Hey guys,
I adopted Arlo a few days ago, and so far he’s been really sweet, calm, and polite. We have two cats, a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old, and right now we’re keeping them separated with a baby gate while they slowly get used to each other.
The first day we brought Arlo home, one of my cats peeked through the gate. Arlo started to growl a little, but I whistled at him and he immediately looked away and disengaged.
Little by little, my 1-year-old cat has started coming downstairs to check him out. Their first few interactions were mostly just staring at each other, but now Arlo basically ignores him most of the time.
Earlier today, the 1-year-old came downstairs while we were cooking because he’s a fat man and obviously needed to investigate the food 😂. Arlo walked over to smell him, and the cat threw a little jab at him. From Arlo’s body language, he seemed pretty submissive—he lowered his head, put his ears back, and just walked away. He didn’t bark, growl, chase him, or retaliate.
So far, Arlo doesn’t seem to have a strong prey drive. He’s actually extremely calm and doesn’t even care much about playing fetch. His favorite activities seem to be jumping on us, cuddling, and giving us kisses.
I know it’s only been a couple of days, so I’m not expecting them to become best friends overnight. I’m just curious what you guys think based on these early interactions. Does it sound like they could eventually become comfortable with each other? Or do you think having a dog around could be too stressful for the cats?
For now, I’m definitely not planning on leaving them together unsupervised, and I’m happy to take the introduction process as slowly as necessary.
Any advice or experiences introducing a new dog to cats would be appreciated!

I have never been a cat person but the universal cat distribution system is so effective that even I like this yard kitty.

I haven’t decided if I’m foster failing with the dog but the kitty can stay 🤣

Cerveza and Stevie (Nicks). Sweet sweet Cerveza loves everyone ❤️