Hi everyone!
I am interested in getting a small dog. I already have a Maine Coon and I am confused about different breeds. I'll prefer adopting one. The breeds I am looking for are a Pug, Groodle, or Poodle. What breed do you guys think would be suitable for me?
Thank you
I feel my vote may be considered biased…
Anyway - you won't usually find a rescue pug easily. Applications can run in the hundreds. And it is so dependent on the individual dog.
Of the three pugs I've had in the past I can imagine two would have potentially been scared to death by the cat and the third would have sat on it…
Also they shed like demons. I have in the house and out of the house clothes. I can vacuum twice a day and still not get it all.
Finally, while it is a myth their eyes pop out easily, they can scratch them easily. I would hesitate with a pug/cat combo myself but know of several people who it works for.
Re health issues, choose your breeder carefully and you'll reduce the risk. A decent breeder won't sell cleft palette dogs but soft palette can strike later in life.
Mine have always been from decent breeders. Two died from old age related illnesses any breed could have. I never had any breathing etc health issues. Arthritis as they get older was common. I suspect this has a lot to do with the lack of brain and jumping off of high surfaces when they are younger!
This is coming from a registered dog breeder. You'll best go with a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Cavalier have an extremely friendly, calm temperament, athletics and loves to play. You don't have to worry about your cat being bored and both can play catch. They are great around kids.
I have seen Cavoodles, which is a x-breed between Poodle and Cavaliers. They are great but their DNA isn't fully stabilize but do benefits from non shedding unlike the cavaliers. But you have cats..so shedding isn't the biggest concerns.
Downside of Cavvies would be their hair needs regular brushing as they are soft and do get tangled. That said, Poddle and Cavoodles' hair would tangle but they re curly and short, so less noticeable.
Not trying to pooh pooh this suggestion as the temperament of CKCS is difficult to fault. However, there have been three in our family, all from (different) reputable registered breeders. All with high level heart murmurs.
One died at just six. Another one is heading that way at 8. The youngest is on lifetime heart medications at 5 or 6. It feels more than coincidence.
Nah, you're absolutely right. Heart murmurs runs in the CKCS breed, unfortunately, not all but good majority of it. Pick it up early, it's manageable. The heart murmurs problem is also appears to be Hereditary. All ethical breeders is required to do heart murmur and eye test before breeding them.
Sorry to hear about those that died :(
Cavalier have an extremely friendly, calm temperament, athletics and loves to play. You don't have to worry about your cat being bored and both can play catch.
Cavvies are great dogs, but you forgot the bit where most eventually develop symptomatic valvular disease and wind up on a cocktail of heart meds.
Cavvies can have those diseases unfortunately but not all. The local variant of Cavvies are a lot more prevalent to this type of diseases and heart murmurs. You can tell the local variant but simple looking at the body to height ratio, and the nose being longer.
I have a ragdoll cat with a Labrador retriever. They are alright.
If you want a small, low energy dog, get a cavalier. Very friendly. They love everyone and everything.
But whatever you get, get a puppy. Your cat will get used to it as it grows.
Same goes the other way. If you have a dog and want a cat, get a kitten. Our adopted adult cats stayed far away from our dogs. But then we got a kitten who grew up with them, and she used to sit and sleep with the dogs on their beds.
We got a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel 5 months ago after our Rottie died of cancer.
He is the most friendly, sweet and heart warming companion we have ever had.
Perfect size and just the right amount of energy. I honestly cannot say one bad thing about him.
He loves the passenger seat of the MX5 and going for walks through the state forests.
Loves to chase birds too, so I keep him on the lead now unless I am very confident in the area.
A rescue dog from a cat household. (as long as its cat friendly)
I have a standard poodle who's on the smaller side (about 20kg). He came first and we got our cat as a kitten when the dog was 18 months, but they got along really well.
What did the cat say?
Wow! The most important comment, I must say. Like, I have asked hundreds of people and not my cat. Let me show her some pictures and see her response.
In all honesty this is where it can get tricky. Many years ago one of our cats died, and we thought the other one would be lonely, so we got a couple of kittens. She had been pretty OK with the other cat so we thought it would be cool. She went batshit crazy. Every time she saw them she tried to kill them. We ended up setting up a DMZ zone in our house to keep both parties separate but the first one went to extraordinary lengths to try to get to them. We tried everything we could, including getting in a cat whisperer, but we couldn’t change her attitude.This went on for more than a year and we, eventually, had to rehouse the original cat with some friends. The kittens turned out to have health problems, and there were two of them, so they would be more difficult to rehouse.
Maine Coons are big cats and could, probably, make a mess of a puppy if they went nutso. Just be careful to detect what you cat is telling you, non verbally. I, suspect, a puppy will be easier than another cat because the cat will assume the top of the pecking order but make sure everyone is safe and, eventually, happy.
Rottweiler
greyhound
We have a cavoodle and he adores our cat (a 12 year old ragdoll). He follows him around everywhere, brings him toys for him to hopefully play with but it is too much for the cat sometimes.
Never had any major issues with them, the cat will swipe him if he has had enough!
We had a beagle and a cat and they were best mates