Why puppyhood together helps this breed
A Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy who grows up eating, sleeping and being corrected in a house that already contains a cat and a smaller dog learns a lesson no adult introduction can fully copy: these animals are part of his social group, not quarry. Ridgebacks were developed in southern Africa to bay lions and course game, so the chase and grab circuitry is genuinely strong in the breed, but it is also highly shaped by what a young dog experiences during his early socialisation window. A puppy who is rewarded for calm behaviour around the cat, and gently interrupted every single time he fixates, mouths or lunges, usually carries that indoor manners package into adulthood, while a Ridgeback who meets his first cat as a grown dog is a far riskier proposition.
Cats indoors are one question, cats running are another
Most success stories with this pairing share a setting: an indoor cat with high shelves, baby gates and rooms the dog cannot enter, so the cat always chooses the distance. The picture changes outdoors and in moments of sudden movement. A cat who bolts across a garden, a neighbour's cat crossing the fence line, or even your own cat startled into a sprint can flip a Ridgeback from relaxed companion to pursuit before a person can intervene, and a large, powerful dog can seriously injure a cat in seconds without any history of aggression. Raised-together status lowers that risk indoors, where routines are predictable; it never removes it where running triggers the chase. Treat gardens, open doors and visitors' pets as managed situations for the life of the dog.
Smaller dogs and the size gap
With smaller dogs, the Ridgeback's issue is less hunting instinct and more physics and play style. Ridgebacks play roughly, body-slamming and pawing, and an adult male can outweigh a toy breed many times over, so an accident needs no bad intent. Puppies raised with a small, confident adult dog usually learn to moderate that play because the small dog teaches them and the owners enforce breaks, but a fragile, elderly or fearful small dog is a poor match for a boisterous young Ridgeback. Feed separately, supervise play on surfaces where the small dog cannot be cornered, and separate them when nobody is watching until the Ridgeback is mature and his self-control has been proven over a long, boring stretch of ordinary days, not one good afternoon.
Introductions and rules that make it hold
Bring the puppy home to a house already arranged: cat escape routes in place, first meetings through a gate with the puppy on a lead, short sessions that end while everyone is still calm, and high-value rewards for looking at the cat and then back at you. Every adult in the house has to interrupt the same behaviours the same way, because a puppy who is stopped by one person and laughed at by another learns that the rule depends on the audience. Keep a written record of how each introduction stage went and who is supervising which sessions, so progress is judged on evidence. KinsLe Care Teams lets the household assign those introduction sessions, separate feeding duties and supervision turns to named people, so the Ridgeback puppy meets one consistent set of rules from every person he lives with.