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Wirehaired Vizsla, Cats and Kittens

3.4K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  einspänner  
#1 ·
Hi There

Apologies in advance if this question had been asked 100 times before. I'm considerating getting a wirehaired vizsla and currently have a 6 year old cat and soon to have a kitten too.

What have people's experiences been with this? My older cat has always been around a goldie so is used to living with a dog (though he is a tad nervous in general). Im generally of the opinion that if a puppy grows up around a cat then at the very least they can learn to tolerate one another.

However given that vizslas are bred to be master hunters am I being completely naive and should I be exceptionally cautious when introducing a vizsla pup to both a older cat and kitten?

Would appreciate anyone's thoughts and experience with this.

Thanks in advance.
 
#2 ·
So much depends on the temperament of all animal parties involved.
My 16 year old cat, whom I just had to put to sleep last week, grew up with Vizslas, and kind of ruled the roost. When he was a kitten though, my Vizsla, Rush, wanted to "bite his little head off". It was comical watching the twop of them for the next few years. Everytime the cat would come into the room, the dog would sniff the air, and go to his kennel in complete disgust. From a dead sleep he would do this.
The cat, DC,next lived with two more Vizsla's for the next 11 years. One, Tika, he kind of put in her place, she was afraid of him. The other, Gunnr, was no way backing down one bit. They eventually achieved some form of detente with each other and coexisted peacefully.
During this time we brought a kitten into the house. The dogs, Tika and Gunnr, just kind of sniffed her, thought she smelled bad, and left her alone.
Finn though was a different story altogether. Within one hour of being in the house, at 8 weeks old, he had pushed all three of our cats into the basement, and they only came up at night, when they knew he was in his crate, for the next 4-5 months. He was a relentless little terror to them. I really wanted one of the them to "teach him a lesson", but they didn't. I don't know why.
We still watch him like a hawk with the remaining two cats, one of which refuses to yield her place in the house. The other, still more or less, lives in the basement by his choice. The door is always open, but he stays down there.
Yes, Vizslas can have a high prey drive, but none of mine ever really after any of the cats. It's not really what they're all about.
You always need to be cautious introducing dogs and cats, puppies and kittens, in any combination. Me personally, I would not want to have a kitten and a puppy at the same time. I'm sure it has worked zillions of time, but knowing Vizlsas, I want the cat to have the upper hand. Cat's are tough little critters, but Vizslas can also be tough, and have amazing physical abilities, that may be a little bit much for some cats.
My first Vizsla, Boone, ran a cat down from about 35 meters away. Poor cat had zero chance. He got his nose under the cat, flipped it up in the air, trapped it between his paws and body as it was hitting the ground, and then he proceeded to slobber the cat up with licks. He didn't hurt it at all. It happened so fast!!
Bottom line, there are hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of vizslas and cat cohabitating the same space successfully.
 
#3 ·
my friend has 3 wirehaired vizslas,a bracco and a bracco x gwh. She works at a vets and is always bringing home foster kittens. The dogs show absolutely no aggresive behaviour towards the kittens, I'm not sure if my two whv's would be quite as tolerant!
 
#4 ·
Hi there! My W. Vizsla, Scout, and I have lived on and off with cats over the years. When she first came home I lived in a house with two cats who had been raised with dogs. All it took was one of the cats hissing at her the first week for her to develop a healthy fear. The cats eventually relaxed around her and the more sociable and relaxed cat would even allow her to lie next to him on the sofa. As far as prey drive directed towards the cats, my dog did like stalking them and would basically walk inches away following them through the house. The cats couldn't be bothered about this and it was very much a game for her; after a short while she'd run back very pleased with how "stealthy" she'd been. She has had some hunting training and she's successfully chased down rabbits in the backyard, but she treats the cats very differently than she does game. They're smart dogs and even if you end up with one that's more hardheaded than mine you'll be able to train out any problematic behavior.

7 years later the cat that hissed at her definitely prefers my dog over me and when he wakes up in the evening, he meows loudly, jogs up to Scout, rubs against her legs, and allows her to lick his head. Sometimes he tries to play with her, but she hasn't quite come to terms with his pointy claws. They have a weird relationship.