pick him up to not let him run away, he likes running away from home”source ↗
“My orange kept hunting the new cat in previous months and would corner them to try to beat it up..atleast i fixed the main issue which was the orange feeling unsafe or stressed due to the new cat.”source ↗
“She also gets a bushy tail. That's when we separate them.”source ↗
“Our cat was never hostile. he never hissed or glew, and seemed curious and interested, but when playing, he bit the kitten too hard once and the kitten screamed loudly.”source ↗
“That night we barely slept because our cat constantly meowed and scratched at our bedroom door, where we were keeping the kitten.”source ↗
“The first night of this visit, nobody slept because our cat was obsessively scratching and meowing at the door.”source ↗
“I’ve now decided that I’m not going to come back to my partner’s family’s house for the foreseeable future, because we normally bring our cat with us and I don’t want to experience another night like this.”source ↗
“What I’m asking for is training advice, I don’t know how to train him to get along with the cat.”source ↗