Rosa resting on top of Baby Cat and him just enjoying the heat.
Hi, I’m Nicole! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my distinguished Burmese, Mr. Baby Cat.
This is part one of a three part series on how Baby Cat surprised us all and became not only tolerant of dogs, but came to love his canine family members.
Nothing gets me like an interspecies friendship, and I am so grateful each day to be witness to interspecies friendships under my own roof. When we welcomed Baby Cat into our home, he was a solo child and he loved it. We always thought about what would happen when we had a human baby, and we never imagined that he’d be so loving and welcoming. We most certainly didn’t expect him to love a dog.
My husband and I both loved dogs but we had so many travel plans that getting one was never really on the cards, until Covid halted our travels and we bought Baby Cat his retirement home and planted some roots.
I don’t remember the exact conversation when it came to us adopting our first dog Rosa, other than me seeing her on the local rescue group’s Facebook page and saying to my husband, “There’s our girl!”, and a week later we had her with us. Baby Cat wasn’t over the moon at first, but it didn’t take long for this big brother to welcome his little sister home.
Rosa getting closer to Baby Cat
The Introduction
We hadn’t run it past Baby before we made the decision, because we knew he would say no anyways. He was incredibly salty with us, giving us the ‘How dare you bring a DOG into this feline-only home?’ stares. Even now, even though we know he loves the dogs, when they do something dog-like and disgusting, like eat his poo or roll in a dead animal in the forest, he looks at us like ‘I told you dogs are gross.’
Rosa was the perfect dog, though, to soften his grouchy cat heart. She was unfortunately quite traumatized from her past, and had spent a lot of the first year of her life without proper socialization, so, when she met her big brother, she was very happy to adopt the feline way of life. She wasn’t boisterous, she was calm and cautious. She was more than happy to have him as the alpha.
Our babies ‘snuggling’.
We have worked with a lot of rescue dogs in the past and we applied a lot of what we learned then with how we handled the introduction, and while every situation is different, I’d love to share these tips because they have worked so well for us many times:
1. We always fed Baby Cat first.
The first pet to arrive in the home is the first to be fed; this way, they don’t need to fight to figure out their places in the hierarchy, they just know, and they’re settled about it.
2. We gave Baby Cat access to the couch and bed without Rosa being allowed on either.
With him having a few more allowances, he felt special and like she was not going to encroach on his lifestyle.
3. We provided Baby Cat with tons of treats for good behavior.
Rewarding the behaviors we wanted to see, if he was calm when she came around, treat!
It only took about a week for him to be relaxed, and within two weeks, their friendship started to bloom.
All the Cuddles
Rosa wasn’t the cuddliest of dogs when she first arrived, but there was something about Baby Cat that made her want to get snuggly. She was a mom of at least two puppies, so maybe she saw him as another little pup to love, but he was still the boss.
At the beginning, she would sleep near him, but not touching, testing the waters to see if he would permit it (he always did, he never swatted her a single time, if he was ever upset, he’d just groan and walk away).
Then, she’d try to sleep right up next to him, often climbing onto the beanbag by the fire with him. And then, fitting into his tiny bed. He never minded, and started to seek her out; if she was on the beanbag first, he’d climb up and snuggle in.
Baby Cat sleeping uncomfortably to allow Rosa to be comfortable.
From Toleration to Love
Rosa didn’t like outings very much but on the odd occasion she would leave the house with one of us and Baby Cat would stay behind, and be visibly uneasy until she returned. This behavior has changed since we have two dogs now (he does enjoy a bit of peace and quiet when they go to daycare once a week), but it was made very clear early on that he loved having Rosa around.
Some sweet things Baby’s done for his little sis:
When we feed him food he doesn’t enjoy, he will distract us and tell Rosa in a secret pet ESP language to go into the kitchen (where she isn’t allowed) and eat it, so that we think he has eaten it and feed him the food he DOES like. We caught on pretty quickly but we still let it pass because it is so clever.
He let her take his bed, multiple times, multiple beds. So much so that we felt bad and ended up buying her her own cat bed, she is definitely too big to fit in it but somehow she makes it work, and he never tries to steal her bed from her. Never complains, is happy when she’s happy.
He lets her groom him. She has a bit of anxiety and licks constantly, and sometimes he’s in the firing line. He just lets it happen.
He taught her how to play the ‘inside-outside/grass is greener’ game, where he sits at the door until you open it, he walks outside, relaxes, until you close the door, and then he wants back inside.
He taught her how to groan when she’s annoyed with us. Super cute to have two animals think they’re better than our requests.
He has cuddled into her a few times, too.
While they don’t need to be cuddling to have a good day, it still warms my heart to know that he genuinely loves having her around. I know Burmese cats are known to get along with dogs but I never expected him to enjoy it and actually have a relationship with one.
Next week I will be sharing the story about when our big boy Mac arrived and how their relationship has become even more incredible to watch. Thanks for reading and coming along for the ride!
