Introduction of adult Husky to Cat in unknown house

[Rosath]

Hello everyone!

I'm emergency dog sitting for 3 days and need your advice.

My mom rescued a 4 year old female husky, Princess. She is now 6 years old. Bear in mind that she, myself or my family has no experience what so ever with dogs. I also don't live with my mother, so I don't know her *that* well. We don't know her background. She's made 2 other homes that we know of.

Here's some information about her:
- She likes hugs. She'll roll on her back when she sees you arrive and even if she doesn't know you she will lay her weight on you, like a hug. She bows down her head at 180 degrees sometimes just to lay it on your leg lol. One of the sweetest dogs I ever saw in my life.
- She snapped at my hand once when I tried to take her blanket while she was in her bed. No contact was actually made because I quickly moved it away. Nothing else.
- The only time she barks is when my 7-year-old brother's friends and are too excited outside (never inside). She will then bark at her friends and stop them from picking objects from the ground. She doesn't bite, but it's scary. Territorial showdown?
- 0 signs of aggressivity towards humans otherwise. A robber wouldn't have any issues.
- She entered a fight with dogs twice. They growled and softy bit each other (no blood).
- At first, she was more aggressive towards dogs (unsocialized). Now she's doing much better. 
- She doesn't like to play. She will rarely run after a ball, let alone bring it back.
- She'd really love a bite of my chickens, and potentially of the feral cats.

I have a cat at home. She is very sweet. She saw the dog, SSSSSSSSSSSHT at her a few times and puffed her fur, but then she was rolling on the floor to greet her. She's very excited at her sight. She has no claws so she can't defend herself. She's a house cat. She has no aggressivity whatsoever inside her, except for flies. She never bit or hissed at anyone.

Now, here's my question: Can I let the dog inside?

I don't want any accidents. But I also don't want her to spend 3 days outside, poor thing.

Here's the behavior of Princess while she was eating food, which I put right next to the patio door (50 cm) and the cat was freaking out at her:

- Tail lowered, but not between her legs
- Eyes not staring at the cat, usually not looking at her
- No sounds (but then again she rarely makes any)
- Body tends to go away from her, or maybe face her?
- Ears up
- Generally speaking, she doesn't seem to give her much attention

If she goes away from the door and the cat jumps on all the windows to follow her, she will make sure she's as far away as possible from the window, while not flanking the bars completely. When she's done eating she doesn't stay there, she goes elsewhere.

PS: I will move her food if you guys think it's stressing her out.

If there's only a slight chance that she will snap my cat in half, she'll have to stay outside. But I'm willing to try and get her inside if you think it's going to be okay!

Thank you.

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

I would keep them separate maybe have cat upstairs and dog down for the 3 days you have her

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[Rosath]

It's an open house with no doors unfortunately

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

Nothing you can use to block an area off ?

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[wolfpup]

Not even the bedroom or bathroom?    I have a cat, and a husky  who came to me at 12 weeks old. I have a large child gate at the top of the stairs  -  the cat cannot get through to go downstairs (during the day) and the dog cannot go upstairs.

I would not trust a husky I did not know with a cat it does not know.   My cat actually likes dogs and when I am in the room the husky is fine - even affectionate  -  but my other dog is not keen on cats - tolerates the cat providing he doesn't get too close. However huskies generally like small furry things  -  and not always in a good way.

It sounds as if the dog is showing signs of avoidance  -  which is a pretty good sign that you should not let them get too close.    Personally I would confine the cat for the three days  -  huskies are consummate escape artists.

Good Luck

[Rosath]

Thanks for your answers. My cat is freaking out enclosed and I need to work at home so that's no longer a solution, I'm going crazy! I got Princess inside with the cat yesterday for 5 minutes - On leash and with the patio door open to make sure she could exit. She avoided the cat as much as she could. She felt cornered once and had to turn her face towards the cat to move. Her nose was down as not really happy to be facing her, looked submissive and anxious. Other than that, tail flipping around and smelling.  The cat attacked her sides a bit but she didn't really react to it. So that was cool, but I definitely don't want a sudden snap happening and my cat getting hurt. It definitely looked like avoidance. I guess this means it's a bad thing wolfpup? I'll leave her outside for the time being. The weather is very nice and she has a lot of shade available. I wish I had more experience with dogs. I could try the crate (I have one as I'm going to have a pup in 4 months) but she's not used to them, so I don't know how she'll react.

[Luna-tic]

If the dog and cat are in the same space together, make a fuss of the dog in a calm way and give her treats. Our husky was avoided by the cats when she first came, the big cat whose now known 3 dogs just treated her as though having a husky around was normal, smaller cat acted like he was mortally afraid which he did with our last dog but over time as the dog was less and less reactive because we monitored her and rewarded her not harassing the cats, the Bengal is now fine with her except when he has his chicken drumstick, I’ve caught the dog mugging him for it twice lol. The cat just abandons it and leaves. Otherwise we regularly have all three in the room together although they don't ever cohabit the same space.

I think being calm, rewarding the dog and maybe keeping a leash on her should be fine. As you may have the dog again in the future to help out, it’s a good idea to familiarise it with the cat and vice versa


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