Scared to have new cat and my dogs together?

Ok, first off...thumbs up to you for taking in a stray cat! Good job.

Now...a few thoughts...

1. When bringing in a stray animal of any kind, it is very wise to keep them isolated from any other pets or people. Even a "healthy looking" animal can have disease, worms, fleas, lice, etc... You wouldn't want to risk the health of your family or animals. This would be a good time to have kittys claws trimmed.

The best way to do this is to keep the stray cat in a bathroom, for instance, with food, water, litter pan, bedding, toys, scratching post, possibly soft classical music...all the things to keep it safe and help it to relax in this new, scary environment.

Take your new feline friend to the vets right away for a checkup, vaccinations, and if it is old enough, to be spayed or neutered. Be sure to purchase a sturdy cat carrier to take your kitty out of the house. We put a couple of folded towels in ours. Once home from the vets, I would exchange the towels for fresh ones, after wiping down the carrier with clorox wet wipes...then letting dry. Without the carrier door, the carrier can make a nice "cat cave".

2. Another benefit to keeping the cat in one room is that is allows it time to get used to the sounds, smells and pace of your home....all through the safety of the closed door. At the same time, this will allow your dogs to smell and hear the cat through the door. During this time, you can go in the room and quietly sit with the kitty...at first just reading, for instance...allowing your cat time to feel safe with you. Get an interactive toy like a long peacock feather or the Cat Dancer so you can play with your cat...let all members of the house do this. Be sure to supervise young children.

3. Once the Vet checks out your cat and all is ok, you might want to continue with the one room program...then with the dogs put in a room, supervise as the kitty explores other rooms. Until you really know the cat, and the cat is relaxed, it's better not to give the cat full run of the house...too much too soon. Also, this gives you time to observe your cat and see where you might need to do a little cat proofing.

4. To introduce your cat and dogs, you can put your cat in the carrier, then let the dogs into the room. They can sniff the carrier and this allows the cat to see them....but in the safety of the carrier. Alway supervise. Play with the dogs a little...giving them the message that when the cat is around, good things can happen.

Alternate and have the dogs on a leash, then let the cat out into the room...play with the cat...give it some kind of a treat...like a cat food treat...to allow for some good interactions while in the presence of the dogs.

Plan in advance to have somewhere safe the cat can "get up" and away from the dogs...you want to build confidence for the cat.

Keep in mind that a stray may have had bad experiences with dogs...or people. You have to take this very slowly. The introduction process is not going to happen over night.

When I became a first time cat owner (a stray adopted my husband and me) I made mistakes...then when I had the chance for a second stray kitten, I bought a Kitten care book! It was called Complete Kitten Care by Amy D. Shoiai

I would recommend you buy a book ASAP...the internet is great, but sometimes having a book to read and be able to refer back to is so valuable!

My quick notes here are by no means complete...just a few thoughts to get you started.

Let us know how things turn out, ok?

Until next time...Annie

It's difficult to mention how the cat will react to the puppy however you might get a way of ways the puppy would react to the cat. Bring some thing with you to the rescue situation that has the cats odor everywhere it. Let the puppy odor it. If it reacts in an competitive or overly excited process, it would act that manner with the cat. Do get person who has been in a residence with different pets. After awhile the 2 gets used to the suggestion of sharing the identical residence. That cat might begin off scared but when the puppy leaves it on my own, it's going to loosen up I'm definite. Good success. The puppy you rescue can be an excessively fortunate puppy.

Yes the spray bottle is a great idea, it also helps the cat learn what is and isn't acceptable.

You might also want to get cat clippers and keep the cats claws trimmed. This way it can't do too much damage to the dogs.

Until they're all more comfortable together, you should keep them separated when you're not home to referee.

The cat is scared. Scared to be in a new enviornment and maybe afraid of dogs too. If you REALLY want to keep the cat, give her a few days to get used to the dogs but keep them apart unless u are there to break up a fight. Perhaps have huge oven mits on so you dont get scratched breaking up a fight. Make sure your dogs are up to date on ALL their shots as the cat may not be. If after a few days they are not warming up to the cat I'd suggest bringing it to the shelter. Good luck.

Give them time to get used to each other. My dog and cat wrestle and play together. There is a chance the cat may have been trying to play with them (but the description you gave was vague, so I don't know).