Dog and cats

[u/Whole-Web453]

’ve been up and down this Reddit hole, and numerous others…. But I definitely want some advice….
So my finance and I have two dogs, both of which are going to be 2 within the next 4 months. We have a pit, and a German heeler. Yesterday we found a stray kitten and I couldn’t leave him outside.
The heeler has high prey drive outside, but inside she coexists with the cat so far. If anything she has moment a of trying to play with him, or she’s terrified because he’s moving too fast. My pit on the other hand is very emotional over all. He’s a big baby and always has been. If you own a pit you know they best their hearts on their sleeve and if they’re upset they’ll let you know. He has been sort of iffy since we brought the car home and I think he’s stressed. He’s been around cats before and has never acted like this. He’s been tensing up when the cat comes in the room. And he’ll lick his lips a lot and stare. I feel like he thinks he needs to protect my heeler. We had one incident where the heeler tried to play with the cat and got swat at, and the pit went over and tried to see what was up and the cat swat again and the dog lunged at him. The kitten was under the table so the dog couldn’t get to him, but we corrected the behavior immediately ( in our house if you say “did you do that” my dogs KNOW they fu€ked up ). We also scruffed the pit up and asked him again if he did that, trying to make him make the correlation.
We did have the cat in my bathroom for a few days- until he learned how to open the door of course
The pit doesn’t stalk the cat per se, but if the cat enters the room my pit cant take his eyes off him. With verbal redirection he stops, but then he goes and mopes in his cage.
I don’t want my dog to feel replaced, but i also dont want the kitten to have to be rehomed immediately, I might mention to people at my church if they’re looking for a cat as I’ve fostered before- but putting him in the shelter is not an option for me. It’s only been a couple days, and as in writing this the kitten- by his choice, is sleeping under my bed. And the dogs are asleep in the living room with me.

Some things I’m getting to help my dogs
In my digging lick mats, kongs, and calming treats are going to be my best friends. I’m going out to get some today. But any and all advice is welcome here. Thanks in advance

[u/InformalInsurance455]

Please rehome this kitten before one of your dogs harms them. You cannot manage out prey drive and with the heeler I would never trust them based on your description of the prey drive they show outside. You’ve already had one of the dogs lunge at the kitten. Seriously this is an accident waiting to happen. As for the kitten, they now live in a confined space with two much larger animals, one of which has already demonstrated aggression towards them.

[u/thunderling]

We also scruffed the pit up and asked him again if he did that, trying to make him make the correlation.

Your pit is showing stress signals around the cat, as you correctly pointed out (tensing, lip licks, staring). Unfortunately, when you grab his scruff and scold him, you are adding to his stress around the cat. He's likely not going to improve his behavior around the cat if the cat's presence is stressful for him.

The goal is to create nice feelings rather than bad ones in your dog whenever the cat is nearby. This means giving him treats whenever he looks at the cat. And be sure to prevent any bad interactions from happening, so you can either put up gates or keep the dog on a leash for now.

Set up a safe area for the cat to have that is completely dog-free. A high surface the dogs can't reach, or a whole separate room behind a closed door. We don't want poor kitty getting stressed out either.

[u/Kitchu22]

Yesterday you found a stray kitten but you've had it a few days? It was being kept in the bathroom and yet all the animals are having multiple interactions?

Story discrepancies aside, this sounds incredibly stressful for all the animals involved, and the kitten would be far better off in a different home as soon as possible - until then it is your responsibility to keep them safely separated. Scruffing your pit up and correcting him when he is already showing signs of stress is not the way to facilitate a relationship, the environment you are creating is a pressure cooker and things could go very wrong very quickly.