When Cat Lovers and Dog Lovers Cohabitate

You have a cat. She has a dog. And you want to move in together, but what about the animals? After all, cats and dogs don't get along - do they? Believe it or not, with a little preplanning and some patience while everyone adjusts, Fluffy and Fido can not only coexist, they can actually become the best of friends.

We have two cats and three dogs, all of whom live in relative peace. How did we do it? Well, when my husband Alex and I first moved in together, I had two cats. After a couple months, a friend of ours found a stray kitten, and we had three. The cats had time to establish the house as "theirs" before we got our first dog, Herman, three months after the wedding. Herman didn't have a chance to be the dominant pet of the home, because the cats were there first.

I recommend that, if possible, the cat owner move into the conjoined home first, even if it's only for a week or two. It doesn't take much longer than that for your average kitty to assume dominance. I once took my tuxedo cat Torey with me when I house-sat for some friends for about ten days. They had five dogs, two of which were huge Labrador Retriever mixes, and none of them were used to life with a cat. Torey was a guest, and she was much smaller than at least four of the dogs. Yet, in about three nights, she was sleeping in the owners' bed with me, and the Lab who was used to sleeping with his people, had been banished to the floor - and not by me.

Once the new home is fully occupied, there are a few things to do to help build, and maintain, the peace. First, give the two species time away from each other. At our house, the dogs are closed up in their crates in the sunroom while we sleep or whenever we're away from the house. Not only does this keep our house from being chewed (the German Shepherd has severe separation anxiety), it gives the cats a break from the dogs. Once the dogs are put in their crates for the night, we use that time for cuddling and, most important, the kitty hallucinogens. Here's my recipe for the best catnip blend ever: one ounce dry catnip, one ounce dry pennyroyal, one half ounce ground valerian root. Mix. Apply to cat (or at least the floor near the cat). In no time, the cat will be so blissed out, he or she will forget there's even a dog in the house. Oh, and keep the blend in a sealed container in the freezer. Valerian stinks.

Also, make sure the cats have somewhere to eat where the dogs can't get into their food - or litter box. There isn't a dog out there that doesn't love cat food, and I have yet to meet a dog who won't munch on cat food that's been, er, processed by a cat's digestive system. My parents, who have always lived with both cats and dogs, have one slat removed from their basement door, small enough to allow the cats access to their food and litter box, but too small for the dogs to get through. Of course, if you have a three-pound Chihuahua and a twenty-pound Maine Coon, this solution isn't going to work for you!

A dog-proof place to nap, like a platformed kitty tower, is a good investment, too, and the base doubles as a scratching post! One of our cats likes to sleep under the sofa. The dogs can't get to her, and it's pretty comfortable. We've even put an old baby blanket under there for her to sleep on.

At our house, the cat food and litter box are in the laundry room, and the laundry room is made out-of-bounds to the dogs and the toddler by the use of a simple baby gate across the doorway. The food bowls are up on a table, out of the dogs' reach. The litter box is behind another baby gate under the table. So even when the dogs go through the laundry room to get to the back door when it's time to go outside, they are supervised by the human opening the door, and they don't have the chance to get into trouble.

If your cat is used to sleeping with you, and your sweetie's dog is used to sleeping with him or her, I'd let the animals fight it out. Any solution you come up with is just going to make it worse.

Unless you suspect that blood may soon make an appearance, I'd stay out of any interspecies spats. Pets are like children - they'll get along a lot better if they settle their differences themselves. Of course, if either the dog or the cat is about to be seriously injured, intervene! And please, please, if the cat isn't already de-clawed, don't have it done! He needs all the weapons he can get!

When we got our first dog, we had a rule that cats were allowed on the furniture, but the dog was not. In a multi-species household, this is a really hard rule to enforce. The dog couldn't understand why everyone was allowed on the sofa but him. In time, we gave up and let Herman on the sofa. We decided it was species-ist to ban him. This is an issue you and your sweetie will need to resolve, at least verbally, before you move in together.

You may notice that, after a time, alliances can form between your pets. Our alpha dog Katie, and our alpha cat, Ivar, have achieved détente. Ivar can open the refrigerator door, and Katie, a German Shepherd mix, is tall enough to pull tasty things off the shelves. We've even caught them grooming each other and napping side by side on occasion. When you see that, you know that you're well on the way to the peaceful cat-and-dog home you and your sweetie always dreamed of!