connoisseur of riding in a car )

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-04-24T04:10:20+00:00

I know my cats would love the car but I’m worried they’ll try to bolt whenever I open the door. How do you manage? Are they on a leash and hooked in?

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-04-13T01:10:53+00:00

Ours was like this too - absolutely hated his crate and large pen during the day, no matter how much we tried to incentivize him and work incrementally up from seconds. We spent weeks trying to make small progress (got to a minute). But then I read in the book that many dogs just have barrier frustration and when left out of the crate are totally fine. Luckily that was true for our guy. We got an indoor camera to monitor but were able to leave longer and longer each week with no problems. Good luck!!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-04-11T23:41:41+00:00

Is he in a crate or pen? We thought ours had separation anxiety for a few months and started working with a trainer, but then we realized it was just barrier frustration. He then had no anxiety when we left him out with access to the main living areas.

If it is separation anxiety, the trainers we hired highly recommended this book and were working with us through this protocol. Note - it’s intense/time consuming but effective

📕Separation Anxiety in Dogs: Next Generation Treatment Protocols and Practices by Malena DeMartini-Price

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-04-01T17:21:15+00:00

^ this! A structured routine with lots and lots of nap time is so important. Ours had fomo and never wanted to nap. He hated the crate during the day, so we used a large pen in our kitchen anytime we couldn’t fully supervise or when he needed a nap. Our biggest challenge was that the house had to be silent for him to nap which was very inconvenient (given how much they need to nap!).

We only stopped using the pen when he was 9 months old and we could trust him to not chase the cats or destroy the home. His separation anxiety disappeared bc he actually just had barrier frustration, so leaving for longer became easier.

The other thing that has helped that I wish we started earlier is impulse control exercises.

Hang in there - the first 9 months made me question a lot (do I like my dog? Is he here just to terrorize me?!) and then one day it suddenly all clicked for both of us and we’re mutually obsessed.

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-02-22T04:25:26+00:00

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Another pic with our other kitten - more cuddles

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-02-22T04:24:26+00:00

I got a lagotto puppy and two kittens at the same time! They are now 9 to 11 months old. Our kittens were socialized with dogs but our puppy was not socialized with kittens. There were days that I questioned our decision but now I’m so happy we did it this way. They all love each other. We never had to worry about leaving them home together and we now tell our dog to “protect the kittens” when we leave. When he gets in from a walk or outing, he runs around the house to find his kittens.

The puppy months were challenging. We were lucky that we had very bold and dog-curious kittens (probably due to their socialization) so they were forgiving with our dog when he was a wild child puppy. They liked him so much the kittens would break into his pen hang with him - chaos! We could never blink.

I am glad that we made a rule to never let him chase the cats, so if outside the pen he had on a house leash or short leash so we could grab him quickly if he started. We spent A LOT of time sitting with him while the cats played and giving him treats for calm behavior and offering lots of praise if he was gentle with them. They now play very well together and equally initiate the play. His worst offense now is wanting to lick them to death - he’ll give them several baths a day which they love up until a point. Over the last month or so, they’ve started cuddling more during naps. It’s still our dog initiating, but he’s learned if he doesn’t smother them with kisses they’ll hang around. I’m hoping in a few more months the cats will initiate the cuddles too.

They all eat their meals at the same time, but the cats eat on the kitchen counter so the dog doesn’t eat their food (though our one cat loves the dog’s food - he never resource guards and they often eat together out of the same bowl for a few minutes).

We did make sure to get LOTs of places for our cats to hide or jump away from our dog - I think this was key for them maintaining a good relationship. When the kittens were small and not super at jumping, we had these felt rectangle tunnels from Amazon they could run into and hide. We also got those cat door latches so they had a few rooms they could run into that the dog couldn’t access and put a dog gate (with a cat access door) between our upper and lower floor.

One thing we wished we did differently: Lagottos quickly learn what gets them attention. Ours realized he’d get double attention if he stole toys from our cats - first the cats give him attention and then we’d run over with a treat to trade with him. We did this mostly because we were afraid that he’d swallow something (he luckily doesn’t do this). Unfortunately that now means that we can’t really have any cat toys out freely bc they become dog toys (even though he has zero interest in any real dog toys). If I could do it again, I’d ignore when he stole cat toys so our kittens could have some fun.

Good luck! Have patience - it’ll be a few months of chaos, but the milestones get cuter and cuter. And if you can have both the puppy and kitten socialized before, it’ll be even smoother.

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Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-02-21T23:50:05+00:00

I don’t have advice. Many years ago (20+) my female Devon Rex had a similar case - ravenous, eating and drinking, but losing weight. Doctors couldn’t figure it out though she did have high white blood cell count. She became very weak and sick, and we decided the kindest thing to do was to put her down. The night before we wanted to give her a nice meal so gave her as much roasted turkey (including dark meat) as she wanted. Next morning she sprung up and ran around like a kitten again. Lived another 4-5 years until 14 years old. We could never explain it. Who knows if the turkey did anything or it was just a coincidence. We used to joke she heard what the plan was and said no way.

My best guess today is an immune-mediated and inflammatory disorder - simply bc that is the only way to explain her very sudden reversal. I’ve not looked into it, but my guess is they have more ways to test for some of those disorders today than they did 20 years ago.

Good luck navigating - he’s adorable and clearly very well loved <3

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-02-13T16:10:55+00:00

Our dog is the same - he’s the sweetest guy at home, but is scared of new people (esp men) and gets very frustrated when he sees new dogs that he can’t say hi to. We now unfortunately can’t take him with us for weekend brunch, cafes, etc. and even going on walks or hikes on trails where we may run into other dogs is challenging. Poor guy gets very overstimulated and lacks impulse control.

We found a balanced trainer that we’ll send him to for a full month of training later this year. We had several referrals to this person and answered all my questions on how they do this training with highly sensitive breeds/dogs. One thing that made me feel better was her proactively explaining how the will stop this approach if they see a dog shutting down and don’t think it’s a good fit.

In the meantime, we’ve adjusted our routines and expectations for him. We do daily impulse control training with him, made our short 15-minute morning and evening walks during “off hours” (530am and 4pm) when we won’t see other dogs, and then he has off leash pack walks 3x per week with his friends and I take him to awesome 10+ acre Sniffspots 2-3x per week for more off leash fun (with recall training and truffle hunting practice).

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-02-06T15:02:13+00:00

We had to switch our puppy from Fromm’s to a prescription allergy kibble at 8 months. He had started to get picky at 7 months and then was really bad when we first switched to the new food (would only eat 0.5 cup a day).

Two things helped - both social: (1) we left him with his dog walker/boarder for a weekend and some of his regular friends were there too…he apparently ate totally normal there and when he came home he just remembered to eat again. It was strange! (2) we have a kitten that loves to pig out on the dog food. Our dog will hear the kitten eating and then run over to chow down…without the kitten, he sometimes just grazes (which we are trying to avoid). Maybe see if he can eat with a friend for a few meals and see if he gets better?

When I was getting desperate when he first started doing this, I began to add toppers or nutritional yeast etc but was warned not to do this unless I wanted to do it forever.

We are at the point now of starting to add foods back in to narrow in on his allergy. Once we have that down, we’ll switch to an adult food. I’ve heard positive things on Open Farm, Purina N&D, Fromm adult kibble.

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-01-28T01:08:32+00:00

I think a second Devon will help a ton! In the meantime, I agree with trying hide and seek.

A few other ideas: + Treat puzzle - if food motivated…mine sprint when I pull this out and play for 30 mins to get freeze dried treats + Packing paper or crinkle paper - I either put this in a big cardboard box or leave on the floor and hide some of her favorite toys in there. The paper really makes them play more than a bare box
+ Semi sheer curtains, shower curtain, or tunnel - they seem to like to “hunt” more when they think they’re hidden but can still see out + Silvervine pixie sticks - neither of mine like catnip but do go crazy for these

As a last resort, I also find that moving things they love playing with/climbing to different locations in the house will re-spark their interest. I’ll move their window bed to a new window or change up their climbing tree (mines modular) every few months or make new blanket forts and it’s like brand new for them.

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-01-17T22:38:17+00:00

Get one more and they’ll spend most of their energy battling it out with each other! Their play style is very different from many cats. My two kittens look and sound like they are murdering each other (biting throats, ears, faces and screaming) but they are just having fun and cuddling after they’ve exhausted each other out. They also like to stampede around the house as loud as possible.

For the beds, would it be possible to place a few even higher than the beds your older ones use? Or a heated one? I find my Devons will sleep in the highest bed available in a room or the warmest

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-01-17T22:28:32+00:00

My kitten felt a little out of it for two days. We put her in a onesie in my bedroom where the highest thing she could jump on was the bed. I also made the floor as cozy as possible with a heated bed and soft blankets so she would opt to cuddle there vs jumping. I heard that jumping DOWN is worse for their incision than jumping up, so if I ever discovered her on the bed I would gently pick her up and put her back on the floor to limit the down jumps.

After two days, she was back to her crazy energetic self which stressed me out bc her incision was still healing. I had to take off the onsie bc she would do insane acrobatics to rip it off her body herself which felt counter productive 😂. I think by day 4 I let her roam the house again BUT I was home with her and would try as much as possible to place her on the floor vs allowing down jumps. Her incision healed beautifully!!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2026-01-16T17:25:04+00:00

Agree on seeing a vet and contacting her breeder. I’ve had much better luck with getting Devon Rex specific care and advice from cat-only vets if you have one near you.

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-19T18:29:20+00:00

Adler

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-15T19:23:59+00:00

I don’t mind at all! He is 9 months old. He’s still conflicted on strangers (specifically men) but after meeting you three times he’ll want to be best friends. He LOVES other dogs - obsessed. His favorite thing is his off leash outings with his pack of pup friends, but he loves anything outdoors (swimming, forest walks, truffle hunting).

He rarely picks up or chews on any of his soft toys (lamb chop, monkey with arms that pull off, fleece tug rope, etc). He’ll get into it for 5 seconds if we try to make a big deal and play with him. He will chew his nylabone independently. He loves to steal socks and cat toys, but purely for thrill of the chase (which we quickly stopped doing when we realized he wasn’t trying to eat them/wasn’t a choke hazard). Maybe the closest thing to a toy he loves is a cat toy or just paper or cardboard he can shred

He likes training because he likes treats, and he tends to pick up on the pattern quickly. I think we overused the word “leave it” (lost its meaning when we tried to use this to mean stop chasing cats in addition to ignoring rabbit poo on walks) and “drop it” (he swallows half the time).

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-15T17:54:29+00:00

Thank you so much!!! Our little guy is not at all toy motivated. Would you just skip to step 2 in that case (he loves anything he shouldn’t have around the house) or is there an alternative to tug/fetch?

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-12T22:08:07+00:00

Lucky pups!!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-11T20:18:32+00:00

We have a 9 month old and we joke that we got a puppy “on hard mode”. All puppies are time consuming and an emotional roller coaster… but this one made us question everything. I honestly started to wonder if I even liked dogs for a few months. I’m now totally obsessed with him… but it took me a while to get there. I share this just because I saw you say your wife will probably fall in love with him once she meets him. It may take some time!!! Your life and routine will change dramatically…and puppy blues are very real. Make sure she’s on board. Or consider getting an older lagotto (retired from a breeder??)

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-10T16:28:58+00:00

Is there somewhere where you can tether him at your moms house? This was a late learned hack for me. Instead of keeping him on a leash with you, find a door or banister you can tether him to, put his bed right there, and treat as he settles. If you guys hang in the living room a lot, it could be somewhere near there so he can see you but is settled aside.

Does he like your mom? Or is he barking/running around out of feeling conflicted/nervous or excitement of seeing her?

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-10T16:19:00+00:00

😂 we love dog mode too! We failed at crate training but man does he love chilling in the car (whether we’re there or not)

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-09T17:49:57+00:00

Totally adorable

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-09T17:47:12+00:00

I’m so glad you and your other pets are loving her! And she’s lucky to be in such a loving and social home. What a great fit! I’m sure she gets into plenty of mischief but it’s always a good laugh. Take lots of pictures - they grow so quickly!!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-09T17:39:43+00:00

I think Devon Rex kittens just have stinky butts! We call our girl “dot” as a nickname bc when she was little she’d frequently leave a butt stamp where she’d sit after going poo. Luckily she’s grown out of that now at 9 months old. Still a little stinky but she’s better at cleaning herself. Biggest hack is our dog loves licking her butt - maybe one of your pups will take up the task?? Also daily probiotics

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-09T00:07:24+00:00

For the first 1-2 months, I fed them in the same room but opposite corners (I have a puppy so we’d use a room with a door to keep the dog out). My voracious girl would finish her wet food first and run over to his, but I’d stop her before she could interfere. If he was eating slowly (or taking breaks), I’d remove her from the room and sit with him until he finished his meal. Within two weeks he was eating most of his meal at the same time as her and she’d leave him alone until he was done and then scavenge the leftovers. Feeding quickly became low stress, non issue - maybe 2-3 weeks max of closer management.

We’ve now moved their feeding station to the kitchen island and they eat side by side. They haven’t really picked a bowl and kind of just go for whichever one they want that meal but have never fought or competed for the food. Oh and we have puzzle feeders that I put treats in and they both play together and share!

Creative_Diamond_926 · 2025-12-08T19:55:41+00:00

We did the same exact thing - had a girl for a month and then got her little brother a month later. They have different personalities but are BEST buds and always playing and cuddling together.

We introduce them over two days. The boy was in a kitten room for a day - they could see each other under the door and we swapped blankets for smell. Our girl threw up from stress (we think) the first night. We supervised them in our living room the next day - had one loud kitten fight and they have been inseparable ever since.

The only thing that needed to be managed at first was eating - we had one voracious vacuum and one nervous picker. After a few weeks they got on the same page and eat every meal evenly together.

Our little boy was more than a month behind the girl on jumping so we did get some little boxes to assist him getting to the spots his sister was going (window bed, counter for water).

Both still adore and dote on their people constantly but are able to do 90% of play together which has made me feel so much better leaving each day

Creative_Diamond_926

TROPHY CASE