This came in as a comment on one of my other posts, and I am moving it here to a new post and replying that way instead to give others a chance to comment. Thanks to Sandra of TroopingtheColour for allowing me to use the wonderful picture of Charity and Kitty below, in this post.

Hello!
Sorry for the off topic post but.. you do own a Bull Terrier and cats, right? I am thinking about owning a female miniature bull terrier and a female cat and I am unsure as to whether that is a good combination since I have heard from a few that the bulls might get aggressive towards the cat.
Have you ever had problems with your cats and dog? Or is it really all about their upbringing together?
Thanks a lot, have a great day!
Olivia
[email protected]

Hi Olivia,

Actually, we don’t have a Bull Terrier at this time, we had to put Mojo down because of his neurological issues (he was a compulsive tailchaser and had seizures, among other things) on December 13 and I just haven’t had the heart to take that picture down on the main page.

As far as aggression towards other animals goes, my personal opinion is that if you get the dog as a puppy and raise the two together, and spend time properly socializing and training the dog, you should be OK. Having said that, though, I have been told that minis can be a little ‘feistier’ with other animals than standards. Talk to the breeder you chose about this issue, see if they can provide examples of their dogs living in a multi-pet household.

Adult dogs not raised around cats and other animals are a bit trickier. It can often be done, but I wouldn’t count on it.

I’ve had three Bull Terriers and two Pit Bulls that were all raised with cats and were fine with them –actually the second Pit Bull, our Lilly, was NOT raised with cats and is a high prey-drive dog, and still adapted with careful introduction.

I hope this information helps a bit, I’ve also asked a few bully friends if they would like to comment here on this subject, so you might check back on this page later. One last thing, if you are interested in a Miniature Bull Terrier, you should make sure you are well aware of the health issues that can afflict the breed (there are some that affect both Standards and Miniatures, and at least one additional disease that minis specifically are prone to), and the testing that should be done on the parents prior to breeding. Ask for hard-copy proof (an ethical breeder should not take offense at this) and make sure that it is current. Information on health testing can be found on the MBTCA site’s breeder code of ethics page:

http://www.healthydogs.com/mbtca/codeofethics.htm

Good luck with your future MiniBull!

Simon and Mojo, spring 2004