Cat & Baby Troubles

charmcity82

I have a 10 year-old cat who has not adapted well to our almost 9 month-old son.  Now that our son is mobile, he tries to crawl up to the cat all the time to touch him.  We have tried to show him how to gently stroke the cat's fur, and sometimes he does this, but he's a baby and sometimes he grabs hold.  So now we have to play constant defense to keep our crawling son away from the cat.  And the cat, instead of leaving the room or jumping up and sitting on one of the MANY elevated spots we have for him where to baby can't reach him, instead chooses to lie down in front of the baby, wait for him to come over, and then swat at him.  This is particularly a problem because the cat has his claws (which I keep trimmed very close, but they're still there). 

It is very frustrating and I worry that as our son gets quicker and more mobile it will be even harder to keep them separated.  And I feel bad for my cat who has lived all his life as our only 'dependent', but I give him lots of places to be that are quiet and away from the baby, and I try to give him lots of attention when the baby is asleep or with someone else.  I don't really know what else to do.  My mom has offered to take the cat for a few months, and while I would love a break from the constant refereeing, I also don't think that will help either of them learn to live with one another.

Obviously my son comes first, and I will do what is best to keep him safe, but I was wondering if any of you have any tips on encouraging baby and cat to live in harmony?

roo1oo

We're dealing with this too, only my cat is 16 years old. And he does the same thing, he lays down in front of the baby, or will follow the baby around thinking the baby will pet him. Baby grabs kitty, kitty swats. LO has been scratched a couple of times and it doesn't phase him much. You can't teach baby to be gentle yet, so you have to supervise. If you don't want to supervise, how about closing kitty in a room while baby is awake? Also every time baby is going for kitty, I move kitty out of the room so that kitty knows he can run away. 

GL!

cerafina205

Mine likes to grab and pull fur off my kitty and try to put it in her mouth. Luckily he's a laid back kitty but I pick the cat up and move him to a spot out of my daughters reach. I do this several times a day. Not too much more I can do.

kimmycup

I don't really have much advice but just wanted to sympathize. I have two cats and I worry about this when my daughter starts crawling. I'm hoping they will just run away from her, but like you said your cat doesn't. Maybe you can do what the PP said and make a kitty room for the cat and have your cat in there while baby is crawling around? I hope everything works out for you.

Blanchette365

always keep your that little baby away from your pets.Pets are some how not hygenic

cagoldi

Blanchette365 said:

always keep your that little baby away from your pets.Pets are some how not hygenic

Wut?

charmcity82

Thanks, everyone.  Things are going okay, I have intercepted them over the past few days so there has been no contact.  I am going to keep encouraging the cat to be elsewhere while the little guy is scurrying around.  If things don't get better by the time my mom comes to visit in a few weeks I think the cat may take a little extended holiday to her house!

MamaBee716

I understand how difficult cat problems are...my cat is a little different in the sense that he sprays in the basement even though he is fixed and gets stressed out from the presence of the little one. My vet said that aggression in the form of bad behaviour or getting in your babies face is usually due to territory and stress issues. The one thing that seems to have helped in general make him feel more at ease is called a pheromone diffuser which they sell at veterinarians for about $45 for the diffuser and one cartridge and $10 for subsequent refills...a cartridge lasts about a month. After a month he started to actually nuzzle my little girl's hand on his own.

Annie_the_nanny

Blanchette365 said:

always keep your that little baby away from your pets.Pets are some how not hygenic

Neither are most human beings lol

I don't have much advice since our dogs and cats run away from our 7 month old. I hope you somehow find a way for them to get along! Good luck!

charmcity82

Hi all- just wanted to update you.  We put 'soft paws' on our cat's front nails, they are vinyl and cover the nails but don't hurt him at all.  He liked it because he gets to keep his nails long, and we like it because now his nails can't hurt anyone.  

We have been paying much more attention to him lately and he has been much better about tolerating the baby.  We don't really let them come into much physical contact, but the fact that he's okay lying in the room with him is a good thing I think!