How to Introduce a Cat to Mature Dogs in a House

Quarantine the new cat in a quiet room of your house with his food and water bowls and litter box. Allow the cat freedom to explore the room. Leave the cat in the room by himself until he is fully acclimated to his new surroundings.

Confine your dogs either outside or in another room of the house where they cannot see the other parts of the home. Bring the new cat into the house and allow it to explore the new surroundings. Provide ample positive reinforcement by praising your cat in a singing voice. Keep noises and distractions to a minimum to ensure the cat remains calm in its new environment.

Replace the cat into the quiet room after an hour and shut the door. Reintroduce the dogs back into the remainder of the home and allow them to sniff and become familiar with the cat's scent.

Wait until the following day to repeat steps 2 and 3. Once the dogs demonstrate decreased interest in the presence of the cat's scent, move on to the next step.

Install a baby gate into the door of the cat's room. Begin allowing your dogs to peek and sniff into the room of the cat through the baby gate. Encourage appropriate calm behavior of your dogs by providing calming commands such as "sit" or "down" along with ample praise and treats. If the dogs become overly excited at the open door, shut the door and try only allowing one dog to sniff the room at a time. The goal with this step is for the dogs' interest in the cat to diminish completely.

Plan the first face-to-face introduction with the help of another person. Begin by putting a collar and leash on one dog and then confine any remaining dogs in another room or outside. Bring your dog into a large room of your house and instruct him to either sit or lie down and stay. Ask your helper to carry the cat into the same room and sit down on the opposite side of the room while keeping the cat on his lap. Offer praise and treats to the dog if he remains in the "stay" position. If he breaks that position, tell him a firm "no," reposition him and command him to "stay" again. Slowly move the cat closer to the dog, as long as the cat is tolerating the proximity and the dog remains in his commanded position. If the cat begins to act scared, increase the distance between him and the dog and proceed more slowly. The goal of this step is to get the cat and dog in close proximity of each other while calm. As they begin to feel safe in the situation, they will begin to lose interest of one another. Repeat this step with each individual dog in the household.

Contain your dogs on a leash for the next few days while giving the cat full access to the house. Immediately stop negative behaviors such as chasing, growling, lunging or barking. Reinforce desirable behaviors with praise and treats.