marynh
Posted : 1/14/2007 9:25:45 AM
I've had tons of fosters come here who have never seen a dog, never mind lived with one. And although most of them never develop a love for Molly [8|] they co-exist pretty well with her.
And they've all been adults.
Check out Tally's Basic Cat Care site she has TONS of info there regarding introducing various pets to existing pets. Good stuff.
I have to keep fosters isolated for up to 10 days then I let them start to meet my pets, including Molly, with a baby gate up to the door (my computer is in the foster room so when I come in here I keep the baby gate up so I can supervise). I always make Molly lay down when she meets a foster for the first time. I think it's less intimidating for the cat to see a big dog laying down.
You want to get a dog who has cat experience. When we were looking for another dog (before Glenda offered to let us have one of her fosters) the first thing I looked for was whether they could live with cats or not. Having 4 of my own, and fostering, I NEEDED to have a dog who could live with cats. I saw some beautiful GSDs in shelters and rescues who were clearly marked "no cats" and as tempted as I was I had to pass.
Luckily Glenda raised Molly with cats so it wasn't an issue.