i just got a cat  

Thanks for the advice. I really hope they get along. I would hate to have to bring her back to the pound. We decided that we would make my sons room her safe place so we are putting her liter box and food & water bowls in there. When I bring her home I will leave my dogs in their kennels until she has had a chance to roam the house and check it out and see where all her stuff is. I definitely will not leave them all alone for awhile. And, I will introduce one dog to her at a time. As for food bowls, I can never leave any of them down. My dogs are possessive over their food and I have a war on my hands if they all eat in the same room with all their bowls down together. I have had to resort to feeding them in their kennels (which by the way are huge) and I think they prefer it that way because no one bothers them or their food.

Yikes is right about those mice. In 12 years we have never had them. To have now baffles me but, it baffles me more how they can be smarter then me, especially with all the different kinds of traps that I have set about the house. I have already decided to make my sons room her safe place. Her liter box and food and water bowls will be in his room. When I bring her home I will keep my dogs locked up and let her roam about the house to see what it is and also show her where her stuff is. Then I will iintroduce one dog to her at a time and giving her some time with each one of them. I don't expect a miracle the first day but, I do hope that they can all learn to live together and get along. It would break my heart to have to return her to the pound. And, thanks for that website. I went to it and read some. Saved it so I can go back to it when I have more time and read it all the way through.

I talked to quite a few cat rescue places and they all recommended that because I have 5 dogs, it would be best to get a cat that was around 6 to 7 months old. I did contemplate a kitten but thought it would be too small. I was really looking for a cat that was 6 to 7 months old but, as my story tells, I came across this 3 year old cat and even though I backed out of the adoption the first day, something must have told me to go back the next day. She comes home tomorrow and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they all get along.

Thanks for the advice. Some of it I planned on already, other parts are very helpful and make perfect sense. She will be weak from her surgery when we bring her home tomorrow so maybe we are better off not introducing her to the dogs tomorrow but rather keep her in her safe room and go in there a lot to pet her and let the dogs get familiar with the smell. I was thinking though before we put her in the room and shut the door, that I would keep the dogs locked up and let her wander around the house first a little bit but, I guess I will see how she is when I pick her up before I decide that. I do have some papers that some of the cat rescue places gave me on how to introduce a new cat to dogs. I have even talked to many of them at great lengths and they have given me some advice as well.

My pleasure! I hope my advice will be really helpful.

I would suggest not to let her wander around the house right off the bat though because cats can be so skiddish when they are first brought to their new home. They are scared and overwhelmed and that is why experts will tell you to only give them one room to get used to at first. It helps ease them in instead of showing them this gigantic world that they have likely not seen much of since they have likely spent a lot of time in a cage. Do what you think is best but, it really is important that you make her feel safe and secure right off the bat. A new home on the first day is tramatic enough. They are really timid when they first get home. The tighter their surroundings, the easier their transition!

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

My Yorkies are very curious things. I don't think they will bother her as much as they will pester her. Their curiosity always gets the better of them. My Papillon is still a puppy (well, she will be a year old in a few days) so she is still in the playful stage. My big dog, being abused when she was little - that is what concetrns me and she is the one that concerns me the most. I am sure them getting along nicely is not going to happen in one day. It is going to be something that I am going to have to work at.

You will have to work on it but it will work in the end

It is so hard to pick just one too. It breaks my heart to go to the pound. This is only this 2nd time I have gone in the past 12 years. (really 3rd cause I went two days in a row) There were older cats there that I felt so sorry for. A lot of them were owner surrender and I just cannot understand how after that many years, an owner can just give up a pet. How confused, sad and lonely it must feel. I had 4 cats 13 years ago before I moved to where I live now. I had to get rid of them because they could not come with me. At the time I worked for a cat rescue place and tried to adopt them out. One of them I know went to a good home. Another one of them a co-worker took home and two of them went to the home of the owner. The co-worker one day just up and abandoned his place and left the cats. I was told that my cat went to another foster home and stayed there until she died. But, it still breaks my heart. She was a good cat and I wanted better for her. The other two that were at the owners house got out and were never found. Although it has been 12 years and I am sure they are no longer around, it breaks my heart to this day (believe it or not, I have tears in my eyes as I write this) because not knowing what happened to two of my babies breaks my heart. I took very good care of them and to imagine them on the streets, frightened, hungry and scared and wondering where I am, still hurts 13 years later. I still torment myself with the fact that I moved somewhere that I could not take them. I should have stayed there and taken care of them.

We own our home so we are our landlords. I called many exterminators and they told me the only thing they could do for me was the same thing I was doing...set traps. They were surprised that my traps were not catching them. I have had cats and one dog together years and years ago but I always brought the cats in when they were kittens (except for one I tokk away from a girl that was throwing it against a wall) and I had the dog first. They got along great. I still have the traps up and haven't really seen any droppings in the past few days (I am going to jinx myself now) so maybe the deacon got to them. But, I am still bringing the cat home tomorrow and I really hope they get along because I do not want to take her back. (oh, the traps will come down tomorrow before I bring her home as I do not want her to get into any of them)

Yes, they sure are great exterminators. When I had 4 cats I never saw a bug in my apartment, that is, except for the hind legs of crickets. For some reason they just did not like those. We have a safe room set up for her already - my sons room. He has a gate across his door already so the dogs stay out of there. Not sure if I will shut his door though so she can have peace for a few days or if I will leave it open so they can look at each other through the gate. Of course, the cat can jump over it if she chooses to, but if she does that, I will make sure that I am right there. Until I know they all get along okay, I do not want to take any chances.

That was one thing I was definitely going to do, introduce one dog to her at a time. My dogs are feisty and meeting all of them at one time can be way too much. Maybe before I put her in her safe room, I will take each dog out for a few minutes to see her and sniff her and let her see them and sniff them. I will also be able to get a reaction from each of them so I can kind of know what I am up against. As for being inside for 10 days, the cat will always be inside. I do not believe in outside cats. Two of my four cats before were inside cats and did just fine. In fact, they didn't want to be bothered with the outside.

Don't tell my husband that. I told him I was getting a cat because the traps were not working. I got the cat from the pound so they have very little information. It was an owner surrender but usually the little information they give is not true - they just want to get rid of it so make a good story so they can. Even though the form said "no dogs" and the pound called and asked what that meant and was told that the cat hisses and arches her back when she sees a dog, that was not the way it was when I took one of my dogs up there. They were nose to nose and she was not in the least bit affected by it. That is why I took my chances on her. If I could put my dog right in her face and it didn't phase her (she didn't hiss, swat, pull away or bat an eye), then that more or less told me that she was not afraid of them. They did tell me that I have 30 days to bring her back but, how can one take an animal out of a place like that and then bring it back? I just could not do that. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they all get along and tolerate each other.

Your right about the owners telling a bunch of lies to get rid of a pet. But they also do that in hopes the cat will find a new home b4 it's put down. We got a cat from the pound once but he didn't work out. I couldn't bear to take him back so I found him a new home. I called the guy a week later to see how Buddy was doing and the guy said he had already decided where he was sleeping at..on his pillow. lol Dom came from the pound as a puppy but the previous owners who abused him to no end didn't want to take him back but yet couldn't find a new home for him cause he was so mean. Took alot of begging and crying from my niece to take him in. He's a wonderful lap dog who just wants cuddling from anyone who will give it to him.