Husky with cats

[Kim Longo]

Hello All,  I am a new owner of a 3 year old female husky.  I had her transported from California to Arizona, I have no information how she ended up with animal control.  I have been working in the veterinary field for 20 years, and hold a license so I am able to answer any medical questions that anyone might have.  I am aware of the "normal" or "typical" husky personality and general behaviors for the breed.  She is a wonderful dog, but she has an obsession with my cats.  She is not aggressive at all, but is extremely interested.  I understand that huskies have a natural predatory instinct, but was wondering if anyone had any advice on interaction between the 2 species.  I am absolutely positive that she would go after my cats and hurt/kill one if not constantly supervised.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to train/introduce them?  Would appreciate any guidance as I am not a behavior specialist.  Thanks!!

[wolfpup]

The prey drive of huskies is far higher than in other breeds of dog   - and should never be trusted alone with cats.    Having said that,  I have one husky and one cat   - and hope to be getting another rescue husky shortly (this one will be around 5 years old).      My existing dog was introduced to our cat when he was only around 13 weeks old   -  and I believe the younger they are the easier it is.    Also each husky is different   - those who have the chase/catch/play  (my husky) and those with the true  chase/catch/kill   drive.

We have child gates on all the rooms upstairs  -  and have purchased more  dog gates in preparation for a new rescue.   All the gates have one bar cut out so the cat can move through at speed if necessary - but the dog cannot.   I believe the two most important gates I have are at the top of the stairs  and a large 4ft one in the hallway downstairs.   My cat tends to spend the majority of the day upstairs  -  the dog downstairs,  the cat also has a totally separate and very secure outside sunbathing space accessed via our lounge door.    The dog(s) get the rest of the garden.   The cat comes downstairs in the evening when I am sitting at watching the tv and goes to sleep on the settee with me.   When I go to bed the cat comes too.   The dog(s) sleep downstairs and only have access to the hallway and kitchen at night   (banned from the lounge after eating an arm off the old settee and an armchair).

I am also lucky in that my cat is not a runner  - so does not trigger prey drive instinct  - if he feels uncomfortable he goes into slow-motion mode  and can take half a minute to go about a yard   and has a special yowl he only uses when he feels threatened  -  so I go running and the dogs made themselves scarce (we lost Lunar 6 weeks ago).

My only real advice is never leave the dog unsupervised with the cats  -  we are both retired so are at home  - if you have to work then shut the cats in one room and the dog in another.   It is possible to have both  a husky and cats  -  you just have to arrange your accommodation a little differently.

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

Personally I wouldn't risk it and keep them separated,  someone on my Facebook group recently lost their cat to their Huskies prey drive , the cat didn't run or anything the husky grabbed and shook and that was it , its just not worth the risk , they had been good together for years 

[kellydh]

My daughter brings her cat home for college breaks and we also had her for 6 months while daughter studied abroad.  Kitty did fine, as long as she always had high and/or husky inaccessible places to go.  We also used the baby gate method upstairs, and had it raised enough so kitty could go under, but husky could not.  My boy Floki prefers the chase to the catch, so fortunately, once the cat was inaccessible, he typically lost interest and moved on to his next adventure.  That said, they were never left alone together in the same space.  Sometimes it's a pain to constantly monitor, but we also have an indoor pet pig, so we are already used to doing that on a daily basis, lol.  

[AlaskaCat]

I have three cats and four dogs one being a husky and another being a Lurcher, both big on the ol prey drive, my cats have lots of shelves they can escape to and we have our dining room set up as a dog free zone with baby gates that the cats can retreat to, I haven't had any problems yet as no matter where they are in the house if the Lurcher or Puppy start to chase they can easily leap onto something.

I recommend a dog free room for your cats with their fave stuff in, also some extra shelving with some carpet secured to it doesn't have to be fancy just have grip and be out of reach.

[Blueeyedgirl]

I got my husky from the shelter at 4 months old and was incredibly worried about how she would react to my cat, but to my surprise she could care less about the cat. The way I introduced the two of them is I had the cat in his carrier and the dog in her crate and sat them next to each other. The cat had never met a dog before because I had him since he was a kitten so he did a lot of hissing and growling but the husky completely ignored his existence. Another thing we did was we have a dog play pen and we put the dog in the playpen with the cat outside to let them adjust to each other’s movements and after a while we switched them with the cat inside the playpen. That way they could get each other’s scents. The car now is only scared and hisses if the husky moves too quickly near him but other than that they are good and my husky pretends he’s not even there. I suggest going very very slow if you think your husky might hurt the cat. Put them on other sides of a door that way they can’t hurt each other but can smell each other. And slowly work up from that. I wouldn’t move right to seeing each other because that might be to much for the dog. Start with smells and slowly work up to looking at each other from a safe distance. 

[karenjb]

Hello All,  I am a new owner of a 3 year old female husky.  I had her transported from California to Arizona, I have no information how she ended up with animal control.  I have been working in the veterinary field for 20 years, and hold a license so I am able to answer any medical questions that anyone might have.  I am aware of the "normal" or "typical" husky personality and general behaviors for the breed.  She is a wonderful dog, but she has an obsession with my cats.  She is not aggressive at all, but is extremely interested.  I understand that huskies have a natural predatory instinct, but was wondering if anyone had any advice on interaction between the 2 species.  I am absolutely positive that she would go after my cats and hurt/kill one if not constantly supervised.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to train/introduce them?  Would appreciate any guidance as I am not a behavior specialist.  Thanks!!

I have 3 cats and one 9 month old husky. I had the cats before the dog so when he came (Buddy)he was eight weeks old and he was raised around the cats. The two oldest cats he doesn’t mess with them. One day he got too close and he got scratched ever since then he stays away. The smallest cat plays with him and they chase each other around playfully. All four of my pets get along they can walk right by the dog and he doesn’t do anything at all. I was worried about getting a dog when I had the cats but I think because he was so young when we introduced him to the cats he was more adaptable. So far I can have all of them together and no problems at all. I can even feed them near each other. But of course if the cat don’t finish the food he would. We do have another puppy Nextdoor (my daughters dog) that was the same age different breed though and they play together a lot rougher so maybe that helps with him not wanting to play rough with the cats. Seems to know the difference. So far so good.


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I sent pictures but this damn website always messes up with pictures. MOs of them I can’t see. Anyone else have the same problems?? Frustrating makes me want to use another Husky forum. Grr


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[robke]

See your pics very well so what is the problem...and I am also using an iPad and never have a problem...

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

10 hours ago, karenjb said:

 

I have 3 cats and one 9 month old husky. I had the cats before the dog so when he came (Buddy)he was eight weeks old and he was raised around the cats. The two oldest cats he doesn’t mess with them. One day he got too close and he got scratched ever since then he stays away. The smallest cat plays with him and they chase each other around playfully. All four of my pets get along they can walk right by the dog and he doesn’t do anything at all. I was worried about getting a dog when I had the cats but I think because he was so young when we introduced him to the cats he was more adaptable. So far I can have all of them together and no problems at all. I can even feed them near each other. But of course if the cat don’t finish the food he would. We do have another puppy Nextdoor (my daughters dog) that was the same age different breed though and they play together a lot rougher so maybe that helps with him not wanting to play rough with the cats. Seems to know the difference. So far so good.


Sent from my iPad using Husky Owners mobile app

 

I sent pictures but this damn website always messes up with pictures. MOs of them I can’t see. Anyone else have the same problems?? Frustrating makes me want to use another Husky forum. Grr


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I can see your pictures fine 🤷‍♀️

[tchatley]

I have 3 cats ranging in ages 2-5 yrs old. My Husky who was shy of 3 yrs old at the time (now 4) came along after the cats and although 2 cats maintain a wide birth they all get along just dandy. I've also been told my husky is not a typical husky when it comes to her behavior. That said I may have simply gotten lucky. ☺️

[Luna-tic]

I’m going to be bold and suggest it’s more to do with the husky personality. I had 2 cats when I took in Luna, one cat, the Bengal ran for his life every time he spotted her, the other, a Maine Coon was a bit apprehensive but she chose not to run. Luna chased them a couple of times but seems to have learned that the cats live here and are off limits. She pretty much ignores them (but will steal their food if she can) and if they meet is more inclined to exchange sniffs with them.

The Bengal is now totally cool around Luna and will even climb over to get through the dog flap. They swap beds a lot too, if either cat is in the dog bed, the dog finds an alternative she never tries to displace them. Luna was around 6 when we got her.

I’m as confident as I can be that Luna will not attack either of them so I have no problems leaving them all in together. Luna never goes upstairs, presumably earlier training, so the cats can escape up there but there are shelves and higher places if they need to escape. Curiously if she sees a cat while we’re out she’s very interested, were she not on a lead I expect she would run at them. When she was very sick recently we took her on a short walk near the vets, on the pavement was a cat who was not going to give way, Luna stuck her nose forward to sniff it and it smacked her and drew blood, she didn’t retaliate at all, just looked at the cat as if to say why did you do that?


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