If you are reading this and thinking of adding a cat (or dog) to your household that already has pets, please read this article carefully! The best time to add a new pet to your household is when he/she is at a young age. This gives them more time to adjust to life, if you get an older pet, they are pretty much used to a certain routine and flow. It isn't impossible to change their habits, it would just take time and patience on your part.

The biggest reason pets don't get along is because we (the owners) do not put any effort into building a relationship between them. If we think the relationship is doomed from the very beginning, chances are we will not be spending nearly enough time on it as we should.

The first thing you need to do is get rid of any preconceived notions about how the first meeting should go. If you are stressed out, scared, or nervous, your pets will pick up on this and will associate meeting the other pet as a bad, negative experience (thus beginning the vicious cycle of fighting and unpleasantness in your house).

Second, get them together in a wide open area (such as your backyard or basement) where they both have plenty of room to walk around and inspect the other. By doing this, you are able to let them decide for themselves if they want to approach each other or not. It may be hard to sit on the sidelines, but your involvement should be minimal. If either animal looks scared, give gentle encouragement without over doing it.

*IF AT ANY TIME EITHER ANIMAL SHOWS ANY SIGNS WHATSOEVER OF AGGRESSION, GET THEM SEPARATED IMMEDIATELY!*

Third, if this first meeting goes well, gradually increase the amount of time they are spending around each other until you are completely comfortable with the behavior you observe. Each animal should be comfortable and show no signs of aggression.

Although most first time meetings usually go well, just because there has been some animosity shown towards the other animal does not mean you should give up completely. This depends on how bad the aggression was. Did your dog try to lunge and attack your cat? Did you dog just bark at your cat? Did your cat arch her back and hiss at your dog? Did your cat jump and try to claw your dog? If it seems the aggression was severe (meaning the animal tried to bite or did bite), you should probably seek the help of a professional or get rid of one of the animals.

If the aggression is mild (such as your dog tucking her tail, or your cat shying away), stop the training session and resume it another time. You do not want to stress your animals out by forcing them to get along, you want them to decide they like each other's company on their own.

It takes a good amount of work and patience to get two different species to co-exist peacefully. But when done right, you will have two animals who simply adore each other, and this makes for a very happy and healthy household.

Learn more about this author, Danielle Sheffler.
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