I am sure some of you are already cringing at this title!

Everything I have read thus far online is 50/50 on this subject. So here is the story.

We have just adopted a 6 year old female Siberian Husky from the pound, she was terribly neglected, has fly matted ears, and and awful coat. However she is just a gorgeous dog. You can tell she was abused though as she cowers sometimes when you go to pat her
She is gentle, sits on command and only barked for a few minutes the first time we got her home. Great with out 14 month old son, and was great at the beach with every dog, big and small.

At home, we have 3 cats. Thus far one cat has been very brave and is always sitting at the door staring, husky will occasionally bark at her, but doesn't show typical signs of aggression. Said brave cat forgot a dog was outside and ran out, they met up, cat hissed a bit, (well a lot) then husky chased her about 10 metres, more hissing, but husky came back when called and rolled over for belly rubs! Cat was scared but just hissed and stood her ground. Verdict is still out on the other two.

Based on the dogs reaction to the brave cat today, what is your honest opinion on how the husky and cats could co-habitate?

I appreciate any and all information/advice!

Never unsupervised is what I can advise. I have always had the cat before bringing a puppy (not an adult) husky in (while the puppy is gnawing on the cat as I type). Mine play well with them, but again they were raised with cats. Who knows, you new pup might have been raised with cats before going to some awful person.



Congrats on the new pup and kudos for adopting.

Thanks for your reply.

We are really hoping to give this dog the life she deserves and get her healthy and even more gorgeous.

Never alone, yep! We will most definitely have to observe that rule.

Sounds like she likes to chase, I'd nip that in the bud as soon as possible as it can escalate into a kill. Keep her on a leash at all times and give a correction every time she shows interest in the cats. Sibes can be taught to co-habitat with cats, but it may take a while, and they may never be able to be left completely alone together.

I need to ask??? what about my cat chasing the dog to instigate the fight UGH ya thats my house
I dont know who to scold, River does really good untell my cat goes after him

If the cat has obstacles or a place to quickly escape to it would be best. It's the chasing that can escalate into a problem. I had a friend who's BC live with a cat in the house for 6 years. One day the cat ran through an open door to the yard and in a blink of an eye the BC who happened to be outside at the time had fatally wounded it. It was tragic but just a split second natural reaction for the dog.

^ lol to cat chasing the husky!

I agree. No alone time with husky and cats. I own two cats and even though my huskies were raised with them, I don't trust them together without me watching. My huskies just show way too much interest in them.

I would make it a rule in your house that the husky is not allowed to touch the cats. Any time she tries to chase them or pester them, get after her. Hopefully she'll get the point and eventually you'll have a dog who tries to avoid the cats. But a rescued husky and cats can live in the same house. I have a friend who has two huskies and one was a rescue. They have indoor and outdoor cats and their huskies are good with them. But there's always that fear in the back of your mind that your husky just might get a little too excited one day and snatch up a cat.

My huskies are good with only my cat. Any other cat that they see is completely fair game dinner for them. You need to be really careful, and supervise any time the Husky is around the cats.

It took a lot of training and patience with my dogs and cat, but we finally cuddle!

awww.. They are so cute

kittys have a high place for safety and thier own room that river isnt allowed in but ya still not safe with them being alone and never will be if they could just all get along

Delilah loves her kitties and she was not a puppy when we got her. We crated her when werent around, just in case, bt the cats took a liking to her. Now they sleep together and play. In some ways I disagree with chasing being a bad habit simply because my animals al chase each other...the cats love to chase Delilah and beat up on her. That bring said, they always have a place to be safe. We have a pet gate up to separate the basement from the kitchen. It has a little kitty door and they can fit through but Delilah can't. So they can get a wu if that were needed. We leave Delilah out unsupervised when we are not home. She mainly sleeps and she id not a destroyer, the cats usually sleep on her bed with her when we are done,but they have areas to go if they needee to. Most of the time though I were about the cats hurting her (claws )

Sorry about all the typos....on my phone ha

Prior to adoption, MUSHR (Husky Recovery in MN), mentioned that Brewer's behavior around cats was indicative of a cat killer. While visiting one of the leads of MUSHR at the local vet the resident cat showed its face...hackles were up immediately and he was in his hunting stance a second later!

No cats at this house...

Jennet&Embry wrote:

It took a lot of training and patience with my dogs and cat, but we finally cuddle!

What gorgeous pictures! so lovely to see they are living in harmony, even with solid work. I suppose if we didn't like a challenge we wouldn't have huskies right?

MicroBrewer wrote:

Prior to adoption, MUSHR (Husky Recovery in MN), mentioned that Brewer's behavior around cats was indicative of a cat killer. While visiting one of the leads of MUSHR at the local vet the resident cat showed its face...hackles were up immediately and he was in his hunting stance a second later!

No cats at this house...

I haven't seen her get into any hunting poses at all, she just chases them. Today unfortnetly she got into the house and chased a cat, he ran under the bed though and was safe. No howling or growling just chasing. We're going to do a lead test tomorrow with the bravest cat and see how we go.

Thanks for everyones input! It all seems pretty positive, with hard work it can be achieved. She is a lovely girl, and I am hoping she will be ok.

Sound's like you're cat is doing good by showing you're dog who's boss!

I too was very scared brining my Husky into our home having 4 cats, but 2 of them are holding their ground very well and our pup doesn't bother them too much, but the other 2 are very scared of Hayden and will hiss and run from him, which he wants to chase and yeah it becomes a problem that we're working out, slowly. I will NEVER leave them alone!

I think that you're dog will eventually view you're cats as part of "the pack" and will hopefully get along w/them with no issues, but like other people mentioned, I would NEVER leave them alone together! I've read so many stores of cats being killed by Huskies (even some that grew up together) by rough play and by attacks.

I hope all works out for you all!

Hayden_69 wrote:

I hope all works out for you all!

Thank you for your advice. I hope it works out too!

So, at the moment, I haven't done a proper test yet, just the cats on the inside and Angel on the outside.

At the moment Angel is inside, and she knows the cats are in one room. She knows the room, has been sniffing at it. She sratched at it once, and I called her over, she came to me straight away. She hasn't barked at the door where the cats are.

Does this sound like promising news? I'm hoping tomorrow to do a cage test, have her on a lead and put the most dominant cat in her cat cage and see what happens. I think I've found Angels currency, raw chicken breasts, organic of course expensive taste

SaraB wrote:

^ But there's always that fear in the back of your mind that your husky just might get a little too excited one day and snatch up a cat.

Oh there was a big moment today! I was freaked. We had the cats out the front, and the husky wandering in and out of the house, so the side door was open.

In watlzes in one of the cats from the backyard!!!

I freaked right out (silently) asked the cat if he had a death wish and scooped the cat up and threw him in a bedroom. Thankfully Angel was in another room wandering and didn't see the cat.

I think the cat had a memory lapse. OR like I asked him, a death wish.

I don't have any cats wish you luck.

Blaze saw a loose cat at the pet store the other day He did a play bow and ask the cat to play with him.. From what the staff told me the cat did not like dogs..

My husky never even gives my cat a second glance. Seems like he could really care less. However my dad's girlfriend has a chihuahua that he chases at no end whenever they're together.

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I hope this image works!

Here is Angel, and one of our cats Tiger. We have had Angel for 9 days now and have been socialising the cats and her for only 3 days!

They even managed to touch noses without hissing or howling!

There has been a lot of hissing and a few howls and a bit of chasing, but all just curious behaviour it seems. If ever Angel gets too close the cats just hiss!

I've got 3 cats, 2 are great, one is still a little scared. This cat pictured however was the most scared, stayed under the lounge for the whole first day Angel was here, so he's come a long way.

I have two cats in my home (one is pregnant) and Ax is pretty much just curious as to what those weird looking things that hiss are6 :p he tries to investigate but they both don't trust him and hiss. But I haven't had a problem thus far, but my cats stick to one side of the house while Ax stays on the other.

Depends on what the cat is doing. If they are just laying around the dogs don't bother them. But if one goes running across the house Thor is in for the chase.