Misbehaving pets in the third trimester?

summererdvig

My dogs and cats have been pretty good throughout my whole pregnancy, (with a few exceptions) but today we caught my oldest dog (age 4) walking up the entertainment center and lifting his leg and peeing on my laptops! He's usually super good about not going in the house (the younger guy usually has the accidents on the rare occasions they go in the house). The only reason I can think of is that I kicked him out of the bedroom with his rawhide so I could get some peace and quiet while I was napping.

Recently when we were working on the nursery, we came out of her room to find the younger dog peeing in the hallway! I try to let them in there with me so they're not jealous but we were painting so they had to be locked out.

They get walked pretty regularly, and are kennel trained for when we leave the house. It seems like unlike most animals who act funny when you're first pregnant and gradually adjust, mine have decided to only act up at the tail end of my pregnancy...

We have assembled swings and bouncy chairs and introduced them to her room and clothes and they have never actually peed in anything of hers, so I'm not sure exactly why they're reverting to these puppy like behaviors :-( unless it's just that I've tried to show them less attention in an attempt to prepare them for her arrival. has anyone else has any trouble with their pets recently? Any advice of how to correct the issue before LO arrives?

PS. I'm an animal lover, they are part of our family. If your advise is to rehome them, please refrain from sharing. All other advise/insight is welcomed!

starsinnight

I was about to start this thread too today!! I love animals too and we have 4, so they've been pretty good throughout-- besides barking when we aren't home, which seems to be better now.

But about 2 weeks ago, my 10 year old cat who is generally ok, sometimes feisty, will not let me sleep! He bounces around, meows loudly at all hours of the night, & scratches every surface and door he can. Locking him out won't help & putting him in a crate will be useless. It's so odd and all of a sudden. He used to sleep solid after dinner and through the night. It's like he knows I'm in my 3rd trimester and baby is coming!!

I'm reading some training books now & the only thing I can offer is more attention when they are being good & ignore the bad behavior if possible, since scolding them is still attention. If I yell or swat at my cat, he doesn't care and keeps going. So lots of cuddles and treats when he's being good during the day hopefully will help tonight!!

There's a few tips on how to introduce baby to the pets, like having your spouse spend more bonding time with them so that they don't get jealous later on when with the baby. It's so hard, I feel your pain!

TalulaPants

Our youngest dog who is 3.5 started marking inside the house and he's been potty trained for over 3 years. I was definitely shocked by the behavior and scared he might have a UTI. DH took him to the vet on Thursday and they checked him out. DH mentioned to the vet I was pregnant and she said they can react to our pregnancy hormones and obviously all the changes going on in our home. She told us it just takes time and to try Nature's Miracle marking spray. I understand the frustration though.

oxsarah7ox

We have a 2.5 year old dog and she's actually been great for the third trimester. In the second, though, we had some trouble. She actually came in the one room and from two feet behind us she peed right there! Thankfully she's been good since then.

But I agree with some PPs, I am sure yours is just reacting a little to the pregnancy. There isn't too much you can do I don't think, other than continue to try to make them happy and start getting used to some changes. So sorry, good luck!

thisusername

My dog has done the opposite, she won't even say hi to me anymore, it's actually really depressing. We did just get her one of those reusable potty pads that has a fake grass topper and it's been really beneficial to her. We live in a 1BR though so all the baby stuff is always around my dog.
In fact, the baby stuff is the ONLY stuff my animals won't mess with. They've had experience with babies before. (Not mine obviously, but a friends)

The natures miracle spray works really well though! And there's a simple green formula that I love for when she does have accidents. Or "accidents".

thisusername

starsinnight said:

I was about to start this thread too today!! I love animals too and we have 4, so they've been pretty good throughout-- besides barking when we aren't home, which seems to be better now.

But about 2 weeks ago, my 10 year old cat who is generally ok, sometimes feisty, will not let me sleep! He bounces around, meows loudly at all hours of the night, & scratches every surface and door he can. Locking him out won't help & putting him in a crate will be useless. It's so odd and all of a sudden. He used to sleep solid after dinner and through the night. It's like he knows I'm in my 3rd trimester and baby is coming!!

I'm reading some training books now & the only thing I can offer is more attention when they are being good & ignore the bad behavior if possible, since scolding them is still attention. If I yell or swat at my cat, he doesn't care and keeps going. So lots of cuddles and treats when he's being good during the day hopefully will help tonight!!

There's a few tips on how to introduce baby to the pets, like having your spouse spend more bonding time with them so that they don't get jealous later on when with the baby. It's so hard, I feel your pain!

My cat has always meowed to communicate with us and is a frequent talker, but he's definitely more talkative and will lie, as we say, to make us go to their room (a big walk in closet) and see that he needs nothing. He's also started nesting in my bed now. Right where I sleep, burrows under the blankets and goes dead weight. He's 20.6 pounds (main Coon) and if you push him he just stares at you like "ha ha. This is MY bed" with Aragorn I've found that just playing even more than normal followed by his own time in the bed has helped. He's so freaking needy for a cat! When he was a kitten he forced me to rock him to slee every night or he would scream, I kid you not. I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be human.
Also if you have one of those slow feeders or a Kong like you would give a dog, we put a little bit of wet food and treats in there and it keeps him and the kitten distracted for a while.

SU1989

My dog has gotten very testy lately! He is a 3 1/2 year old black lab mix that we got from the humane society. We have done a lot of training with him because he came from a severely abusive home and we had a lot of work to do with him when we got him. He listened to us so well since the day we got him. But lately he has not been listening (jumping up on the Windows to look out, barking at everything that moves outside, eating everything in site from paper to Kleenex etc, and even putting his paws on the counter to get food off!) He's never done this stuff in the 2 1/2 years we have had him! He's not allowed on our bed and he's been jumping up there with us in the mornings. So he's just been testing my limits hardcore lately!

Our cat on the other hand has been so different. He is obsessed with my belly and has to be on it 24/7. He sleeps curled around it all night long and anytime I'm sitting on the couch he is laying on it. He gets super whiny when I leave the house and cries when I'm going out the door. It's crazy.

Love them to death! I'm a little nervous about bringing a baby with them because these two have been my fur babies and my life since I rescued them both.

summererdvig

SU1989 said:

My dog has gotten very testy lately! He is a 3 1/2 year old black lab mix that we got from the humane society. We have done a lot of training with him because he came from a severely abusive home and we had a lot of work to do with him when we got him. He listened to us so well since the day we got him. But lately he has not been listening (jumping up on the Windows to look out, barking at everything that moves outside, eating everything in site from paper to Kleenex etc, and even putting his paws on the counter to get food off!) He's never done this stuff in the 2 1/2 years we have had him! He's not allowed on our bed and he's been jumping up there with us in the mornings. So he's just been testing my limits hardcore lately!

Our cat on the other hand has been so different. He is obsessed with my belly and has to be on it 24/7. He sleeps curled around it all night long and anytime I'm sitting on the couch he is laying on it. He gets super whiny when I leave the house and cries when I'm going out the door. It's crazy.

Love them to death! I'm a little nervous about bringing a baby with them because these two have been my fur babies and my life since I rescued them both.

@SU1989 SO funny you say that because my two cats have been obsessed with my bump as well!!! They sleep all over me and are super snuggly. We introduced her bassinet to our room and they haven't tried to get in it even once. We put a piece of aluminum foil in there for when we're not home (we read that the sound bothers them so they won't go in there, and it would bend if crinkle and let us know that they tried while we're away) my cats, believe it or not, have been angelic. Which shocks me because they can be such smart/spiteful animals. My MILs cat will pee on her suitcase if she leave it out because she thinks she is leaving, and will pee in it again when she returns from a trip. I've known many people who's cats have peed on or near their bassinet, crib or other baby items.

I think a cat would be harder to correct than a dog, so so I'm somewhat thankful for their cooperative behaviors, but I'm really at a loss with my dogs. We just moved about a month agoband have BRAND NEW carpet and they're choosing now to be bad boys :-(

summererdvig

Wow, I feel better not being the only one with these struggles!!! I thought my boys were broken or something LOL

I know animals can sense and react to pregnancy but I thought I was in the clear since, with the exception of being over protective of me in walks, they haven't shown a bit in interest in my being pregnant. Now, 7 weeks out they are little pissing/chewing machines. Their new habit has been the toilet paper roll :-( they chose my OCD cleaning and nesting period to be destructive and messy and my husband and I have NO idea what to do!!

I hope everyone else's fur babies come around too. They've been so used to being our "babies" that it's probably just hard for them to adjust!

TalulaPants

I have faith they'll come around lol this is our older babe who has just been the best through my pregnancy. Very gentle and sweet. The younger one has been hell on wheels lol

hopes4baby

My 5 y/o lab mix who had always been a barker is on high alert and hard to break off of her barking and guarding. The 4 y/0 lab mix follows me everywhere and even guard me when I pee. Fortunately, no marking.

thisusername

My kitten is SO attached to the baby. They actually play together already. (She chases the baby's kicks and paws back at them). It's kind of funny how much more it seems that the cats are into all this than the dog.
My kitten is getting fixed tomorrow and I'm hoping it won't change her behavior toward the baby in any way. Sounds like a lot of the dogs and practicing protection for the little ones!