Hi everyone! I am new to the site. I have a problem/dilemma sorta thing with my husky. Okay so I just got a kitten and its only 2 months old and my husky is 8 years old. I am afraid of how my husky will react to the kitten. I had a cat before when i first got my husky. So he's lived with a cat before but that was when he was a puppy and the cat was the older. Now my cat didn't like my husky (didn't like any other animal to be honest). So she would hiss and try to whack my husky at every chance she got. Now, she never hurt him because she was declawed and my husky thought that was her form of playing. Eventually my cat got used to him being in "her" house haha. She didn't mind him just as long as he didn't bother her, which for the most part he didn't. Every once in awhile he would try to play with her and she wouldn't like it. So they lived together for a few years but then I had to put my cat down because she had congested heart failure. It was sad. I even think my husky who was now at this point like 2 or 3 missed her too. We decided not to get another animal. So for the past 5 years my husky has been living alone with no other animal. He's friendly with almost every dog on my neighborhood and every one of my neighbors loves him. They purposely walk by my house just so their dog can play with him. Now I get to my potential problem. Like I said in the beginning of this post, I just got a 2 month old kitten. I'm afraid her and my husky won't get along or that ,y husky will be to rough with her. He will try to play with her but again he might be to rough and hurt her. He's 8 now so my question is can they eventually get along or is my husky to old and has lived by himself for to long for them to get along? I really want this to work but I have a bad feeling it won't. My husky is not a normal size husky. He was the runt of the liter. When he sees cats outside he wants to run up to them and I think wants to play with them. He doesn't get that not every animal cat pr dog wants to be his friend. Does anyone think its a idea to introduce my kitten to my husky or am I just over thinking it?

Thank you all for your responses

PS my husky's name is Seamus and he's all white. He's the most sweetest fun loving dog I've ever had!

Hi John and welcome to our little piece of madness - sounds like you have a little piece of that yourself so Welcome!

I can't tell you what *your* dog will do, but I will tell you what I've got and how it works.

I have three dogs and two kittens - the dogs are a male Alaskan Husky and two female Siberians - all my dogs are about 5-6 year old; the cats are two brothers about 4 months old.  I did have a cat who wandered in off the desert one day and stayed; my dogs adopted him and before he died (from a UT blockage and I didn't know what I was seeing) it wasn't too unusual to see him curled up with the female (at the time I only had one sibe / one Alaskan).  Fast forward a year and I've picked up two kittens  who were about 2 months old (and one more sibe).  The Alaskan wants to play, but he's so rambunctious that he scares them; the sibes are both like "oh, cats ... no big deal"  I've seen both kittens wrapping themselves around Sasha's legs without a care in the world.

But I've set my trailer up so that the cats have their own space that the dogs can't get into.  There's a gate between the cats and dogs that looks like this one minus the pet gate. That gives the cats the freedom to come and go - and a safe place for them to stay if they want to.  So far, as I've said, they've wandered out when the two sibes are around, but a little more leery of the Alaskan.

IMO it's easier to let the cats have someplace where they are absolutely safe and easy to get to, just in case.  Then let the cats introduce themselves as they feel comfortable.  Since you've had a cat before with Seamus I think you'll be pleasantly surprised - dogs who like cats, simply like cats.  I don't know of any real reason for him to change his mind about one.  But ... and this is personal preference, leave the claws on the cat.  That gives it 20 very pointed reasons to tell the dog to "Behave, monster!" if he needs to.  All either of the kittens have to do with mine is step back, raise a paw and my dogs both back off - in a hurry!

HI! Aljones is absolutely correct. Kitten should have a safe space where the dog can not get. Because it is still so tiny you will have to constantly monitor when they are together. Eventually kitty will be big enough. Accidents happen with kittens and big dogs. Especially Huskies and kittens. heh. I currently have 2 foster litters. The 16 week old kittens have adjusted to the dogs but the 5 weeks old ones still have no contact unsupervised.
Seamus is a little older and hopefully wiser. I think he could have a lot of fun with the kitty. Some of my foster kitties have loved dogs and some just hated them! If you supervise them well they could be best buddies IMHO. Some cats even like leash walks. Every kitten is different and the safe age for you too leave them alone should be fairly obvious as you go.
Your baby kitty is too fragile to be left alone with Seamus just yet I'm sure..but hopefully they will learn to play while you watch...Keep us informed I'm curious how it all goes!

Step 1
For now, put the cat in a room where neither animal can see each other. Don't allow access. For the first several weeks, take 2 identical fabric items (like a super fuzzy, irresistible blanket or sock),  and let each animal have their own. Make sure it gets the animals scent - if the animal doesn't take to it, simply rub it on them several times a day around the face/neck area.

After a few days, swap them out. Leave it near the food bowls. This subtly introduces the other animal's scent at the most pleasant time of day - meal time!

After several more days, swap again (and again, make sure the item gets the animal's full scent). This will mingle their scents together and get them used to each other.

When you are not seeing a reaction on a swap, it's time to move forward. You will most likely need to do this several weeks - I did it a month and a half with my Border Collie and cat.

DURING THIS TIME: If your dog does not already know "Leave It", teach it.

Step 2
Put up a gate and cover it to the best of your ability - preferably tall enough where husky cannot stick her head over. Allow both animals access to their side of the gate from now on (again, assuming kitten won't try to climb/jump it). Start feeding meals close to BUT NOT RIGHT ON TOP OF the gate. You are now associating a stronger scent with dinner time - and the presence that can't be seen.

Kitten may not eat very close to the gate - you may have to start WAY back. But every day or so, bump the bowl towards the gate a few inches. This could take a while to get up to the gate - be patient! Give the kitten a good minute to decide to eat. If it doesn't, bump the bowl back - he wasn't ready.

Your dog may or may not realize the presence on the other side as much as the cat will. If he fixates on the gate/kitten, back his bowls away as well.

Keep working on this until you can feed both animals at the gate with neither noticing the other.

DURING THIS TIME:
You will introduce Sight Swapping. Put Pup in a bathroom/closet - somewhere he can sit for 2 seconds and not see the kitten being moved. Put the kitten on the pup's side of the gate, then put the pup in the kitten's side of the gate. Give them an hour or so to explore this "new" territory and all the scent the other animal has left there.

Try super hard not to let them see each other. You want their first sight/smell to be "oh, you're the one!".

Step 3
After a few meals at the gate without incident, remove the covering on the gate and start again. Kitten may have to move all the way back to where he started - so may pup. Go at their pace. Inch them forward just as before, getting them eventually to each side of the gate.

Step 4
Meet and greet time! Put pup on leash. Remove the gate and bring kitten in. Monitor the meeting closely - use the Leave It if pup pays TOO MUCH attention to cat. You are looking for 2 things: 1) A brave kitten willing to inspect the area, and 2) an obedient dog who can leave the cat alone on command. Allow kitten to come up to dog first. If he doesn't seem inclined, then on a second or third meeting, take the dog, on leash, up to the kitten to meet.

Afterwards, the gate goes up and everyone goes back to their respective places.

You will be able to tell when the leash and the gate are no longer needed.