Animals and babies

gerrycollins

hi everyone
my wife gave birth to a lovely baby girl Chloe last week and finally are home,we are settling into the routine quiet good as the baby is an angel and sleeps and drinks and nothing more only a few mins of crying an a few drops of an excellent colic bottle helping all other things along perfectly

anyways back to the topic
we have a cat ,3 yrs old, and was our "baby" up to this point. we put her in a cattery before the birth and are collecting her this weekend(she was at the same place last year when we went on hols) she is a small enough cat who keeps to herself mostly,is house bound,sleeps probably more than the baby and has her moments of madness but not destructive

while i have heard a few "stories" about cats and newborns i have yet to hear it from an actual person who has gone through it,the story is always a friend of a friend kinda one

Anyone here have first hand experiences and what did you have to do for a peaceful and happy outcome? I think we are worring over nothing and the cat will be grand as will the baby

Nevyn

Most of the tales seem to be about the cat trying to lick milk off or out of the child and accidentally causing harm.

I too have Never heard on any actual infant being harmed by a cat.
I would suggest not leaving the baby and the cat in the same room and not leaving the baby where the cat can get access.

luckat

My own family all grew up surrounded by cats and dogs and more; we're all kind of small, which I put down to the fact that our legs never had room to grow, the dogs being piled on the end of the bed all night

Newborn babies - and babies for the first year, really - need to be in their parents' sight at all times, imho.

Just keep the pusscat out of the room where the baby is when the baby's sleeping, and keep an eye on things.

If the puss is used to sleeping in the same room with you, well, try to give her some extra play time so he doesn't feel too abandoned, and make him a nice comfortable nest somewhere he'll love.

What people mostly worry about is a very new, tiny baby that can't cry loudly - the fear is that a cat will smell the milk and feel the warmth and curl up happily on the baby's face, and smother the baby.

While this is a horrific image, it's only a worry in the first few months. If you're really worried, maybe you could lend your cat to a friend until the baby's, say, eight months old?

Pink Bunny

Congratulations on the baby!!

We have a cat and a baby and everything has worked out great. When I brought home our son one of us held him while the other held the cat and gave her loads of attention so she wouldn't feel left out. We kept the baby in the bedroom with us for the first several months so just kept the door shut so there was never a worry that she could get in with him while we were all sleeping. During the day I had him in his bassinet in the sane room we were so he was never alone. The only problem we ever had was the cat wanting to sleep in his bassinet or crib when it was empty and since she's a black cat we had to deal with black fir on his bedclothes.
Now that he's older she keeps her distance because he likes to grab at her as she walks by.
Just keep an eye on things and you should be fine.
Good luck to you both.

tj-music.com

I don´t foresee any problems with a cat and a child living together. Had three cats when my boy was born. Only thing is that cats need to be given the time to get used to the newborn baby and also need confirmation that they are still loved. A little extra cudles will do

deisemum

I was worried that my "baby" (cat)that we had for a few years before eldest boy came along, might feel jealous once real baby arrived. As advised before I came home from the hospital I sent home a towel with baby's scent so the cat could get used to it.

Everything was fine, I'd even gone and bought a special net to go over the cot to keep pets out but didn't ever use it. The cat on the rare occasion did try and get into empty crib but soon got bored with it.

embee

I had the exact same worries as yourself, OP.

My daughter is 4 months old. I had just gotten my cat about a month before I got pregnant, and he was a kitten at the time, so he was very much the baby.

When I was pregnant, he used to sit on my bump and paw at it (baby would sometimes kick back!) When we bought the moses basket, buggy etc. and assembled them, the cat was very curious indeed and he would try to climb into them when we weren't looking. We had a water pistol handy and would just squirt him with it until he got the picture.

Ever since the baby came home, he has more or less stayed away from her (apart from an initial sniff when she was brought home from the hospital). Now that she is 4 months old, she is reaching out and grabbing at him, so he tends to sit out of harms way and ignore her.

Honestly, the only problems you should worry about is the tiny tiny possibility your little one might become allergic to cat hairs, but its so negligible that I wouldn't worry.

Congrats on your new arrival, btw!