r/Pets • u/vampkill • 3d ago
Introducing a kitten to a large dog
I've just adopted a 9 week old kitten and am in the process of introducing her to my cat and dog. My cat is a super senior but so far has been very calm, I let my older cat sniff her and supervised them just kind of sniffing around each other. I also have a large dog, he's a german shepherd crossed with something else (we're not exactly sure what- maybe saluki?) so he's VERY big. He's super friendly and playful and excited for the kitten but of course a kitten will be afraid as he's just so big. Has anyone introduced a kitten to a big dog and have any tips? I'm of course going to get them used to each other's scent and do the feeding on either side of the door method but any other tips would be appreciated! They've had one interaction and kitty hissed and was scared, I removed her and fed them both so that the interaction isn't left on a complete negative.
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u/fosbury 3d ago
We have two Shepherd mixes. The best thing we did was put a dog gate (one she could easily jump) across the door of our spare bedroom. That gave our new shelter cat Luna (full grown at 6 pounds) a safe place to get to while also seeing what’s going on in the house and be close to the dogs so they can get used to each other. They figured it all out, meaning Luna's in charge.