Rescue Border Collie and new rescue cat aren't getting along, worried pet owner asks internet for a pawsitive piece of advice and they deliver: 'They just need time'

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Briana Viser • Writer and Editor
Jul 21, 2026 6:45 AM EDT

Our pets are our worlds, so when they don't get along it might be time to ask others for advice. 

Most pet owners will do anything for their pets. Whether it's spending all their hard earned money on them, or saying no to a Friday night party to sit on the couch cuddled up to your kitty, we really do love them to the moon and back. In the story here from Reddit's r/dogs, the owner has two rescue animals, a border collie that he's had for 6 years and a cat that he's had for two months. The dog is very calm, but has never been interested in other animals. They thought that the cat and dog would coexist well together because they've never had a cat before, but things turn out worse than expected. They actually aren't getting along. They're kept separately because when they see each other the cat hisses and the dog growls and chases her around. The dog has never growled at anything and the owner is desperate for them to get along. The cat now doesn't leave the owner's room because she's too scared of the dog, and he only wants them both to feel comfortable at home. He seeks advice from the internet to understand the situation better, and they assure him that only in time will the two get along. Read the full story below. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10649145600
    via Andrea Izzotti / Canva

    Border Collie with cat. 

  • 02
    i have two rescue animals. a border collie that we've had for six years, and a cat that we've had for about
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  • 03
    two months. our dog is very calm, and has never been interested in other animals, so we got the cat
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  • 04
    thinking they would co-exist well (we would never have gotten a cat if we thought the dog wouldnt like it).
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  • 05
    but they hate each other. we keep them separated, because whenever they see each other, the cat hisses
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  • 06
    and the dog growls and chases her around. the dog has never growled at anything like this. i just want
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  • 07
    them to like each other. the cat never leaves my room because she's too scared of the dog. i want her to
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  • 08
    feel comfortable and explore the house, what should i do? ive tried introducing them with the dog on a
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  • 09
    lead so the cat feels safe, but it never gets anywhere. they just growl and hiss at each other until i separate them.
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  • 10
    Top-Ferret-631 2 months is still pretty early, cats take ages to adjust. i had similar situation with my
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    rescues and it took almost half year before they stopped being dramatic. maybe try
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    feeding them on opposite sides of a closed door so they associate each other with good
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    things? the lead thing is good but if you're doing it in open space cat probably feels cornered.
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    plastic_venus I introduced a new rescue GSD to my existing cat and it took a
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    few months of training but they ended up best friends. The only thing is, my cat was
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  • It actually makes sense that the two wouldn't get along yet. They were sort of thrown into the same space so suddenly. The border collie was there for so many years, if he's an anxious or attached dog then he won't really like some new cat coming into the mix so suddenly. Animals are like people at the end of the day; they have their own ways of coping with things, they get jealous, and they get territorial. The main takeaway is that when you introduce two animals in a gentle and contrived way, things might actually turn out better than if you just toss them into the same home at once. 

  • 16
    raised by my prior GSD so didn't run/hiss when the new one was an ahle, so that might be tricky.
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  • 17
    Cheezburger Image 10649145856
    via Majchy / Canva

    Border Collie. 

  • 18
    Either way, essentially what I did was keep them separated but able to see each other,
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  • 19
    with the dog literally tied to my waist. Every time he looked at the cat then glanced away I used a marker noise (mine is a
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  • 20
    "yes!" but some user a clicker) then treated him. If he started to get so over threshold that he wasn't able to engage with me because he was too
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  • 21
    focused on the cat I'd create more distance and start again. Once he was good at that distance we'd go closer, until
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    he was relatively disinterested in the cat. Rinse and repeat.
    via u/plastic_venus

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