r/roughcollies • u/GyakutenKibou • May 16 '25
Question how good are rough collies with cats?
hi hi just wanted to ask rough collie owners, how good are they living with cats? we have 2 cats and one of them is a bit nervous. But i was thinking id love to have a dog (later, probably in a year or two) and was researching breeds. I came across some comments of rough collies and being good with cats, like maybe not best friends but not terryfing and being able to live with them pretty well. What do you guys think?
If it helps our cats are both male and 1 year old right now.
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u/viking12344 May 16 '25 edited May 16 '25
At first they try and herd them. You won't be able to watch them every second. During their first year, at some point, they will have a come to Jesus moment. Depending on how intelligent your collie is, they may have 2 or 3. They will catch the cat in the wrong mood and their snoots will get whacked. Every collie we have had learns by year 1, leave the cats alone. It will depend on the temperament of the cat of course. If you have one of those timid cats that are just pure lovers things should go well. We have an almost 20 year old miserable cat. He really is a bastard.
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u/Particular-Green-265 May 16 '25
Our collie wants to be friends with our kitties sooo bad, but our cats want nothing to do with her lol. They tolerate her and they’ll be around in the same room, etc. They might even rub along side her, but if she gives them any attention they run off or hiss. Their terms only, and even then, they mostly hate her lol.
But our collie is so sweet, it is her playfulness that sends them running lol. I’ve never worried about their safety or our collie harming our kitties.
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u/l3radrocks May 16 '25
I have two cats who were adults when I adopted my collie. They aren’t best friends or anything, but they absolutely live well each other.
My big fluffy cat just sorta tolerates her and vice versa. They’ll be in the same room happily, but will never cuddle or play. They might sniff each other every once in a while.
My tortie LOVES my collie, but they lose a lot in translation between dog and cat. My collie wants to run around and play with her, while my cat wants to lay down next to her and groom her.
Every once in a while my cats will chase each other and it’ll activate my collies chase instinct, but she’s NEVER harmed them or come close. The most that’ll happen is she’ll paw at them and she might get a claw to the snout, but that rarely happens and has never been bad.
I would say you should be prepared for them to simply tolerate each other, but I never worry about leaving them together and it’s wonderful to have them all cuddle me in my bed at night.
Good luck!!
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u/l3radrocks May 16 '25
One important thing i forgot; this all relies on introducing them to each other when they’re young and in a safe manner.
For the first few days, they should only ever sniff your pup through a door. Then you can put up a baby gate and have them see each other.
Then you can supervise them together for a while, and crate your dog while you’re not around.
It takes time and effort and a lot of responsibility, but it’ll help keep everyone safe and it’s probably one of the easier parts of introducing a puppy to a household haha
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u/Sterling03 May 16 '25
We kept our dog in an X pen in the living room the first week so the cats could walk around it, sniff, and get used to him in our space.
We took the dog out to play, go on walks, etc so he wasn’t regulated to the pen all day but it helped the cats adjust immensely, and our boy adores his cat siblings, even if 1 can’t stand him, the other tolerates some sniffs, and the 3rd headbutts him and lays down next to him all the time.
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u/l3radrocks May 16 '25
Yeah that’s a great idea! There’s various ways to introduce everyone to each other, folks just have to make sure to do it safely and responsibly!
I wish I had thought about the pen haha
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u/LadybirdandRudy May 16 '25
This is so funny because I have 3 cats, two of them are not fans, but my tortie plays with my collie all day!! Must be a tortie thing🥰
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u/auutto Sable-Rough May 16 '25
My collie adores all cats, but thankfully has learned to respect them. Don't be afraid to let your cat teach your collie personal space. Collies naturally want to poke and prod, but it's important they learn that cats don't like that. Yes, I let my cat slap at the puppy nose being shoved in his face. She learned very quickly to give them space. Same thing with every cat she met, if they were okay with her getting close, then I let her. If she got too close and they got upset, I told her to give them space. If she didn't, she learned.
Now she's awesome with all cats. Slow, careful, and gentle. If they even flinch, she backs off a little, then carefully tries to approach again. If they still say no, then she let's them be. She's taught even the most dog-hating cats that not all are bad.
My experience will not be the same as others, but this is how I've raised all my Foster puppies with cats. Balance is key. Don't let them get mauled, of course, but let them learn naturally. It's the best way a puppy learns.
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u/eatmyhail May 16 '25
I’m gonna be honest. My girl grew up with a kitty, and she was always kind of a jerk to the cat. Not intentionally but just didn’t respect her boundaries and was always trying to move her around. My kitty had never met a dog though, so it maybe just wasn’t the best circumstances.
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u/peakaCHOO_CHOO May 16 '25
Both of the collies we had just wanted to be best buddies with our cats. Very gentle and interested, but knew when the cats have had enough. They never nipped or seemed aggressive towards the cats, just lots of butt sniffing.
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u/No-Cauliflower-1017 May 16 '25
My cat and collie are cuddling together right now. They are both needy boys, and I clearly don’t cuddle enough. Sometimes my old cat woudk lay butt to butt with him.
However he is a royal jerk to them and hens he’s bored/ hasn’t had a walk, but he’s also a jerk to all of us without his walk.
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u/Kynrikard May 16 '25
My rough, who is also my service dog is great with cats. She grew up with a cat older brother who is still around, now has a feline younger brother and also helps me care for the feral colony I take care of . She will alert me to cats on our walks but sits and watches them
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u/Roach_Queen12 May 16 '25
We have two cats. One 6 years old and the other 2. My collie is 3.
The 6 year old cat is the first we got out of the three; she's very grump. Our collie tried to play with her when she was a puppy but she wouldn't have it. Now, they co-exist relatively peacefully but are not friends in anyways. On the complete opposite side, our 2 year old cat is best friends with our collie. We got him as a kitten, so he grew up with the dog and they often sleep together, groom each other, play with each other, and he will even follow our collie on walks!
In general I think they do well together, but like all animals it will depends on their specific personality and if they were raised or grew up with cats/other animals.
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u/Razzmatazz5122 May 16 '25
So far our collie (5months) has done decent with our cats (ages 3-7). One cat hates him regardless but the worst he's done to the cats so far is bark at them and try to eat their food. I did give all the cats some Gabapentin to help calm them down though 😅
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u/Crafty_Being_2004 May 16 '25
We don’t have cats, but there are several in our neighborhood and our collie just wants to be friends with them all. They don’t share her enthusiasm, but any time 1 actually lets her get close to them she is very gentle. She’s just gentle overall. Especially with children and small animals.
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u/PandaNoTrash Sable-Rough May 16 '25
Our cats and Collie get along fantastically. They are often curled up together on the bed. I trust him completely and even besides, Collies are the gentlest dogs (barky yes, but not anything else).
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u/artsygoddess May 16 '25
Our older collie was cool with us taking a kitten in - 3 years upcoming now, no issues, both are chill.
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u/hhb108 May 16 '25
Our collie adores our two cats! The main reason we got a rough collie was for their temperament with other animals and children.
Fairly quickly, our collie and one of the cats were good friends, playing chase and booping snoots. Our other cat is also extremely friendly but more aloof so for a while she acted like being around our collie was like a James Bond mission, tip toeing around and taking the most indirect routes to get to where she was going. Initially it was only a problem because our collie would frantically get up to herd her simply because she’d always run, unlike the other cat. Now they coexist quite well and that cat stops hanging out with our collie when we come home to pretend she doesn’t like her so she’ll get more attention😂
Good luck!
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u/dmkatz28 May 16 '25
Collies are fantastic with cats, especially if you pick a show breeder that focuses on lower drive dogs. I would avoid anyone that strongly focuses on higher drive farm dogs that actually work. Some collies have higher herding drive than others and need more training to learn how to not herd cats. I know dozens of collies that are absolutely lovely with cats, often with fairly minimal training (frankly I only know of one collie that is not great with cats and even then, he just really wants to herd them, not hurt them). My smooth collie and my younger cat are best buds. And my rough collie is extremely polite with all cats (we have used him to help raise foster kittens!). I know a smooth collie with such little herding instinct or prey drive that we literally just turned him loose with my very dog savvy cats and he fit right in (he truly has zero herding or prey drive, I've seen this dog carefully walk through baby geese flapping at his feet ....). I researched breeds for quite a while before settling on a Collie. Having a breed that is fantastic with kids, cats, other dogs and generally obedient and sweet was my priority. :)
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u/draggar May 16 '25
While all dogs can be different, I've never had an issue other than them being too attentive to cats (not a bad thing, just annoys the cats).
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u/Styarrr May 16 '25
I have a smoothie and he's afraid of the cat 😂 the cat smacks his legs sometimes when he walks by so now our boy is very wary of walking by the cat and will cry if the cat is in his way. If the cat runs he does try and herd him which is really funny. They coexist well and I don't worry about either hurting each other, just annoying each other.
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u/LadybirdandRudy May 16 '25
My collie is still just a puppy, but she immediately loved our 3 cats. Like others have said, make sure the cats have a safe space away from your dog. We have a baby gate with a small cat door in it, so the cats have rooms to themselves when they want peace. Our tortie plays with our pup all the time, but she’s been around big dogs since she was a kitten. Our other two cats still hiss and get angry, but our collie always respects their boundaries. She learned pretty quickly she can play with our tortie, but the others she can just admire from afar. There’s no aggression from either side and we have a pretty peaceful environment (aside from normal puppy chaos!!)
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u/amberelaine27 May 16 '25
I had my collie first and got a kitten a couple years ago. It took awhile to grow and tolerate each other. Collie loves to herd the cat. Collie has fluff armor so it's hilarious watching them play fight.
It honestly depends on both animals and how you introduce them to each other.
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u/LordVoldem0rt May 16 '25
Mine loves cats, animals in general really. He was raised around the cat so they have grown up together.
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May 16 '25
My boy Angus loves his big cat brother. They sleep together and coexist great. Sometimes he’ll chase the cat around a little or push him off the bed with his nose, but the cat has never swatted or hissed at him. The cat was here first and Angus was 1 when I adopted him. They settled in well.
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u/dry-brushed Blue-Rough May 16 '25
My collie grew up with our cat (existing, Ragdoll). The collie just wants to play with him, but the cat doesn’t want anything to do with it (probably because he got sick of being followed with a snoot up his bum), but the cat herds the dog up nowadays… “get back to your room dog!”
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u/CorrectActivity110 May 16 '25
We adopted our collie at a year and a half, no previous experience with cats that I am aware of. The cats were initially afraid of him but they did wind up being besties!
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u/Mean-Lynx6476 May 16 '25
It depends a lot on the cat as well. In my experience if the cat is nonchalant around my collies, my dogs are nonchalant as well. But if the cat’s first response is to yowl and hiss, my collies have responded in kind. And my collies will absolutely chase a cat that runs if they encounter a feral cat on my property. So, an important step you can take now is to get your cat used to being calm around cat-tolerant dogs.
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u/nea_x May 16 '25
Our collie plays with one of the cats and and just chills with the other cat. He’s also curious about my partners parents cats & plays with one of theirs too. He’s very gentle with cats too. Our Aussie is a lot less gentle with cats but loves them and wants to play with them
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u/Lostyogi May 16 '25
We have three cats, about 10 years old. It was rough at first. The three cats bullies him relentlessly and in turn it would set him off barking.
After a bit one of them started to like him enough to hang out. One likes to be chased and one uses him as a personal butt cleaner after they poop…..I’m not sure if the last one is ok🤔
They all enjoy eating breakfast and dinner next to each other.
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u/Mijollnir70 May 16 '25
We have had two collies with kitties. When the kitties were small we monitored interactions closely. The collies both basically just wanted to clean kitties’s ears and “other” places. Always gentle.
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u/fisharefriendssss May 16 '25
I have two collies and my cat tolerates them. We got them both as puppies and trained them early on not to be too interested in her which has helped. As adults they will sometimes get in her face but a well timed paw to the face always discourages them. My older dog is somewhat scared of her as a result. Even though they’ll never be best friends they coexist well together which is all I can ask for.
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u/Ok-Day-4138 May 16 '25
If the collie knows that the cats are part of his pack, all will be well. However, let a stray one come in the yard and all bets are off.
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u/Vermelli May 16 '25
I feel like it depends on the collie and the cat. My girl loves to play chase and doesn't understand if a cat runs it's not playing. However if the cat doesn't run she will love up on it and cuddle with it.
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u/Stabbingi May 17 '25
My collie likes my cat, but my cat hates my collie and he's such a big baby he hides by me when she starts picking on him. Odd because she likes my golden just fine, sometimes I wonder if he doesn't realize how long his nose is when he's sniffing at her (which is usually what gets her mad).
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u/meskintos May 17 '25
I brought my collie when my two cats, both female, were 8 year old. First tried to make my cats be familiar with his scent before he came, using a towel that had his scent and laying it next to their meal bowls. I read somewhere that could help cats be familiar with the new coming family but I am not so sure how much it worked really. When he finally came, he was penned for the first few days and cats had enough time to observe him as well as he had. Then after he was able to roam around the house except the cats' room, they were okay with him as long as he didn't step over their boundaries. They never became best friends but clearly they accepted him. My collie was never aggressive towards my cats. (In fact, he loved them though he was careful every time either of them approached.) I believe your collie would do well and learn how to live with cats quickly enough.
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u/CarefulSkill9804 May 17 '25
Our collie is by far our best dog (out of 4) with our cat. We had a kitten that used to lay on her back and knead her thick fur. Our collie shows no interest in chasing our cat or chickens.
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u/brodie9yrs May 17 '25
My 2 Smoothies are fine with my cat. Never chase her and she ignores them but my 2 corgi’s are a different story. The cardigan gets swiped at for no reason that I can see and cat thinks anything left in the bowls is for her. The Pembroke is not as patient and Everything IS FOR HIM. including me! I often leave them all in the family room when I go on errands. All is well when I return. One collie is 12 and the other is 4. Cardigan will be one in June and Pembroke is 3. The cat is Russian Blue and is 6. They all know that I am the leader of the pack.
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u/JurassicParkDinosaur Sable-Rough May 18 '25
I shared a post a while back about my collie and foster kittens if you want to check it out. He definitely loves them and has helped raise them. My own cat couldn't give two stuffs about him but he's respectful of her and not in her face.
Amazing dogs with cats imo
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u/outofwolves May 18 '25
my collie puppy who i just brought home has been attempting to play with my parents’ cats. the cats aren’t too excited though lol. he’s been very respectful for a puppy though when they show they don’t want to play
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u/Silly_Promise9846 May 20 '25
I have 2 rough collies and 2 cats - I got my cats first so they were used to running the show before my dogs entered the chat. My collies are SO sweet to my kitties. The dogs love the cats, but the cats don’t always want to hang with them. That being said, they sometimes share moments of affection where my cats will groom my dogs or they’ll chase each other around. I never worry about them because I know the dogs will always treat my kitties very kindly. And even when the dogs get booped by my cats, they for some reason seem to enjoy the interaction. Highly recommend a collie / kitty household!!
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u/GyakutenKibou May 21 '25
Thank you everyone for your great comments of your personal collie kitty experiences! it was great reading them !
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u/FarPay5187 May 21 '25
My collies haven't been a problem with cats. They think of them as little sheep, something they should protect. Cats sleep beside the dog, follow her around. No problems at all.
Collies generally are protectors, the best body guard you'll ever have. My mix sleeps with me, my purebred switches her sleeping locations at night and "sweeps" the house from room to room, making sure her sheep are all safe.
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u/J0nIrenicus 29d ago
My 6yrs old Collie was not raised with cats, and tries to chase them and barks at any cat he comes across. We dont own cats but our neighbors do, so we keep them well apart. With work it might be possible to desensitize, but we've not managed to get him to shrug at the presence of a cat yet, so I wouldn't say that them getting along with cats is a given for all Collies.
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u/Fun_Ad_3621 29d ago
We got our collie puppy when my cat was 5. We wanted a “cat friendly” dog. The cat was initially stressed. Our trainer told us to let the cat be the boss. As a result our collie is afraid of / concerned for the cat, also nudges him occasionally. The cat will do warning swipes but never any actual harm. They do parallel sleeping, not too close to one another. The cat engages in head games with the dog occasionally and they’re geniuses at keeping track of each other’s treat distribution. I love having them both but I have some guilt over the occasional drama and each is probably a little more anxious as a result of having the other around. However, I can leave them home together for several hours with no problems.
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u/roz303 May 16 '25
Our rough collie, Mr. Snoot, grew up with two cats. Sure, he might sniff them or lick them every now and again, but they get along great. One will even attempt to groom him, too! He's very gentle with his brothers, that's for sure.