Hi Im new to the site and trying to get as much information as i can , Ive always been a fan of the huskys ever since a friend of mine Raced them , Ive always come from a dof family and my wife and i feel the time is right to bring a dog into our family as we both miss having one around. I would love to get a husky puppy as we have a large secure garden and love going out for walks. My only worry is we have a Persain Cat (Aged 2 yrs old she is more like a dog than a cat) but so far have had mixed feelings about Huskys and cats living together , They would never be together without anyone in the house as the house would be split into 2. Any help would be greatly recieved.

Hi and welcome to the site. I think the most important this is to make sure your cat won't run from the husky. If she does, it will trigger the huskies prey instinct and they will chase and most likely bite. I have 2 cats that had never been around dogs when I got my puppy, and they are both over 10 years old. The thing is, neither one back down or run from the puppy and he totally respects them. In fact the other day one of them cornered the dog. That said, I worked very hard with Dizzy to teach him to avoid the cats. When he was little I didn't even allow him to look at them because I didn't want him to develop a fixation about them. He is curious about them, but will walk away if they hiss at him. He also shows submissive behaviors to them if he approaches, ears back, avoiding direct eye contact, etc.

I know you didn't ask this, but as a husky obsessed person, I'm going to give you my advice anyway. The number one, absolute, most important thing about getting a husky puppy is to find a reputable breeder. There are people on the site from all over the US, Canada and even a few in other parts of the world that can help recommend a reputable breeder. If you have questions about what qualities to look for, please ask. I am definitely not anti-breeder, I got my pup from a breeder, but I made sure it was a breeder that wasn't contributing to genetic health issues in the breed, or the homeless husky population.

I'm going to second what Jen said on finding a reputable breeder. I am also not anti-breeder, I even got my dogs from breeders, but after I fell in love with the siberian husky breed it became apparent that it is important to get a puppy from a breeder that will preserve the breed and produce happy, health huskies. If you get your pup from a BYB that doesn't know how to study the genealogy then it is likely your Siberian Husky won't be exactly what you are looking for in a husky anyways.

As long as you are never leaving the husky and cat together unsupervised I would say it will be ok. It really depends on the personality of the individual dog though. Shaqua has always gotten along with my sister's cat, but that is because she was raised around her. Take her around other cats and the chase game is on. My little one, Journey, I don't think I could ever have a cat around her. I can already tell her prey drive is very high. When I take her to the dog park she stalks birds and squirrels, and when she met my sister's cat for the first time this holiday she immediately had her pinned to the ground.

I know a lot of people who have huskies and cats and do just fine with them together.... but that doesn't mean every husky is a cat-loving dog. I have heard several stories of huskies that have lived with the same cat for years and the owners come home to find the cat no longer of the living. Not to scare you away from getting a husky with a cat, just understand fully what you are getting into....and most importantly never leave them together unattended.

Thank you both for you help on this matter , I myself have been obsessed with huskys and will look around for a good breeder before making our purchase. I'm in the UK so if anyone know of a top breeder please get in touch. BTW your photos look amazing and hopefully soon i will be able to add mine to this site.

I don't know any breeder specifically in the UK, but hopefully some other members will chime in. Here are some great resources from The Siberian Husky Club of Great Britten that may be able to point you in the right direction.

http://siberianhuskyclub.org.uk/about-huskies/buying-a-puppy/

http://siberianhuskyclub.org.uk/health/health-tests-explained/

http://siberianhuskyclub.org.uk/memberslinks

http://siberianhuskyclub.org.uk/the-husky/showing/

http://siberianhuskyclub.org.uk/the-husky/working/

Hello and welcome.

I know many people that have cats with huskies and do fine, I think if you raised a puppy with a cat it might be ok, but it probably just depends on the dog. My 3 were never around cats, and I found out the hard way that they would never be OK with them. Even the one I thought was the most laid back husky ever took part in an attack we had recently

That sounds really bad , I will talk the the breeders prior to buying one as my Persian Cat is a real cutie and wouldn't want anything to happen to her as she's only a baby.

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, I got my Husky from some guy selling them out of the back of a Volkswagen at Walmart    No, not really. Maya will play with our cats, truly, they will run to the end of lead and tease her, if she gives up and lays down they will sneak up on her and get her to chase them again. It's like watching cartoons. I don't know why they get along but they do. Our cats are also outdoor barn cats and that might make make a big difference.

mattyracer wrote:

That sounds really bad , I will talk the the breeders prior to buying one as my Persian Cat is a real cutie and wouldn't want anything to happen to her as she's only a baby.

By the way, does your cat have her claws intact? Both of ours do, and I think that's important.

Yes all claws are intact

When you say house split into 2 do you mean they would live on separate sides? I think it helps for them to have a lot of interaction early while giving cats option to get breaks Having a really food motivated puppy helps too. Loki is always more interested in treats then my cats. Keeping him exercised is also helpful as then he does not try to find ways to entertain himself.

As a side note, Loki is more respectful of my cat without claws.

I mean the upstairs would be for the cat and downstairs would be for the dog , with a safety gate to try and stop the dog going upstairs , At night the dog would have to sleep in her crate as the cat will roam around. I'm hearing as long as i get them used to each other early in the puppies life it maybe betterbut would still make sure they are never alone , Plus my cat thinks its a dog and don't think she would run away from anything

Huskies can jump gates. I use safety gates but the only work when I am supervising my pup. If I'm not watching she thinks she can get away with climbing them. LOL

The best thing is to have a place where only the cat can get to. While the pup is young it can be a high place, and as it gets older it is simply a matter of size.

It can be done you just have to be careful about it which it sounds like you are planning anyway
I have a british blue who like your persian just does not seem to consider running away, the cat and the dog play fight all the time (instigated by the cat) and Orion will quite often let the cat pin him to the ground. We have part of the house safety gated off just for the cat and in the area of the house that is for both cat and dog I have put up a series of floating shelves so if the cat wants to he has a safe high spot to observe us all
We spent a lot of time shaping Orion's behavior towards the cat and all in all I am pleased with how he does, in saying that though he is never left alone with the cat (I am definitely not taking that risk) and while I am away they cannot get to eachother. Also while he is tolerant even playful with our cat I know without a doubt he would kill another one if it happened to wander into our yard etc

Thanks for all the advice everyone , I'm still a little worried and more heart broken as this is a breed i have always wanted and admired and it just maybe slipping out of my hands.

Sorry you feel heart broken. All dog breeds can and do kill cats, but some definitely present more risks. You can in most cases manage it, but the risk will always exist. At this point, I can say my husky has progressed faster then my lab did as a puppy. Yet, my lab was and is is pretty prey driven and my husky I am pretty sure my husky is lower energy then many other have on this board.

Thanks Techgirl78 I think you have helped me make my mind up as my wifes family have always had labs and cats together so i'm going to take the risk and just keep a big eye on them in the early months.   

I realise this thread is about done, I just thought I'd say don't underestimate your cat.
I agree with your concerns and I was exactly the same as you (we have 2 cats, but they avoid each other and would never work as a team)
My husky is 12 weeks, when we got him I was more concerned about his safety, cats can be killing machines. It got to the point where I had to let him approach them, I knew he would at best get hissed at. Sure enough he did, I was closely supervising to ensure it didn't get out of hand.
This seemed to teach him to respect them.
We have gates and upstairs is cat territory. Huskies are very intelligent, but so are cats. Your puppy will probably realise very early it is in his interests to be respectful.
My puppy has a high prey drive, move your foot and he is there, but one of our cats sits a foot away from him and he will not even attempt to go near her. He does of course try to chase her after she has jumped the gate but only to prove he is big and hard.
I don't doubt he will be able to jump the gate soon, but we will get a taller gate before that happens.
I think your planning is spot on. Training is very important too.
At the moment, the training is going great, but the cat is doing better. Our puppy doesn't cry to be out of his cage in the morning, (he is let out the same time and knows this routine) however the cat has got him to wake us up when she wants to be let in the window.
The way I see it is if anything happened it would be my fault for letting it. I think through every situation and never ever leave them alone together. It sounds to me like you know what your doing.
I hope you do get your puppy, it would be a shame for any puppy to miss out.

mattyracer wrote:

Thanks Techgirl78 I think you have helped me make my mind up as my wifes family have always had labs and cats together so i'm going to take the risk and just keep a big eye on them in the early months.   

If you make the jump maybe try working with rescue or breeder that can make prey drive assessment. The rescue I got him with had farm cats and Loki had access to them. They observed and noted normal slight curiousity and gave me tips to make it go well. Loki till this day only has some interest but his toys and food are always more interesting. Some puppies show early on the need to chase is to high. I also plan on always crating Loki.

So I have a dilemma, this may have been asked but I couldn't find it! My boy isn't 2 yet, and has never been socialized with cats, Living arrangements have changed and I am now trying to introduce him to an older female cat and her kitten! He doesn't act aggressive towards the kitten, just curious, he just initiates the play stance front down and butt in the air! The kitten is weary and has swiped him a couple of times but he also is curious as he plays with Lucians tail! But while the mama cat has previously lived with a dog before mine, she has been known to attack dogs when around her kitten, to protect it, but I am not sure that if I just allow my husky to just get warned by her, because I don't want him to attack her back! So I have been keeping him on a waist leash so that I can monitor him and the cats to keep disaster from happening, also he lunges at them, not sure if that is a playful act or not! Any advice will be welcomed greatly!

Alright, I may get virtually beat up for this, BUT, I'm gonna go ahead and say it anyway. Your cat (the mama) will train your dog, you just have to keep her and her kitten safe enough to let that happen, and support the process, while giving the dog another outlet/target. Yes, let mama swipe him, as many times as it takes for him to learn that's she is in charge, and by default, her kitten. If he gets more excited when she swipes, correct the dog. Do not let him try to "play" with the kitten until it is totally and completely settled that mama is in charge, it's not safe for the cats. But, if you only let mama teach him, without giving him an outlet, he will build up frustration and charge and it will either come out in other ways, or, he will overcome mama cat's resistance and will get her or the kitten. It will seem like it comes out of nowhere, but, it is just a lot of repression and resistance eventually reaching a boiling point... If she warns him, and he "attacks her back" it's your job to step in and teach him that you support the cat. At the same time, if she warns him, and he backs off teach him, that's good and gets him lots of great stuff.

So, play wrestle, play tug, teach him to speak (a real bark, not husky talk)... Let him get the bite (prey drive) out in safe ways and he will yield to the cats. Otherwise, any 'impulse control' you see is just creating pressure in the dog. And pressure always blows...

I guess I could give that a try, I have been allowing him to be around them while on the leash, just to get them all associated, the mama cat isn't so hostile unless her kitten gets near him. I really do appreciate it. Hopefully this will work and he does get a lot of tug and wrestling, and has other non-husky dogs to play with! He definitely doesn't seem aggressive towards them! Thank You

My 2 cents.... I agree with Jen. Also with Miya I slowly introduced her to my 14 year old cat, Kitana face planted on Miya many times. Had to pry Kitana off, Kitana was never around a dog before. Since your situation is a little different, not having a puppy, but rather an adult it will be more difficult. Miya has a huge prey drive to all little animals, but Kitana and the main reason is we told Miya over and over again, that Kitana is "mine". It's a command that we do for all things we don't want destroyed, bed, couch, cat. Basically what we have done is take Miya, or in the case of the cat, I hold Kitana with Miya in a sit and stay and tell her "mine", I do this frequently. She does chase Kitana, but really Kitana starts the whole thing, and when Miya does her high pitch bark, I think she's trying to meow, lol, Kitana finds her high window and hides. Hope this helps.

Thanks For The Advice, Yeah It really Helps, I have let him go up to her and she hasn't smacked him down, but I still have him on lead when around the cats because it scares me to just let him go and he get to the cat and then she jumps on him. He may get aggressive back and then hurt the cat! I am just holding out hope that he it will work out fine! Lucian is my baby But Baby cat is my boyfriends baby. So neither one of us want to let it get out of hand! The kitten smacks him everytime he gets close and he kind of backs off! Sometimes it just seems like he is honestly curious and wants to play, when he sees the kitten play! But I know he has high prey drive as well! Thank y'all for the advice it has helped for me to let him go to the cats and just let them teach him it's not okay to invade their space!

I realized that this is an old post, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the matter. I've only read the first page of this topic, so I apologize if I'm repeating anything anyone else has already mentioned. I have had animals around for as long as I can remember, mostly cats, that were outside country/farm cats, and they always got along with my dogs as a kid. As an adult, I've only really had a couple house cats that occasionally went outside, one of which I still own. He's about 7 years old now, a tabby, and the most affectionate, snuggly, I-dont-give-a-flap about anything kind of cat. He even tolerates small children pulling on him and carrying him around, puppy's chewing on his ears etc... When I got my oldest husky, Fenris, they got along splendidly, as did our newest kitten Max, also a tabby. They both just let the dogs play with them and Max even plays back and instigates the chasing, like others have said, maybe it has something to do with them being well socialized outdoor cats. But when I brought my then boyfriends cat in to live with us, he did well with the other cats, but he hated the dogs. Always hid, hiss at them and run away or fight with them. My husband had gotten him from a shelter, though, where he got picked on, so his upbringing wasn't all that great. The cat died about a year ago, before we got the female dog, the vet said that it was due to anxiety and stress, due to the living situations and being in that kind of environment with dogs and how he was brought up in the past, as a kitten. Not really sure, but it all really depends on the cats temperament, before getting the dog.

Long story short, I've owned nothing but Tabby cats my whole life, who were well raised and loved, outdoor/indoor cats, and they have always gotten along great with dogs, which were pups at the time. The husbands cat was also a Tabby, sheltered and abused, so maybe that has something to do with it. It seems like in your situation, your cat is still a kitten, so I would think that if they grew up together, they would get use to each other, especially if your dog is backing away when being batted or hissed at. Good Luck!