This week at Discovery News you can read about what it takes to get dogs and cats to make nice under the same roof. Without proper introductions and guidance, any number of miserable happenings is possible. Depending on the size of the animal, the dog could consider the cat a tasty snack, or the cat could bite and scratch the dog to smithereens. Scottish Wildcat (Credit: Ewan Macdonald via Science AAAS) Thankfully that needn't be the case, according to Neta-Li Feuerstein and Joseph Terkel of Tel Aviv University. If you'd like to include both a dog and a cat (or more) in your family, here's what they say you should do: 1. Adopt the cat before you adopt the dog. This is more for the dog's sake than that of the cat. Because dogs are pack animals, they may respect the status quo but, if a stranger is introduced into the house (like a new baby or cat), they could challenge this pack "intruder." 2. Introduce the cat to dogs while it's still a kitten. Cats aged 6 months old or younger that have had positive encounters with dogs do better around the other species throughout the rest of their lives. 3. Introduce the dog to cats when it's a year old or younger. Dogs can actually learn the body language of cats, and vice versa, when the animals are introduced at young ages. I don't necessarily agree with the below (curious as to your opinions) but here is a list of body language that is supposed to hold opposite meanings for dogs and cats. When ...
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This week at Discovery News you can read about what it takes to get dogs and cats to make nice under the same roof. Without proper introductions and guidance, any number of miserable happenings is possible. Depending on the size of the animal, the dog could consider the cat a tasty snack, or the cat could bite and scratch the dog to smithereens. Scottish Wildcat (Credit: Ewan Macdonald via Science AAAS) Thankfully that needn't be the case, according to Neta-Li Feuerstein and Joseph Terkel of Tel Aviv University. If you'd like to include both a dog and a cat (or more) in your family, here's what they say you should do: 1. Adopt the cat before you adopt the dog. This is more for the dog's sake than that of the cat. Because dogs are pack animals, they may respect the status quo but, if a stranger is introduced into the house (like a new baby or cat), they could challenge this pack "intruder." 2. Introduce the cat to dogs while it's still a kitten. Cats aged 6 months old or younger that have had positive encounters with dogs do better around the other species throughout the rest of their lives. 3. Introduce the dog to cats when it's a year old or younger. Dogs can actually learn the body language of cats, and vice versa, when the animals are introduced at young ages. I don't necessarily agree with the below (curious as to your opinions) but here is a list of body language that is supposed to hold opposite meanings for dogs and cats. When ...