MadeleineMarie Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Hi! My partner and have debated at length for the last year and a half about getting either a husky or a husky collie mix. We currently own 4 cats and 4 guinea pigs. We live on 6 acres of land (which we can use for doggo) that are horse exercise paddocks along with a back garden of about 700m2. My in Laws own and live on the land in a bungalow next door with a Wheaton and a Miniature Schnauzer, both love other dogs. I run fitness boot camps in the garden and visit clients in a gym for a maximum of 1-2 hours per day, but my partner in normally home when I’m rarely not! We’ve done a TONNE of research, although I know that we will never be 100% prepared. I grew up crate/agility/obedient training dogs and have no problem being an alpha, stern with positive reinforcement and providing 2+ hours of exercise. We want a husky because of the work; we understand the reward! We’re prepared to be in snowstorm when the coat sheds and have already looked in to the money for stupid amounts of toys, raw vs non raw food etc... the elephant in the room is our pets. Ultimately I don’t care how much I want a husky if I think my cats will get killed it’s game over. We have a “cat wall” which would be great for them to climb up and hide in hidey holes and on ledges. We’re talking about putting a cat flap on the lounge door and keeping it as a no husky zone. I understand that no matter how much I trust my dog after a decade we can never leave them unattended together. My question is, I’ve heard horror stories and successes. Even with all my plans, daily classes, training, exercise, toys, crates, cat escape routes and hyper vigilance.. am I living in crazy town thinking this is possible? Thanks in advance (sorry about the length of the post!!) Maddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 The simple answer here is yes, there is a high likelihood they would kill your cats. Whilst I have seen some who have cats as well as huskies, you will find that this is very very much the exception, rather than the rule. Huskies have a very high pray drive in general (one of the reasons you shouldnt really let them off leash). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadeleineMarie Posted April 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 3 minutes ago, Marc said: The simple answer here is yes, there is a high likelihood they would kill your cats. Whilst I have seen some who have cats as well as huskies, you will find that this is very very much the exception, rather than the rule. Huskies have a very high pray drive in general (one of the reasons you shouldnt really let them off leash). Thank you for replying so quickly! As odd as it sounds I thought that might be an answer but it’s easier to accept when you’re the one asking the question... if that makes sense? Everyone else I hear didn’t one thing or another and I’d just rather have an honest “not worth it, too high a risk” than my brain being a slave to wanting a husky so bad and saying “Yh but you’ll do it differently” 🙄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robke Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 i agree with Marc...there are some people that have cats with their huskies but the cats tend to live somewhere else in the house where the husky is not allowed to get to... you do see pictures with huskies and cats but 9 times out of 10 they grew up together kittens and pups but to be honest even then i would not trust it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Personally I wouldn't trust it either, I've heard stories of it being fine and other stories where down the line the dog has decided cat is fair game , and I definitely wouldn't trust them with smaller animals such as your guinea pigs as their noisy and smelly which will drive a sibe mad , i wouldn't trust my 2 around my rats at all they wouldn't last 2 seconds lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 Seeing as how my husky would for many weeks follow the rules perfectly and consistently, and one day she would just decide to test our boundaries... So unless your cat flap is much smaller than what your husky could possibly squeeze through, your pocket pets could survive for a good few months, and one day they could be gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShyLoh Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 I have both a purebred husky and 2 husky collie mixes, we also have 3 cats. My purebred husky is still a younger pup (4 months), while my husky x collies are 1.5 and 3 years old. The husky mixes are perfect with the cats. My pure husky is okay with them, but getting better every day. She knows "be nice" and doesn't try to attack or bite the cats, she mostly just licks and follows them. She has met other cats that she is fine with too. All my dogs sleep in my bedroom with me with door closed, and the cats sleep elsewhere, and my puppy is never left alone unless put in her kennel, but my husky mixes are just fine being left alone with cats. We have had no problems. I am not saying that every dog will get along with every cat. In my personal experience, it has worked out just fine. Once I move out of my parents house however, I will just have my dogs and no cats living with me, so when my pup grows up I cannot say how she will behave. My one husky mix loves her kitty. They are best friends and I have absolutely no worries about her harming the cats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triwolf5 Posted April 18, 2018 Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 We have a 7 year old Husky (Zasha) and a cat (Lucy) and haven't had an issue. We adopted Zasha when she was around 8 or 9 months and were told her previous owners also had a cat. She seems to treat Lucy more as a smallish dog than another species. She largely ignores Lucy but will occasionally attempt to play (Lucy will also try to get Zasha to play). We crate Zasha during the day largely because we don't want her chewing other things. The biggest problem we have is Zasha eating Lucy's food and droppings (from the litter box). Zasha also does well with my mother in laws' cats, but they also ignore her. Given Zasha's attention to squirrels and small animals, I don't know if I'd trust her with a small rodent pet. On a side note, growing up one of our Dachshunds killed my sister's bird on two separate occasions (two different birds). My other Dachshund killed some baby rabbit in our yard. So small pets (like a guinea pig) might be an issue for many dog breeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markulous Posted April 18, 2018 Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 Like all things in life, it depends! In this case, depends on the Husky. I know Huskies that're fine, some that aren't and some where it's gone horribly wrong (just like the whole offlead thing!). We have 5 Huskies, 1 German and 2 cats but they never, ever mix although 1 Husky and German were brought up with them and would probably be fine now (they were fine years ago - but never left alone). We always advise not to do it, yet our last two Husky Xs were absolutely fine with cats (not ours!) and now live with cats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.