When Keisha Met Bijou and Other Love Stories #FoodShelterLove

This post is sponsored by Hill’s. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Hill’s® Food, Shelter, & Love Program, but Stunning Keisha only shares information I feel is relevant to my readers. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. is not responsible for the content of this article.

Unlike some cats I know, I don’t get scared by dogs when I go to the vet. Even though I don’t have a dog, I’ve lived “with” dogs all my life. They’re my next door neighbors in the condo complex we live in. There’s one on either side of me so I hear them barking and I don’t bat a stunning eye.

HOWEVER when I actually met some of my neighbor dogs, it was a different story. TW doesn’t know any of the people in the complex but she knows all the woofies. Sometimes she’ll open the door and see one in the hall and have to make a big fuss over it. That’s how my encounters of the canine kind happened. Chopper, a French bulldog tried to come in and met a very fluffy, puffy-tailed CK. Sophia, the usual docile and meek pit bull turned angry and tried to rush into the condo. I had other ideas and went to my office. Another French bulldog, Bijou, met a hissing, growling CK at the door. All that being said, I wouldn’t let another cat in here either. But Hill’s® Pet says it doesn’t have to be that way.

Photos and collage © Dana Moody

It’s different for two of my friends who proved that dogs and cats can live together in harmony. After all, we do share some traits like both needing proper veterinary care and exercise. We both benefit from proper nutrition and a full water bowl. Some don’t even need long innerductions before becoming BFFs.

My pawsome friend, Dana, adopted Daffy after our good Twitter friend Ingrid passed away. They knew their cat, TSK,  was ok with Daffy but they didn’t know how Daffy would be around a cat. This is how Dana described their meeting: "That first day we brought Daffy home, TSK greeted us at the door and they had nose taps! We knew they would be pals at that point though it took a little time for them to start playing with each other. Now they play all the time. It's really cute. Daffy still hasn't figured out how to play with the dogs at the dog park, but she can play with a kitty!”

To make the transition smoother make sure they’re getting good nutrition. If your cat or new dog is stressed during innerductions, they may have digestive problems. Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult Sensitive Stomach & Skin formula helps reduce stress. You can purchase it here.

The following are some tips to help transition a new cat into your home.

• Provide a safe room for the cat with such accommodations as litter box, food and water bowls, toys and a scratching post.
• Let both smell each other’s scents either by alternating rooms or by letting the dog smell something the cat has laid on and letting the cat smell one of the dog’s toys. That way they’ll think they’ve already met and “know” each other.
• When you finally bring the dog in to meet the cat—or vice versa—make sure the dog is on a leash and supervised.
• Don’t force them to be friends. Give it time.

Fusa and Max's staff decided to bring a dog into their home last year. I guess something snapped in her head when she decided to make a difference in a shelter dog’s life. She broke most the rules of how to innerduce the new dog, Lily, but the results were positive. She brought Lily into the house and the cats went running! They hid for two days, then slowly came out a little at a time. She didn’t force them to inneract but eventually they did. She found it fairly easy because Lily is not aggressive toward cats and she's not much bigger than them, so I guess they weren't too bothered by her. Max loves her now. He follows her around and sleeps with her. Fusa is indifferent; he couldn't really care. Both cats will come and inspect her and lick her when she's sleeping!

The Hill’s Food, Shelter & Love® program is based on encouraging individuals to volunteer and foster at their local shelters; make donations to these shelters and I don’t just mean monetary donations; educating pet parents how nutritious food can help shelter pets; and helping get shelter pets adopted. Towards those aims, they’ve provided over $240 million worth of food to nearly 1000 shelters and have helped over 6 million pets find their forever castles.

Innerducing your new dog or cat to their fursibs may take some work but your new pet will thank you for giving it a forever home and that should make everything worthwhile.

Is your household  bi- or multi-petual? If not, would you like it to be?

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