Good morning! I'm a multi-pet family - 2 beautiful Papillon-mix pups and a 22 year old cat. Initially, before taking the puppies, I introduced them to my indoor cat - no one seemed to have much interest in the other except for a quick sniff. Because of housetraining, puppy excitement, and the fact that my cat had always had the run of the house, I kept the dogs in the kitchen/family room area, while the cat had the remainder of the house. I also didn't push putting the cat and dogs in the same room together, mainly because of the age of my cat, but now I'm thinking I didn't do the right thing for any of them....
Every time the cat decides to visit the kitchen/family room area, the dogs now go wild - chasing and nipping at the cat. I know the cat realizes that the dogs are there when he jumps over the gate, and he often comes into the room and jumps up to a counter where the dogs can't reach him, but I'm hoping that someone has some good advice on how I can socialize them better! We all love being in the living room together, but at this point, I wait until the cat has made his way back to the other end of the house before I let the dogs in with me, or I stay with them in the family room.
I'm thinking I was a bad mother by not forcing "togetherness" from the beginning - any ideas on how best to get tem all together without the running and chasing?
Thanks so much!!
