Cats and kids

angelfire9

This time last year we adopted a kitten from a shelter he was really shy and is still reluctant around strangers & men especially but has otherwise settled in fine, this cat is like my shadow he follows me around all the time when i'm at home and even sits on my chair in the sitting room when i'm out of the house and at night in some respects he is like a dog very attached, very affectionate and very protective... all good

BUT
Come christmas the house will have a new addition and the hubby wants the cat to spend more time outside and less time with me in anticipation of my not having time to play with him as much when the baby comes
Any suggestions?

AND
Should i be worried about jealousy i.e. will i be safe to leave the cat & baby in same room for 5 minutes to put on the kettle or answer the door or will baby be in danger from psycho cat?

TskTsk

I wouldn't like to alarm you, but you should probably have a read of this and make an informed decision. Perhaps consider having a friend or family member take care of your cat until the baby is a few months old, at least.

http://www.hpsc.ie/hpsc/A-Z/Zoonotic/Toxoplasmosis/Factsheets/ToxoplasmosisandPregnancy/File,2492,en.pdf

angelfire9

TskTsk wrote: »

I wouldn't like to alarm you, but you should probably have a read of this and make an informed decision. Perhaps consider having a friend or family member take care of your cat until the baby is a few months old, at least.

http://www.hpsc.ie/hpsc/A-Z/Zoonotic/Toxoplasmosis/Factsheets/ToxoplasmosisandPregnancy/File,2492,en.pdf

Thank you for your concern I have the hubby trained to change the litter tray now

This was something I was aware of before I became pregnant and my GP has said that I have little or no chance of contracting anything from him now as I have had him for over 12 months as long as I stay away from his litter
The rest of those guidelines are the same as basic food safety stuff which I would practice anyway

Thanks again for the thought though!

The Sweeper

First, don't panic.

The best thing to do if you have a cat and a new baby is get hubby to take on some of the responsibilities of feeding and cleaning the cat, but please do not ostracise your cat by putting it outdoors for longer and longer. I would rather see you work on rehoming the cat than rejecting it in such a way - it just will not understand your reasoning and it is quite emotionally cruel to simply start withdrawing your attention and affection from a pet.

I assume you have a room set up for your baby. The first step is to set guidelines in the house for where the cat is not allowed to go. Baby's room should be entirely off limits. Redecorate and do whatever you're doing with the baby's room, and even put a baby gate across the door so the cat can see in, but do not allow the cat in the room. Start that now, so the cat gets used to not being allowed in that room. That will also help to reduce cat hair and cat dander in areas that the baby would be, which will hopefully reduce any chance of an allergy.

Change your own cat-related house hygiene - dust more, vaccum more, and use 'cat throws' - specific lightweight cat blankets that you put on a seat or on the couch, that the cat can lie on so they can go regularly into the washing machine and again reduce the amount of cat dander and hair in the house.

If your cat likes to sit in your lap on your chair in the evening, try putting a stool beside the chair for the cat, so when baby comes and naturally usurps the cat's position on your lap, it has a nearby vantage point where it can watch from.

Set the cat up a 'sanctuary' spot in the house where it can go to get away from the fuss of the new baby. This is important - if the cat has a space in your house where it can feel safe and sheltered, it will adjust to the new baby far more easily.

If you put the cat out, and further alienate it when the baby arrives by the sheer fact of you not having much time, the cat will either begin to roam and not come home one day (possibly having found another family with more interest in it, possibly killed on the road or by a dog). The flip side, and a bigger problem, is the cat can become very emotionally upset and its personality could change. It may become nervously aggressive and it may start territorially spraying urine inside your house - these things are MORE likely to happen the MORE you push the cat away.

Set it up a safe sanctuary space in the home, away from the baby, and plug in a Feliway diffuser (synthetic cat happy hormones that diffuse into the air through a plug-in like an air freshener - you'll smell nothing). Then give it a bit of time. The cat will be scared by the baby initially - it's something new and cats don't usually love new babies. You'll find that as long as you never allow the cat in the baby's room unsupervised, the cat will most probably stay far away from the baby (especially when it cries), adjust to it slowly, and by the time your child is toddling, the cat will have settled into a routine of staying away from the child and out of reach while the child is toddling about, and coming to you in the evenings, after child bedtime, for a smooch.

If you don't accept this and want to put the cat out, please see about rehoming it permanently with a family with a steadier plan who won't move the cat around. Cats, while they do not seem to be as responsive as dogs, are quite emotionally attached to their owners. They're fine with change if it's managed properly, but if you simply change things and expect them to cope with it, they often won't, and it can lead to difficult behavioural problems and to be honest, if you ended up with an aggressive, skittish cat that was peeing all over your curtains and your furniture indoors, even though those problems were the result of mismanagement of a change, I wouldn't blame you for being unable to deal with those problems on top of your baby.

A huge number of people surrender their cats when they have a new baby - it's a combination of thinking they can do what your hubby suggested and things will be fine, and general paranoia about zoonotic diseases which really isn't justified.

angelfire9

Thank you so much for your suggestions
Re-homing would be the LAST resort as this cat was very shy & skittish when we got him and it has taken the whole 15 months to get him to where he is now :rolleyes:

You'd be amazed at the number of people who told me to give the cat to the pound as soon as they heard I was pregnant but I'd miss him too much and I honestly couldn't do it to him!

I'm not that worried about allergies as all my family grew up around animals and none of us have any problems in that regard so hopefully baby will inherit those genes! As for diseases the cat is a vaccinated house cat hopefully that problem won't arise!

The baby room is currently our spare room so I am in the process of clearing it out and the cat doesn't go in there at the moment anyway so that's not going to be a problem
Its mainly the fact that for the first month - 6 weeks the baby will be spending alot of time downstairs in the sitting room with us during the day and this is where the cat currently spends alot of time as well and obviously if i want to go and put on the kettle or answer the door for 2 minutes I don't want to come back to the room and find the cat in the moses basket :eek:

I'm not sure what I can do about a sanctuary though
Downstairs is pretty much open plan hall/sitting room kitchen / dining room at present the cat sleeps in kitchen beside the washing machine which is obviously going to be a busy spot when the baby arrives

Sigma Force

I don' understand why people panic over cats when it comes to babies, it's a cat not a leopard with rabies.

The only things you have to do is as you've sorted already is to have someone else clean out the litter tray, even if you cleaned the tray unless you plan on practically eating the poop or not washing hands nothing can happen not all cats carry the parasite.

There is absolutely no reason for the cat to just be chucked outside and starved of attention just because a baby comes along.

Cats don't want 24 hour attention they do their own thing, they might want a cuddle but it's no big deal when a new baby comes along you spend most of the time sitting on the couch under the baby anyway so it's no big deal if the cat comes along to sit beside you, using a fishing rod toy in one hand while sitting under the baby will entertain the cat.

I don't even understand in general (not directed at you op) why cats especially are such an issue, when I was preg. there were a number of cats, 2dogs and pet rodents in the house and it never cost me a thought.
To be honest the cats couldn't of cared less about the new arrival and the dogs weren't bothered either. We didn't prepare any of them they hardley noticed.

If you have to put a kettle on just call the cat and the cat will follow you in, they generally do if you're heading to the kitchen. I think you're over thinking it. There is of course no harm in being careful with any animal.

Perhaps buy the cat a nice cat tree (zooplus.co.uk) something really fun and comfortable and up high with cat nip spread on it, that way the cat will be more focused on that than a moses basket..babies spend sod all time in them anyway they don't sleep for long and want to be cuddled up to you almost at all times hehe.

angelfire9

Sigma Force wrote: »

I don' understand why people panic over cats when it comes to babies, it's a cat not a leopard with rabies.

Sigma Force wrote: »

Cats don't want 24 hour attention they do their own thing, they might want a cuddle but it's no big deal when a new baby comes along you spend most of the time sitting on the couch under the baby anyway so it's no big deal if the cat comes along to sit beside you, using a fishing rod toy in one hand while sitting under the baby will entertain the cat.

That'll be fun... especially when breastfeeding!
:rolleyes:

Sigma Force wrote: »

babies spend sod all time in them anyway they don't sleep for long and want to be cuddled up to you almost at all times hehe.

This child will not be mollycuddled!!!
I am not one of those mothers that have a baby on the hip 24/7
Feed it... burb it... change it... put it down!:cool:

deisemum

Sigma Force wrote: »

I don' understand why people panic over cats when it comes to babies, it's a cat not a leopard with rabies.

There is absolutely no reason for the cat to just be chucked outside and starved of attention just because a baby comes along.

:D:D

I had a cat that I loved to bits and once I announced I was pregnant so many people told me I'd have to get rid of the cat.

Anyway I didn't and my cat was initially curious from a safe distance but once sproggy started crying the cat would go off for some peace and quiet.

I followed the advice of others who had cats so before I came home from hospital I sent some of sproggy's clothes home so my cat could start getting used to the scent.

I bought a net that keeps pets out of cots/cribs but only used it once.

I'm a childminder now and I've taken babies from 7 weeks old and my cats haven't been a problem. They vanish if it gets noisy or a child chases them.

angelfire9

deisemum wrote: »

:D:D

I had a cat that I loved to bits and once I announced I was pregnant so many people told me I'd have to get rid of the cat.

Anyway I didn't and my cat was initially curious from a safe distance but once sproggy started crying the cat would go off for some peace and quiet.

I followed the advice of others who had cats so before I came home from hospital I sent some of sproggy's clothes home so my cat could start getting used to the scent.

I bought a net that keeps pets out of cots/cribs but only used it once.

I'm a childminder now and I've taken babies from 7 weeks old and my cats haven't been a problem. They vanish if it gets noisy or a child chases them.

Thanks for that!
I feel alot better now