anitram said:
So: is it okay for a cat to be alone all day and would you declaw yours or do you find that to be inhuman?
Liesje said:
My opinions on declawing - I don't do it because I don't see the need to. It's pretty pointless these days, with all the info on training and all the cool toys and scratching posts that are available. That said, two of mine ARE front declawed. They were declawed before I adopted them and were both done at such a young age and at such low body weights that they recovered almost instantly. Neither of them bite or have behavioral problems because of the declaw.
This is pretty much our situation too; both of ours had already been declawed before we adopted them and in truth, that was part of the reason why we chose those particular two--Falstaff is blind, deaf, and has large exposed eyes (he's a pug), so we were anxious about the possibility of him unintentionally provoking their ire and getting clawed in the eyes as a result. In Lucia's case, this turned out not to be a problem--she somehow just sensed from the beginning that he was helpless, and gets out of his way quickly when she sees him shuffling and stumbling her way...or if she doesn't, it's just to be playful, and she does nothing more than gently tease him by batting his legs with her paws. But Sammy has never figured it out, still gets furious with him for "ignoring" her warning yowls and body language and has smacked him right in the eyes numerous times, so I think it may be a good thing that she doesn't have claws. If you're anxious about the outside possibility of winding up with one who's an incorrigible scratcher and don't want to mess with claw caps, then IMHO, this might be a compromise worth considering. Most shelters will probably have at least a few young cats on hand who are already declawed.
I agree most cats seem to be fine with being alone for large parts of the day so long as you give them a little attention and playtime when you do get home, especially if there's two of them to keep each other entertained. They're just much less likely than dogs to feel abandoned and get frantically destructive, at least in my experience.
Liesje said:
My main concern is getting the cats to participate in this process. Getting the dog to sit-stay will be cake pie, but getting the cats to come in the room and spend some time with her....now there's where I need some ideas!!
I think you may find that moment will happen on its own sooner than you'd think, because the fact is they'll be curious too. We had the reverse experience, introducing two cats to an established dog, and Falstaff is probably a VERY different personality from Chop, so I'm not sure how useful anything I could recount would be, BUT...I do agree with both links Sicy posted about the importance of a "breaking-in" period where even the possibility of exposure is limited and only gradually increased. And one thing that will *probably* naturally come about because of that separation is a growing curiosity on the cats' part about what the heck that THING making all that racket and thudding around in the other room is. I guess if it comes down to it, you could probably have Phil carry the cats into the room and set them down one by one while you control the dog (or vice versa), but I kind of doubt that will be necessary, especially if they've had the chance to check her out while she's crated first. (We didn't use a crate, since Falstaff had long since figured out how to open the latch-style one we have from the inside, and we couldn't afford another one; Sammy and Lucia got to eyeball him through a toddler gate instead. This has the advantage that you could physically be there with the dog while that's happening.) It's also very important for the cats to have a "safe area", preferably as far away from the dog as possible, that they can retreat to during that time, even once the dog seems comfortable with them; it may well take the cats longer than the dog to calmly accept the other's presence.
When you do get around to the first few monitored face-to-face encounters, be sure to strike a balance between vigilantly watching the dog's behavior and immediately correcting any lunges etc. on the one hand, and overreacting and frustrating the dog's need to check the cat out and test out a few attempts at (probably vocal) "communication" on the other--I once watched some friends who were introducing a new kitten to their collie panic and start jerking him around and shouting at him when all he was doing was getting down in the play position, which only succeeded in frightening the kitten and overexciting the dog. If you're going to forgo the muzzle (we didn't use one either, but then again, Falstaff's an easygoing dog plus he's blind and deaf), it may make that feat a little trickier, because you won't want to leave the leash as slack as the SFGS writer suggests.
Once they're all accustomed enough to each other to abide being in the same room without the cats bolting or the dog getting excited, it can be nice if there's an opportunity for you to sit quietly with both animals at once. Falstaff adjusted to the cats' presence and lost the impulse to chase them pretty quickly, but they didn't really get comfortable being close to him until they had an opportunity to sidle up to me while I was sitting on the floor petting him, so that there was a 'safe zone' where they could touch noses with him across my lap and see that he wasn't going to lunge just because they were there. I suppose it doesn't really matter if they ever get comfortable enough with the dog to do that, but on the other hand, a cat that freaks and starts yowling and hissing any time the dog wanders into the room may unnerve the dog, and that can be bad news. Sammy was like that for maybe a month after we introduced her and Lucia to Falstaff, and if he'd been able to hear her doing that, it might've been harder for him to stay calm I think.
The one thing I've got going for me is that my kits are indoor only. Dogs are very contextual and often live in peace with indoor cats, but prey drive kicks in when cats are outdoors 
They should be staying with their mother until at LEAST 8 weeks. Is the cat going to be going outside? Hopefully not since bad things happen to cats that go outside, but either way cats are pretty quick to adjust to new surroundings.
