I don't have any cats, so I can't speak from personal experience. I would think they would need to be raised with them. If not, I would say that it also depends on the personality of the yorkie(s) involved as well as the personaliy of the cat(s). I do know we have had people post here in the past and it was a nightmare. Some have had eyes scratched. Some have had to get rid of the cats. As you can tell, I'm not much of a cat person. I like them outside.