When did a cat and dog you owned realise they could get along with each other?

I’ve always known.

It was a piece of cake. I said, “Dog, here is kitten. Kitten here is dog,” and I just turned them loose. Of course, I also knew my dog wouldn’t go after the kitten.

They don’t realize it, they just learn to live with it. But it takes time. If the dog doesn’t treat the cat right, you yell at the dog. If the cat doesn’t treat the dog right, you yell at the cat. Then it becomes a game for them, with no harm intended.

We didn’t do anything.
My cat was very young when we got a dog, that was a puppy herself. They got used to each other after a while.

Cats and dogs don’t really hate each other; they’re just not used to each other’s company. If you make them live together since early age, they get along very well.

The dog(s) will always be jealous of any attention you give cats.

Best to raise them when both are young and playful— or get the cat before the dog. If you don’t, the dog will always see the cat(s) as an intruder or wild animal.

Introduce the cat while still in a carrier, nose to nose, to the dog. Keep them separate for a while, with a gate. And give the cat safe space from the dog, where the dog cannot gain access. I had a very sweet and loving dog once turn on two cats rather unexpectedly—jealousy issues I think.

But dogs and cats certainly DO coexist in the same household all the time. When I was a kid, we always had both.

I adopted two cats that were seven years old and had never lived with dogs. I had a dog at the time. The dog was used to cats. The new cats adjusted.

At Dakota’s original home she used to go down to the pond and kill cats.

Then we got her, and we had to introduce her to my cat, Smokie. Smokie was already 10 years old and she was cranky! Had been since the day we got her. Dakota was the only one who could ever walk up to her, slurp her in the face and get nothing but a passive, lazy hiss out of her, instead of getting the crap scratched out of her.

Then we got Roxanne. Roxanne was Dakota’s cat. You don’t mess with Dakota’s cat! One weekend we house sat a friend’s big huge German Shepherd, Sherman. He was a country dog. Didn’t know about house cats. Long story short, Sherman went after Roxanne, and Dakota backed him down, like Cujo. I’d never seen her bare her teeth before, but she was on him. He stood 2 inches taller than Dakota! He was HUGE! He back pedaled like crazy.
I have a long ass story about that whole weekend.

Then we got Vanta. The first time I introduced tiny Vanta to Dakota, she carefully sniffed her, then gently picked up up in her mouth. My grandson was with me and kind of freaked out. I said, “Wait….”
Dakota then put the kitten down, and gave it a slurp and it was done.

My cats over the years just learned to adjust to the couple dogs we got as puppies. A few of the cats were friendly to the dogs but others kept their distance. I think introducing puppy or kitten to an adult dog or cat is best. Much harder to try and introduce a more threatening adult animal. it can be done but takes a lot more time.

One of my cats learned to just flop down when the dog tried to chase him in the yard. Game over. Go away you oafish beast. LOL The dog in question wouldn’t have hurt the cats but liked to chase, as dogs do. I no longer own dogs and have 2 cats.

When they became romantically involved.

When we had our little Snuffy dog, our new neighbors moved in with their 10 year old cat, Midnight.
Midnight, Snuffy and the daycare had a game they played. On the weekends, when they weren’t around, it was just a family affair. When the front wooden door was open, Midnight would come and stand up with his paws on the glass storm door and meow until he got someone’s attention. One of the kids, or all of them, would yell “SNUFFY! GET THE CAT!!!” Then they’d throw the door open and Snuffs would chase Midnight back to his house and up a tree, and Snuff would stand under the tree telling the cat what she would do to him if she ever caught him.
This went on for a year. Then one day they yelled, “SNUFFY!! GET THE CAT!!” and threw the door open. Midnight took off for his tree with Snuff right on his tail. He got to the the tree…..then just stopped under it. He turned around and looked at Snuff, then he just sat down and started licking his paw.
Snuffs was going nutz!! Yelling and yelling “THIS IS NOT HOW WE PLAY THE GAME YOU STUPID CAT!!”
Then the stupid cat laid down and rolled over on his back looking up at Snuffy like, “Uh huh.”
Snuffy gave a disgusted chuff and turned and walked back to the house.
That was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen! Cheating cat.

Over the years I have had various cat/dog combos and never had a problem. Sometimes they were all great buddies, sometimes they were just rather tolerant, but there was never any friction.

I always had just cats so I can’t comment. But I have a friend whose parakeet and little dog are playmates. Really. The bird swoops down to the floor and follows the dog around, sometimes teasing him enough to make him turn and lightly snap. But the bird’s too fast and flies up, circles, and then lands again, repeating the game. I’ve never seen the two get into any kind of real fight, they just play.