[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by hha

I'm not a cat person, but, all I can say, is that if your cats are in the house, and they're not declawed, you need to get them declawed..they can scratch out dogs eyes..if they are declawed, then sooner or later, they will most likely begin to accept eachother

I don't think telling someone to declaw their adult cats is very good advice. I mean technically the cats could be scratching each others eyes out right? Just because you get a puppy doesn't mean you need to go out and declaw your cat. Anyway, the cat may need them to defend itself from the puppy... I have one declawed and one undeclawed cat so I'm not one of the people that think declawing is cruel, but I think you should avoid declawing if possible. I had my first one declawed because I just thought it was the thing to do and my parents wanted it done (I was 14 when I got her). With my newest one, I just keep her claws trimmed every week - almost to the quick so they are very short. I do suggest keeping the claws clipped so they aren't so sharp - that way the hopefully won't hurt your dog, but I think it's just wrong to declaw a cat just because you brought a dog into your house. That's crazy... And declawing a cat will NOT make them get along better. In fact, my declawed cat HATES Lacy and pretty much everyone else. Lacy chases her and the cat runs and hisses. My younger, undeclawed cat and Lacy get along GREAT! Lacy tries to chase her occasionally but if the cat doesn't feel like putting up with it she just stops and so does Lacy...no fun in chasing if the cat doesn't run. But they'll lay by each other and play some..it's cute.

My advice is to try to train your dog to leave the cats alone and not chase them. But it is very hard to stop them from chasing them...I can't stop Lacy when she gets it in her head to chase the cats. Plus, if the cats were there first they probably won't like the dog and may not ever like the dog. Cats don't really like changes and don't normally like any new animal being added to the household. Some do adjust and are find with new animals eventually and some are never okay with it.