I have not followed this complete thread but I may still be able to help. I have 2 greyhounds and 1 Rottweiler. The dogs have been here for more than 3 years so this house is their turf. The house is an old Victorian, built in 1876, which we are restoring. Due to the restoration work we had a mouse problem. Since the baseboards in many roms are removed the mice come out of the walls. Also we had set up mousetraps they were driving us nuts. They learned to eatthe bait without setting off the trap. My husband decided last August that he has had enough and we adopted 3 Baby cats. They were dumped so actually it was another rescue. They were only 3 weeks old. I tried the thing with the muzzle. Everything was fine as long as I had the greyhounds muzzled. The rottweiler was fine with the kittens from the get go, the greyhounds were not. I have to admit I tried it without muzzle first, holding the kittens. They were so small I could easily hold a kitten in my one hand. Well, as I said the greyhounds thought they were treats. The muzzle thing did not go over well. It was like we were teasing the poor pubs by letting them see the kittens, yet they coulkd not "play" with them. So we kept the dogs and cats seperated. That went well for 2 weeks. Then my husband left a door open and we lost one of the kittens (they were about 6 weeks by this time). Ashley the female greyhound took the kitten as lure and broke its neck. The other two hid fast enough. I was heartbroken, but I could not punish Ashley for a natural instinct. I secretly started looking for homes for the cats. But by now my husband was really attached, and very remorsefuol for having left the door open that I did not have the heart to give the cats away. Now the cats and the dogs sleep together. I don't know how it happened but as the cats got bigger and more active, they decided to explore the whole house, and eventually confronted the dogs. I know that the dogs did initially get hit on the nose by the cats (no blood flowed!!!!), but no major problems at all. As I said now they cuddle up together, share their food, the dogs eat the cat food, the cats eat the dogfood, the cats bring their catch, the dead mice to the dogs, it is amazing. I am not sure if the Rottweiler taught the greyhounds that it is okay not to kill the cats-?! It really is funny, the do chases throughout the house. The cats tease the dogs and then start running the dogs chase the cats, but instead of biting when they catch them they lick each other. It still scares me, but so far we have not had anymore incidents. One was one too many, I still mourn the passing of the little tiger cat. I do have to say so that the kittens turned out to be Tomcats. I am not sure what gender the little tiger kitten was. (too early to tell). I did notce that Ashley checked the rear of the kittens. Could the gender have made the difference I don't know. Renegade, the male greyhound, has always followed the 2 female dogs' lead, so in his case I doubt very much that the gender would have made a difference to him. I also have to say that strange cats wondering into the yard, or the squirrels that live around here are still not save. They remain being hunted. I hope my experiences gave you a little ionsight. Elisabeth
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