Dachshunds and Cats Oh my! We have had our male dachshund, Julian, for four years and our female, princess, for three. If that was not enough my wife, Charlotte and 10 year old step daughter, Sydney told me that they really love cats and would like to get one. Because of places that they lived before we got married they could not have animals. I could take them or leave them. Don't get me wrong I love all animals however I was never really around cats except for a few of my friends that had cats. I had grown up with dogs. Played with them outside and inside. They were fun. But being the pushover I am when it comes to my wife and stepdaughter I decided to let them have a cat. However I told them that I did want take of it, I already took care of the dogs. No problem. Sydney rescued a female kitten. She was with her sister and they were not taken care of very well.
She brought her home and the dogs did not know what to make of them. When I got home I made the mistake of suggesting that she probably needed a companion. When I researched cats I found out that cats do better when there are two of them. Dogs on the other hand are fine on their own. I always thought it was the opposite. Off they went to get Angels sister. However she was adopted about two hours before they got there. Angel did have a brother from the litter however he was still two shy to be adoptable. So we got him one week later. So how did the dog's do? Princess wanted to jump all over them. Julian did not really know what to do. We had friends staying with us that had cats for many years and they helped us out. With their help we brought them together a little bit at a time, stopping to separate them when it looked like they might get too close and start a problem. We also put up a gate in the upstairs hallway to keep the dogs away from the cats.
The cats were staying in Sydney's room. Our female always wanted to get in the room to play with them. Time passed and keeping them separated but visible calmed the dogs down. Then we let them get together and sort it out. They did really well. The cats were trying to play with the dogs like they play with the cats and the dogs were trying to play with the cats like they play with each other. The key was taking it slow. Monitoring them and then letting them just work it out.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Charles_Coniglio
