Managing new foster dogs with existing cats
Integrating newly arrived, unaccustomed foster dogs into a household with free-roaming cats leads to unexpected altercations when the dogs get excited and join in. Managing these initial days and nights without knowing how the animals will react leaves single owners worried about disrupting their current pet's life and struggling to balance personal and living situations.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Keeping the dogs separated from the cats and providing separate sleeping areas for the first night
- 2Feeding pets separately and establishing structured feeding orders
- 3Letting the older dog choose new toys first and showering them with attention
- 4Managing separate walks and schedules
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’m writing in hopes of getting some advice in advance of getting a second dog as a single person.”source ↗
“should I actually get another dog? I know this is unknowable but I don’t want to ruin my current pup’s life!”source ↗
“If you do not want to be single or ever wish to change living situations it may be hard to organize a situation where you have to balance all of these”source ↗
“She eventually got sick of the place and wanted to move so she could begin to look for another place to work, and adjacently she wanted a boyfriend. She met a few people but most were turned off by her pet situation.”source ↗
“Today, one of our cats came inside through the cat flap. One dog became very excited, the other joined in, and the two dogs then had a brief altercation.”source ↗
“Since they have only just arrived and are not fully settled or house-trained yet, I’m unsure how best to manage the first few nights and days.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3How to feed kittens and adult cats together without separating them
- 5How to manage two young puppies fighting constantly?
- 9How to stop a cat from attacking after bringing home a puppy
- 10Why are pet rescue adoption requirements so invasive?
- 2How to play with multiple pets without one hogging all the toys
- 45How to help a terrified rescue cat adjust to a new home