Hi

We have (my wife and I) a 18month old Female neutered Cat called
Willow (our only pet).  It's our first cat, I wasn't really in to it
at first but I've grown to love her.

Most of the time Willow is very playful and loving, but occasionally
for no reason she will just go crazy, and either bite, hiss or scratch
(most of the time me, but sometimes my wife).  I can be playing with
her on the floor or tickling her ears and then suddently she'll bite
me for no reason.

I'm learning to understand the signs and stop playing/touching her
before this happens, but my wife is pregnant (our first) and I'm
really worried about the cat with the child.

A friend of mine showed me a home video the other day with his 9 month
old child, one of the scenes showed the baby playing on the floor with
a ball, and I thought how cute it would be if I had my child and the
cat on the floor playing with each other.  The way the cat is right
now I wouldn't trust her, she goes for me now when I'm doing nothing
wrong, I can't imagine what Willow would do if the baby grabbed her
tail for example.  I'm pretty sure that the first time the cat does
anything bad to my child we are going to have to give her away.

I would be very upset if we had to give the cat away, and my wife
would be devestated, however the child has to be number 1 prirority
in our life.  

Does anybody have any hints for me on how we can maybe alter the cats
behaviour? (she reminds me of Smegal & Gollum from the Lord of the
Rings, one minute she can be sitting on may lap purring, and then the
next minute she will turn nasty).

Any advice would be appreciated, maybe she'll grow out of this
behaviour?  What shoud I do when she does something wrong?

Thanks in advance
Paul