The best way to get my new rescue staffy get along with my cat

Hi I was just wondering if anyone had some tips or info on how to get my staffy to get along with my cat. We got Maggie- May from the RSPCA and they said she had been cat tested which apparently went well but since we brought her home she seems really interested in the cat.
I dont want Maggie- May to get hurt by my cat but I also dont want my cat to get hurt either. Can anyone please help me with this problem as I really want them both to live happily together. Any help, tips and info would be greatly appreciated.
Oh and Maggie- May is about 2-4 yrs old and has some very basic training, she will sit when told (eventually ) and will stay in her bed. We are currently trying to find training classes as I want her to be a well behaved polite dog. Thanks in advance for any response

Hi & welcome to the forum.

I've never had a cat, so I'm probably not much help. But have you thought about using a baby gate so that the cat can get away from the dog when it needs to?

I havent but will definately be looking into it. Thank you
We have kept them apart for the time being and introducing them slowly for a few minutes a couple of times a day. My cat has now stopped hissing at Maggie which I'm taking as a good sign but Maggie is still just as interested in Jake. My partner holds Maggie while I hold Jake (the cat) but I think this is going to be a slow process I just need some patience

I've only had one cat along with a dog. We got them both when they were very young and they just learned to tolerate each other. Our cat was also declawed and much faster than our dog

Hi, newbie here but thought i would respond as we had exactly the same issue. We got our Staff from a Rescue in mid February and were told he was 5 (although he subsequently turned out to be 3 if that ) and that he was good with cats. He was the same as yours - showed a lot of interest in cat and chased her on a couple of occasions. I was very worried that we had made a big mistake as i didnt want my cat to be going through all this stress but we are now at a point where they can be in same room and he ignores her and will walk past her without any interest. She is still a bit nervous and hisses but i dont mind that - puts him off approaching! We kept them separate at all times when we were out and probably always will but spent an hour or so every evening with him on a lead leaving the door open so cat could come and go until he got used to her and started to ignore.
I think also our dog was a bit unsettled on first coming from Rescue home and now that he feels this is his home, gets plenty of exercise and has a routine he is a lot more chilled out all round. Time is the key i think. Good luck!

Thank you so much for your responce Sovereign 1972 I'm pleased I'm not the only one that thought they had made a mistake in getting the dog We had a bit of a break through this morning as in the sense a bit of nose touching, no hissing and no chasing. Admittedly I was holding the cat and my partner was telling the dog to stay but its a start I'm hoping they will get along better soon but will def keep them seperated when we arent home.
We are new to having a staffy so its a big learning curve, that and the fact Maggie is a rescue dog so only has very basic training. How are you finding it now with your dog has he settled in better now? And also have you had staffy's before?

I think the main thing is to assert your domanance. Ty (my 6 month old rescue at the time now nearly 3) has a completley different relationship with the cat than kaos (who we had from a tiny pup) does. Kaos has grown up with the cat and after a few nasty scratches from her as a pup knows her limits. Sugar wouldnt think twice than 2 snuggle up to go 2 sleep with kaos but wouldnever do that with Ty. People may disagree but i think that u need to make it extremley clear to the dog that u will always protect the cat and make it clear to the cat u will do the same. If my cat runs Ty will chase her and has grabbed her when we first got him but she never does this beacuse she is confident now in my ability to control Ty. Ty knows now (this did take a while by the way it didnt happen overnight lol) that he can gentley sniff her and that is it......its a quick "leave it" and he goes away. This is one thing i am extremeley strict on...i simply will not have Ty disobeying me when it comes to the cat. Be strict, be consistant, be firm, and u will get there

Hi EmLou - no problem, i have spent a lot of time reading and getting advice from this forum so if any of my experiences can help or even give you hope that must be good karma totally agree with what Blaze is saying and i forgot to say in my original post that we also gave a very strong verbal "no" and "leave it" anytime we felt Toby was being too interested in cat and he HATES being told off so much that im sure this helped.
No, neither my husband nor i had any experience of staffies,in fact the only dog experience i had was a family lab when i was a child. The Rescue Home recommended him to us and we were swayed by him allegedly being older and good with cats- best laid plans and all that We have been very lucky though that not only has he got the best personality, whoever owned him before he ended up in Home obviously spent a lot of time training him as he knows and responds to a lot of commands, his recall is great, happy to be left alone and travels great in car. He can be a bit quick to aggression with some other male dogs but that is improving as well the longer we have him. I think it is patience and trying not to stress too much although i did spent a LOT of time worrying about it! We have had Toby since mid Feb and only been last two weeks that i feel happy leaving them together in room while i make a cup of tea or whatever and as i said before i dont think i will EVER leave them together while we are out of house.

I agree with Blade on this. However, I can say that it does eventually come right and Staffies and cats can cohabit without any drama. Just takes patience and you do seem to be going about the introductions in the right way.

Thanks so much to everyone for their help I suppose I just thought they would automatically get along, how wrong I was Anyway I'll keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully it will all work out. I'll let you all know as soon as Maggie- May and Jake become friends

I'm glad i read this one i was concerned if we bring a 6 month old pup home how she will get on with our 9 year old cat, as i dont want her to be pushed out , but i think she would swip her a couple of times then hopefully they will just tolerate each other, i have also been told the pup is cat tested too just have to wait and see i suppose

Im glad I read this one too.. been telling my pup no and leave and things are going ok,

dont stress to much about it, they may end up getting on brilliantly or they may end up tolerating each other either way it doesnt matter as long as ur in control of the situation

Hi guys just a quick update on Jake and Maggie Iv decided my partner is now doing the cat/ dog meet and greet or more like hiss and excitment as I think I make the contact more stressed as I worry that one or the other is going to get hurt. My partner is so much more calmer with them which seems to be working as Jake is now brave enough to come down stairs to see what's going on. Maggie still gets excited around him which is when he has had enough and starts to hiss and lash out with the claws but we are slowly progressing. Jake is scratching to come down stairs as well which I'm taking as a good sign Anyway just thought I would update and I think I need to learn to keep calm and let them get on with it because I know Maggie doesn't want to hurt Jake she just wants to play Anyway thanks again for all the advice and I'll be back to let you all know the latest

scarlett and bella (my cat) play alot but i know the both of them like the back of my hand and what there body lanauge means so if scarletts tail starts showing aggresstion i split them up and the same with bella (her tai wags really slow) and she starts hissing i split them up. They have never hurt each other as i knwo when to stop them i would read up on body lanuage and they should get on like a house on fire if you can read and know them well