Cats and new baby

woahitszdtet

Ive done a few google searches. But my cats are weird. Tin foil on the furniture never phased them, water bottles bother them but don't really deter them. Theyre both really nice (dont scratch or bite people) but theyre realllllly attached to me and theyve gotten even more attached now that im home.. so im a little worried they might get a bit resentful. Just trying to smooth the transition.

Ebiejay

The only other thing I've read for training cats to stay off items is to lay something sticky down. The foil seems to be working for mine right now but I'm not convinced they're trained to stay off once the foil has to come off. Mine are total wimps though so I'm hoping baby will scare them away enough for a while! 

There is only so much we can do. I think just trying to keep to their routine as much as possible, give them pets as much as you can, including when you have baby so they don't think of baby as a negative thing. All the usual advice such as prepare them before baby arrives home by introducing them to baby smells, for example wear baby powder or lotion, give them chances to sniff anything new, bring home a blanket before bringing the baby in the house. 

I'm sure you already did your research, I'm using this page as a guide: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/cats-and-babies 

MssyMmmy

My cats are like that too. They were our babies and none of the typical tricks worked on them. We have been home with our little one for a week. So far one completely ignores the baby and one just sniffs his head. The more interested cat tends to always sit beside us and watch like a guardian. I wouldn't leave the cats alone in a room with the baby. ( I would also never leave my baby alone) but they are doing fine so far. I guess you won't know until baby is here. Good luck!

ShannyFann

There's this training tool called a static mat you can look into if your goal is to keep them away from certain areas. It releases a very mild static shock when stepped on by a cat/small dog to keep them off of things like couches and countertops and stuff.

cali1710

My cat is the same way! She is very nice but very clingy to me. And nothing keeps her away. We dont want to ruin any of her routines and resent the baby for it (like locking her out of the bedroom at night) so were not sure what to do. Oddly enough she cant jump very high so we have the bassinet away from anything she can jump from so were hoping that works. She lays beside me in bed all night but we will see how she is with the baby when she arrives. I see such cute videos about cats and babies bonding and I hope thats them! Obviously if it gets to be a problem we will do what we need (kick her out of the room etc) but I hope it doesnt come to that. I also wonder if she hears the crying maybe she will leave the room on her own haha.

GAgirlinSDakota

We have 4 cats, and really have never done much to get them ready.  One of them hates people in general, so she's always just avoided anything baby/toddler related, and the other three just found away to fit in around baby.

What you can't see in this picture, is there is also a cat on my right shoulder, and another in my lap.  I fed the baby, then we all took a nap in one big cat pile in the recliner.

Hipshaker

I re-homed my cat. I said I wouldn't. But I did. She would not stay out the the babies things the swing the bouncer the baby bath tub, the high hair. I didn't feel like I could shower or take my eyes off the baby for a second around the cat. It was becoming too stressful. The thought of her pawing around in her littler box and getting in the babies drawers and blankets really repulsed me. Which is weird because I never had a problem with it before she had free roam for 5 years. I always tried to keep the doors closed to the rooms I wanted the cat out of but 12-15 daiper changes feeding all hours of the night, it was difficult. I had no time for the cat and felt bad about it. Plus, it made our house feel like prison. A lot of things changed after I had lo. I stopped wearing perfumes and earrings.

ByeByeSpotts

We've been letting the cat explore the nursery so he can get used to it. He knows the crib is a no no and has only gotten in 3 times, and each time he gets as low as possible because he knows he's in trouble lol.

He has claimed the changing table as his bed, and I'm ok with that.

We have the pack n play set up in our room for the baby to sleep and he hasn't touched that at all. He sleeps in our room so we are hoping he will leave the pack n play alone so we don't have to kick him out of the room when the baby comes.

Otherwise, poor Charlie tests all of our baby stuff...lol

teachmegs817

Our one cat could care less about the baby and his things.  Our female cat on the other hand wants to sit on his play mat, and in the glider.  So far, both have stayed out of the crib, stroller, car seat and swing.  They are taking to him quite well and not too phased by him being around. I think they know to stay away from his stuff, other than the couple things I mentioned. 

maureenmce

So far our two cats have shown little to no interest in the baby's room or the baby's stuff, other than one disastrous attempt for our fatter cat to leap to the top of the changing table (she fell, knocked everything down and has been terrified of the changing table every since.)  As for once LO gets here, our older cat is so friendly with babies and strangers, she'll be fine.  Or littler cat is more of an observer and just likes to keep her distance - hang out with everyone in the same room, but from a safe perch.  I don't anticipate either of them being a problem with the baby, especially in the newborn stage.  We're more focused on our dog, because he is our needy one, attention wise.    As the baby gets older, of course we'll have to teach her gentle petting and respecting the animals' space and all of that jazz, but that'll come later.

The only precautions we're really taking is that we're not planning on leaving LO alone with any of the animals, and we're getting a baby gate to keep the pets out when the baby is sleeping in her room. And we did dog training with our dog.  DH will also bring home a hat or something that smells like the baby to introduce her smell to all of the animals before she comes home.

I'm excited for the baby to grow up around cats and a dog!  

Achae

I only caught one of our cats in the crib before and we took to keeping the nursery room door closed. This time around baby is sharing a room with us but I'm not too concerned with the cats. All of our cats like to be around people although our toddler is proving to be too stressful for our youngest cat (improper elimination around house) so we may have to rehome her since she isn't adjusting well. The cat that sleeps by my head all night would paw at me whenever baby cried to wake me up, it was pretty cute.

Are you concerned with smothering or the noises or smells?

mamabear89071516

@ByeByeSpotts we put our cat in the sling we got too! He was chill and just rode around lol.
I'm thinking my cats will be fine, might try to sleep in the crib, but we purposely haven't put the mattress and bedding on it yet so they don't view it as a huge dog proof cat bed. I've also kept some storage tubs upside down in the bassinet so they stay out of that. They don't seem too interested. The cats take turns snuggling my belly, I think they will be ok. It's the jealous dog that I worry about...

mrhargr

If any of you have cats that have anxiety/get stressed easily, Feliway pheromone diffusers are great. They really help reduce anxiety which can be triggered by bringing a newborn home.

ByeByeSpotts

We were using feliway for our cat as he was a feral rescue and was super shy when we first got him. The feliway is on recall as the diffusers were burning? Anywho, we use this stress formula food and have composure treats that help with anxiety too.

mrhargr

ByeByeSpotts said:

We were using feliway for our cat as he was a feral rescue and was super shy when we first got him. The feliway is on recall as the diffusers were burning? Anywho, we use this stress formula food and have composure treats that help with anxiety too.

Hmmm I'm still finding them online. They also make wipes.

ByeByeSpotts

Yeah our vet told us they were recalled so we've been trying to adjust without it, which has actually been ok. I have the little spray for when we need to go to the vet.

alisongem

Our cat has gotten in the crib a couple times but hubby took him out by neck scruff (how mom cats teach their kittens not to do certain things/go certain places) and he must have learned because now he just sleeps under the crib which is fine by me. I'm a little concerned with how he'll react to baby though because he was TERRIFIED of my friends baby and even more so when the baby cried! My anxiety ridden dig did great with that baby though so that's a plus. But yeah I'd try the neck scruff thing (if they're not too big).

yogahh

mrhargr said:

ByeByeSpotts said:

We were using feliway for our cat as he was a feral rescue and was super shy when we first got him. The feliway is on recall as the diffusers were burning? Anywho, we use this stress formula food and have composure treats that help with anxiety too.

Hmmm I'm still finding them online. They also make wipes.

Lurking from May... There are also collars that I found work wonders. Each lasts about a month, but make the cat smell like she is wearing old lady perfume!

ashhsa

I have a crib tent- will take it down at some point- it's more so the cat gets used to not going in the crib. I come home tomorrow I've had a long hospital stay- so I hope the cat adjusts well- I've been sending home stuff with baby smells on-we will find out very soon!!

fishee333

I'm worried about our cats too... Mainly about them smothering because they loooove to cuddle and when they arent cuddlimg, they are constantly either in the crib or the bassinet. We can't lock them out of our room or the nursery either because we have an old house and the doors won't physically close. Hiring a "door guy" or something is on my to do list but not a priority just quite yet. I am thinking about looking into getting a cool new cat bed just for kitties that may be more appealing for them than baby stuff. Spray stuff for anxiety has worked with them in the past so I'm hopeful that will work with helping them get adjusted to the baby when she arrives.

Shortcircuit1984

My two kittens are napping in the crib as we speak. I haven't put the bedding on it yet and the mattress is still covered in plastic. I tried tinfoil and water guns but they don't really care. They sleep where they please. I've given up and am hoping they are a little scared of the baby. I don't think they'll try sleeping with him. I also can't close them out. We're sharing a room with baby and our kittens sleep with us. I'm just going to see how it goes. We'll make sure there is plenty of love and attention to go around. They are our babies too.

TurtleMeg

They make crib covers that are mesh, breathable material that specifically keep cats out of cribs. We also put a baby gate in front of the nursery and only let the cats come in with us to explore. This way we can control where they go. One of my cats sounds a lot like yours...not phased by much like tin foil, etc. I think she will be fine when baby comes because she is so unphased. You can also find baby crying sounds on YouTube to play for your cats to get used to the baby noises. Otherwise, my only other advice is don't force the relationship. Your cats will come around when they are ready. They already know something is about to happen. Animals can sense that kind of thing. And please don't rehome your cats They didn't do anything wrong...