Cats and babies

[Hopeful]

We have a lovely little cat. She doesn't bite, doesn't scratch, doesn't jump up on furniture, doesn't jump on beds, doesn't steal food, is perfectly house-trained, very gentle and loving. She doesn't jump in boxes, laundry baskets or anything like that. She doesn't go in the bedrooms unless she's looking for us and we happen to be in one of them.

Is there anything I need to know about babies and cats given the fact our 1st baby is due in 10 days?

[boonpnutsmom]

We have never had any problems with any of our cats with our 3 children. They love to cuddle with babies, so the only thing I would keep an eye out for is as newborns, babies can't roll away. Cats love the warmth and will cuddle. There is nothing malicious in it at all, but harm could come to a newborn if the cat was too close to the nose and mouth.

[cheri]

This is something I've been thinking about because I'm due in November with our first. We have a 6 year old cat who has always been the only cat, never really around children. He is our baby now. He sleeps with us and pretty much is king of the house, doing whatever he wants. He probably won't get to sleep with us anymore once the baby is here.

I've heard that it's good to let the cat sniff a blanket or something that smells like the baby and then reward the cat for sniffing. I've also heard something about letting the cat get used to baby crying noises, but I don't know if that would really make that much of a difference. I think how well the cat adjusts might have more to do with the cat's personality than anything. Our cat hides from visitors he doesn't know, especially men or really loud women. The only times we have had children in our home, the cat has hidden firmly under the bed and will not come out for hours.

If you learn anything, let me know. This is so stupid, I know, but I am so attached to my cat that I'm worried about how he will adjust to the new baby.

[Cherish]

we had four cats, all slept on my bed around ME when I was pregnant.

When Grace moved into the bed, they just moved down. They got irritated with the nightwaking, but they stayed behind my knees away from the baby during that time. Later, they slept by her feet too. I never caught a cat sleeping too near the baby's face or anything. Just our experience.

We will have newborn cats here, under six weeks or so, when I have my baby, and I think they will provide a great distraction in that initial new baby period.

[Soliloquy]

We've never had any problems at all, and we had 5 :eek cats when DD was born. They were not allowed in the bedroom while we were sleeping, and I actually banned them from the bedroom altogether for about 4 months because they track litter onto the bed. Cats mostly ignore babies although my Siamese always checks on her when she cries, even now when she's a toddler. He gets very worried and comes to get me. It's very cute.

[Havilah]

Our two cats paid little attention to James when he was a newborn, except to saunter out of the room when he cried. When he started walking and being more active one of our kitties got his nose out of joint and started to spray our things :sa He also started to show symptoms of pretty extreme stress... like licking all of the hair off of his tummy and back legs. It was grotesque :eek Feliway spray literally saved his life! It's about $40 a bottle, but we were at our wits end and he quit spraying immediately. Within a month all of his hair had grown back and he was pretty much back to normal :tu

If you are concerned a cat might be stressed by the baby, I highly recommend getting a bottle and spraying it around your home when the baby comes home, and when is particularly fussy or making developmental strides. Hopefully you can catch some problems before they start :)

[Soliloquy]

so far we haven't had any problems with our cats, but thanks for the tip about the Feliway spray. I bet it would help cats during travel, too. We are moving in the fall--might be wise to have some on hand.

[Havilah]

Yup. It's recommended for travel, vet trips, new pets in the household...

Good Luck!

[Mother of Sons]

We will have newborn cats here, under six weeks or so, when I have my baby, and I think they will provide a great distraction in that initial new baby period.

We had a kitten when was born. I was constantly finding the kitten in the bassinet scratching his face. One time I heard him crying and came in the room to find the kitten sitting on his chest all over his face. I told my husband to get rid of the cat that day and he did. A few people said that kitten was probably smelling the milk.

[findingjoy]

We had two cats when my first baby was born. They used to sleep with us (1 by my head and 1 at my feet), but I did ban them from the bedroom at night at some point during the pregnancy. I think I just didn't want to worry about them up near the baby while he was sleeping and cat hair in the bed, etc. I also didn't feel too badly about it since they had each other to snuggle with. I think I kept the door to the bedroom shut when ds napped too for quite awhile. It seems like I was a little more lax when the babies were older and didn't mind the cats around sleeping babies as long as they didn't wake the baby.
After our first baby was born the cats would just sniff the baby once in awhile. When ds became mobile one of the cats would hide if ds came after him, but the other one would just lay there. If he became too annoyed with ds, he would just get up and move to another spot. Both cats were really great. We didn't have any problems. I did not have nearly as much time to dote on them though, so I'm glad we had two cats. I don't know what it would have been like with just one. I think letting the cat sniff something that smells like the baby is a good idea. Btw, my kids both love cats since they have been raised with them.

[Amber]

I agree with the PPs. And Feliway is a wonderful product, it does a great job in helping cats deal with some anxiety. The best way that I can describe it is that it is like chocolate. If I am having a bad day having someone gives me a chocolate bar I feel better. But if someone it holding a gun to my head and I am given a chocolate bar I'm not going to feel any better. It comes in both a spray that you can spritz around the house or a diffuser you plug in and it continually gives off the product.

I would be carefull with kittens. They don't have as much bite inhibition as adults, and are so much more mischevious. And don't forget to give you cat lots of loves when the baby is around. That way she will begin to associate the baby with getting love from you making the baby seem like a good thing.

I have also heard of people putting a screen door on the babies room so that they could see in, but the cat couldn't get in.

[UltraMother]

My cat had kittens a month after my ds1 was born, and she would "mother" him when he cried. I would be trying to change his diaper and the cat would jump onto the changing table and lick his face. :)

[Hopeful]

Thanks.
I don't think I need to worry about our cat. She's 7 so way past the kitten stage.

I enjoyed this thread - lots of sweet stories!! :popcorn :heart