It has been a pet peeve of mine that the animal behavior academic world so often announces a “discovery” of something that has been long known by lay people. They have a tendency as well to dismiss the layperson’s observations as anecdotal and then write those same anecdotes down and call them theories. This story is one such example. I wonder how much tax payers paid for this one? I could have saved them the trouble and they could have invested it into learning why the dog breeding world is so unregulated.
New research at Tel Aviv University, the first of its kind in the world, has found a new recipe for success. According to the study, if the cat is adopted before the dog and if they are introduced when still young (less than 6 months for kittens, a year for dogs), there is a high probability that your two pets will get along swimmingly.
Tel Aviv University (2008, September 9). Dogs And Cats Can Live In Perfect Harmony In The Home, If Introduced The Right Way. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from