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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / September 2003Cats and human babies?
Hi, my wife and I have two indoor only cats (female and male, both fixed, about 1 1/2 years old, healthy). We are going to have a baby early next year and some of our friends keep telling us that cats and babies don't mix. My wife is starting to wonder if we will have to give away the kitties once the baby is born. Both our cats are very people friendly (the tomcat in particular loves to interact with humans) both to us and strangers alike and neither of them scratches or bites (haven't had a single scratch in over a year). Should I expect problems? Thx, Matt There are loads of good sights, that help you to get the cats ready for the baby before it arrives home... eg getting the nursery ready, cot etc and training the cats to stay out of there... of course you would never leave the nursery door open if the baby was in there, and use cat net etc.... millions of people have cats and babies, make sure you empty the litter trays not your wife, and if she has to she always wears rubber gloves, and washes her hands afterwards. good luck, to you :-)  SignatureLuv'n'Stuff *~*SooZy*~* New Pictures added every few days http://community.webshots.com/user/ragdollcatsuk > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Matt > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Matt People are so strange. I have friends with cats and babies and they do fine. I grew up with cats. It was fine. Try to give them the same amount of attention as usual. Heck, my best friend was often to be found, big pillow on her lap, baby nursing, kitty cuddled up behind the baby. They all adapted fine. Karen > my wife and I have two indoor only cats (female and male, both fixed, > about 1 1/2 years old, healthy). We are going to have a baby early [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > (haven't had a single scratch in over a year). Should I expect > problems? Many of us grew up with cats, including myself. You should not have to surrender your cats just because you're having a child. However, you will need to supervise the baby and the cats until the baby is old enough to understand how to properly treat a pet. Expect to need to supervise interaction until the child is at least 3 or 4, and even after that, I wouldn't leave them unattended for long. Babies grab and don't mean to hurt - the cat doesn't know why the baby hurt it, but scratches or bites to get away. Some cats are far more tolerant that others. Supervision is the best way to avoid that situation. Toddlers chase and just don't know when to leave the cat be. So have a "safe space" for the cats - a room with a baby gate in the doorway allows the cats to go somewhere the toddler can't follow. This also allows you to put the food and litterbox where the toddler can't get into them. As your baby grows and can understand, make sure you teach him or her to respect the cats and love the cats, and you'll have a very happy household. Don't forget to still pay attention to your kitties! Make playtime with your baby and your cats together a part of your day to teach your cats to love and be tolerant of your child as well as teach your child how to interact with your cats. Congrats on the new baby. :) ------------------------------------------------- ~kaeli~ Hey, if you got it flaunt it! If you don't, stare at someone who does. Just don't lick the TV screen, it leaves streaks. http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace ------------------------------------------------- > > my wife and I have two indoor only cats (female and male, both fixed, > > about 1 1/2 years old, healthy). We are going to have a baby early [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace > ------------------------------------------------- I have had a cat all of my life and have passed my love of cats to my daughter. she is now an adult. I supervised her with a cat while she was little. We have never had any problems. All of my cats have been affectionate and trusting. A vet once told me, that a good pet is the reward from a loving master. I hate that word master. I do not think of myself as a master. My cat has a personality of his own. I love all cats , and they seem to know it. Its funny sometimes in my travels strange cats will follow me. I am a firm believer that a cat should be kept in doors for their own safety. It breaks my heart when I see a dead cat on the side of the road. love your cat dee dee. >my wife and I have two indoor only cats (female and male, both fixed, >about 1 1/2 years old, healthy). We are going to have a baby early >next year and some of our friends keep telling us that cats and babies >don't mix. My wife is starting to wonder if we will have to give away >the kitties once the baby is born. These friends of yours....do they base their cats/babies don't mix theories on anything specific? Do they have cats/pets at all? Cats and babies do get along...Besides my own family having cats tracing back to 4 generations, I hear documented stories on Animal Planet all the time. > >my wife and I have two indoor only cats (female and male, both fixed, > >about 1 1/2 years old, healthy). We are going to have a baby early [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > along...Besides my own family having cats tracing back to 4 generations, I hear > documented stories on Animal Planet all the time. My daughter found out she was pregnant but still went along a brought the cat she had put a deposit on. She wants them to grow up together :-) >We are going to have a baby early next >year and some of our friends keep telling >us that cats and babies don't mix. My wife >is starting to wonder if we will have to >give away the kitties once the baby is >born. Tell your wife not to worry. She doesn't have to give the kitties away. I would advise, however, that she give away her friends... who obviously have no idea what a *lifetime committment* means and are unbelieveably ignorant about cats. Now is a good time for your wife to learn to start standing up for *her own* instead of allowing herself to be swayed in the wrong direction by the ignorance of others. Once she has the baby, as the years go by that is definitely something she will need to know how to do. There is plenty of research that shows that children that grow up with cats are better off for it, emotionlly and healthwise, with a much smaller incidence of allergies and asthma. I have known many people whose kids grew up with cats and it was definitely a posiive in their lives. Megan Signature"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray One of my close friends had 6 cats when her first child was born. The cat/child relationship was uneventful until Cait began crawling. She'd crawl toward the cats, and they'd get up and move. Repeat, repeat, repeat, all afternoon. Then, one day, she caught one that didn't expect her to move as quickly as she did. Both cat and child survived the event, and Cait began learning that some soft furry creatures also scratch. Cait's first three-syllable word was "dangerous." She'd say it and point to the least child-tolerant of the six cats. She's now 14 and plans to be a veterinarian. Her little sister survived babyhood around the cats, too. I'm not sure I'd have done the cat/child thing the same way, but this was the most laissez-faire situation I know of, and everything turned out fine. As for the advice that your wife find better-informed friends? That may sound a bit harsh, but there's some truth to it. She should at least consistently second-guess friends who quote long-debunked old wives tales. Daria Timing is everything. > One of my close friends had 6 cats when her first child was born. The > cat/child relationship was uneventful until Cait began crawling. She'd crawl [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Daria > Timing is everything. I think people say it because of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy, which as long as you are careful about changing litter trays, get someone else to do it, or wear gloves and your wash hands afterwards. Also because cats have been known to snuggle up to a nice warm sleeping baby who is not strong enough to push it off when a new born baby, but babies grow so quickly within months if a cat laid over their face they would push it off! So you keep the nursery door shut! use cat nets on prams! Most cats stay away from little people that make that horrible crying sound! and when they are older those little people sometimes try and grab them. Until they are taught "be nice to the cats" so cats stay away normally anyway. I had cats and babies, and never had a problem... after a hard days work with a crying baby with colic, once you finally sit down to relax there is nothing better than to have your dear devoted cat purring away on your lap to help you un wind! Keep the cats! and congratulations to you both :-) > > One of my close friends had 6 cats when her first child was born. The > > cat/child relationship was uneventful until Cait began crawling. She'd [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > grow so quickly within months if a cat laid over their face they would push > it off! So you keep the nursery door shut! use cat nets on prams! Which is a fallacy anyway. They now believe that incidents of finding cats with babies is that the babies died of SIDS and the cats knew something was wrong and went to cuddle with them. I wish I could remember the article I read this in, but this is indeed more likely and in any case, there are plenty of ways to keep a cat out of a childs room. My friends had a net with a zipper opening over the crib (which actually saved the kid from a very nasty fall out of the crib when he got to the climbing stage. and they replaced the door on the room with a screen door. One other point nobody has raised - statistical studies show that people who had cats in the house when they were infants are significantly LESS likely to have asthma/life-threatening allergies. With asthma practically epidemic in children now - the incidence has gone up awfully in the last ten years or so - this gives you something serious on the up-side for keeping the cat. Mary T. MsKitty834 <mskitty834@aol.com> quoth: >One other point nobody has raised - statistical studies show that people who >had cats in the house when they were infants are significantly LESS likely to >have asthma/life-threatening allergies. With asthma practically epidemic in >children now - the incidence has gone up awfully in the last ten years or so - >this gives you something serious on the up-side for keeping the cat. Actually, someone else did, I believe, but it's important and can easily bear repeating. Priscilla > my wife and I have two indoor only cats (female and male, both fixed, > about 1 1/2 years old, healthy). We are going to have a baby early > next year and some of our friends keep telling us that cats and babies > don't mix. My wife is starting to wonder if we will have to give away > the kitties once the baby is born. Babies and cats get along just fine. One thing is for your wife to avoid litter box duty while pregnant. Cat feces sometimes contains toxoplasmosis and toxoplasmosis sometimes causes birth defects, so do all the litter cleaning for her. Also keep the child away from the litter box. It's gross when your kid decides the litter box might make a good toy. > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Matt Congratulations Matt! I'm due in 8.5 weeks and we have no plans to get rid of our first babies. They are also very friendly (our oldest, the tom, is also extremely friendly to strangers). What we did is to ban the cats from the bedroom. We're going to be cosleeping with a sidecar crib arrangement (one side of crib dropped attached to the bed), so I don't want to take chances. It's also good for my husband's allergies (who was raised with cats coincidentally and is still allergic to them). We started this a few weeks ago so they would have time to adjust and wouldn't associate it with the baby. They're not taking it well, but I'm hoping that they'll get used to it, particularly our oldest (the dominant one) who likes to sleep with us and has taken to pawing and crying at the door at all hours of the night. *sigh* It doesn't help that he's extremely intelligent and does not respond to the usual kitty discipline (our youngest has no idea where the squirts of water come from, but he knows it's us). I know the stories of cats smothering babies may not be true, but the crib would be an awfully convenient place to sleep next to "mommy" and my oldest is over 25 lbs, so I'm simply not taking chances. When the baby can move on its own, we will reconsider the decision. I'm hoping that Luna ends up not wanting to be around. Our littlest one, Mina, is half-Siamese and skittish as heck anyways. She will be very cautious around the baby for at least a few months and will probably bolt at every snuffle or cry. When it comes to the baby crawling, I'm not worried. What ticks me off with most people and child/pet interaction is they think they can train the pet. They should be training BOTH of them. My niece does not treat animals at all well (chases and torments them) and it started when she was a baby. I plan on supervising my baby at all times when the cats are in the room and teaching the baby that pulling fur is not a good thing to do. I was actually thinking early this morning after Luna woke me up again at 4am that it would be easiest if we got rid of them. But in the same second, I knew that I could never do that. As a pregnant mom-to-be, I do think of my baby and furbabies in a different light and with different priorities, but the love and the desire to make a complete family is still there. I made the commitment when I purchased them, knowing that we would start our family sometime during their lifetimes. I just feel guilty that I've been so grumpy to them and inwardly-focused at different points in my pregnancy. - Joanne > > Hi, > > [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > plan on supervising my baby at all times when the cats are in the room and > teaching the baby that pulling fur is not a good thing to do. On this note, animals are pretty perceptive too. They recognize "young unpredictable baby" of just about any species and generally act accordingly and either stay away, or come fret at YOU when the baby cries as if to say "Your child NEEDS you." Karen > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Matt I have had cats with both my children as babies and had no problems. You do still have to plan to spend some time with the cats and give them attention (sometimes that may be harder 'cause you'll be tired with a new baby); I had one cat who was just so smart and knew that when my son Alex was put to bed that it was now "lap time." Frodo and Alex also shared the crib for daytime naps (at night Frodo slept with me) and it was quite cute. The other thing to remember is that you always teach your kids respect for the animals. I made sure that my kids only got to pet the kitties if they were "nice" to them and gentle; my kids learned how to act around animals in a positive way and then were happy when the kitties came around to sit with them. Good luck -- you and your kitties and kids will do fine. You'll get a lot of "well-meaning advice" from friends and relatives that you can say "thank you" for and then do what you feel is best anyway! Christine Burel |
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