Any cat ladies out there?

kitandcat

I am a proud "crazy cat lady" ... Cat mom to two furry babes!! Charley and Jedi (pronounced "Jetty", because we're weird!) Anyone else out there a cat lover? What have you done to get your kitties ready for LO? Have they had any behavioral issues or changes since you've become pregnant? Cute cat pics to share?!

Our hospital gave us a hand out at one of our classes about getting your cats ready. It suggested letting your cats get into the baby stuff for awhile, and then once they've had a chance to investigate, then start training them to stay out of the places you don't want them. So ours have been hanging out in the crib, in the pack in play, etc for about a month... and then maybe about a week or so ago we put tin foil in the crib and the pack n play. I assumed the idea is that they jump into it, get freaked out, and then don't want to jump back into it. But apparently a fear of tin foil is built into their kitty genes LOL ever since we put the foil down they haven't even attempted to jump in! ONE TIME one of my cats jumped up onto the rail of the crib, purposefully not jumping inside, and he walked all around the outside, just looking at the foil, and jumped back down. I can't decide if this is good or bad :-) Will they continue to stay out once the foil is gone and the baby is in there?! We shall see!! 

One of my cats, who turned 6 yesterday (yes- we celebrate kitty birthdays!!), has never ever had problems peeing outside the litter box. He's the best behaved cat in the world But for a month or two he's been peeing in our front family room. After shampooing the carpets a couple times and moving one of the litter boxes to where he's been peeing, I think he's finally stopped. I asked the vet about it and she checked him out and he doesn't seem to have any bladder issues, pain, etc, so she's thinking it's just behavioral. Coincidentally it's right about the time we started filling the house with baby stuff that he started doing it. Poor guy :-( 

Otherwise not many differences!! A lot of people say their cats start behaving more affectionately towards them, like they KNOW they're pregnant, but mine have always followed me around and hang out/sit/lay where ever I am so I haven't noticed too much difference. 

My favorite thing so far is their interest in all the baby stuff. If I buy them a new toy, or a cat bed, they A) ignore it forever, pee on it and then I have to throw it away, or C) ignore it for 6 months and then FINALLY use it. Every baby related item we bring into the house they immediately want to lay on, play with, etc. It's hilarious! They love the rug in the nursery, they're oddly obsessed with the rocking chair... They also love to sit in the sort of mini "rock n play" that came with our pack n play, and yesterday I bought a basket for our newborn pics to put LO in... seriously the second I got home Charley was lounging in it, like THIS IS MINE! 

Can you tell I love cats!!?? I want to hear about yours!! Here are somee glorious cat pics for your Monday morning!!

saladflambe

We've got 3 cats here. They're definitely super sensitive to change, but we haven't had any behavioral issues (knock on wood) yet. I've played recordings of a baby crying, and I've had people bring their babies/kids to the house. I'm more anxious about toddlerdom than infant (although I'm hoping a kid raised around cats is a bit more gentle than one who is seeing cats for like the first time). I admit when my SIL brought her toddler over, I was ridiculously anxious watching that kid try to grab at/pick up/etc. my cats absolutely constantly. They were very tolerant, but I'm not OK with that kind of behavior... but... we have some time before that stage.

We're basically taking it one stage/thing at a time. They've been fine with me being pregnant. They're curious about the nursery, but I don't let them in there really and don't plan to when the baby is here (they don't go in our bedroom either). We shall see...and soon

yogahh

My cat doesn't seem that concerned by any of it. I have played baby crying videos and she just puts her head back down and goes back to sleeping. She does LOVE the baby's room, so I put a cat bed in there for her. She now will sit in front of the door, just so I open it and she goes right to her bed. She hasn't tried to get into the crib or PNP or on the changing table. I do think she will try to take the activity mat as her own once it is set up. She is a super good and sweet girl, but she was feral when I got her. Yesterday was her 8 year anniversary with me (!) and she only started to come out of her shell in the past few years. I do worry she will regress a bit and try to hide, but DH is SOOO good with her, I know she will gravitate to him if he gives her a little time to allow her to adjust.

And a dose of kitty cuteness....this was our FB announcement. See, she cant wait to be a big sister!

saladflambe

Oh I suppose I have to share that one of my cats HAS claimed the bump...

This is Luna. She's 6 (had her for 4 years). My other cats are Buzzy (who is turning 10 this fall; had him since 4 months old) and Graham (who is 13 years old; had him for 2 years - he's technically a foster cat).

saladflambe

Ohfine here's buzzy and graham

Charla1224

We're cat folks too and I've been curious about how she'll do when LO arrives. Our Sacha is a scaredy cat. She doesn't come out when guest are here. We have been playing crying sounds for her which she seems to not mind. We also set up our baby equipment early so she could get use to it. She loves sleeping under the crib (I think it's because it has a skirt). Surprisingly the cribs been up since February and she's never jumped in. The only thing she crawls into is the bouncer and she bats around the little sheep that hang from it.
I'm most concerned about her love DH and getting jealous that he's giving LO attention. Fx that all goes well. 

Spylon

We've got two cats, a five year old male (white) and a four year old female (tabby). The only behavioural changes I've noticed have been good ones, knock on wood: in the last few weeks our female has really calmed down, especially at night. She used to wake us up so often, it was really stressful. And she's gotten much more cuddly with me. Our male has always been cuddly, and he grew out of his bad kitten habits early. As for the baby furniture, only my female has shown interest. She's tried to sleep in everything lol. 

My friend has brought her baby over several times. The male shows zero interest or stress. He doesn't worry me for the baby stage, but we'll have to keep an eye on him during the toddler stage. He's not a fan of toddlers. The female seems pretty scared of babies, so I doubt she'll try to climb in the furniture once there's a baby in it. But we'll see! I love these two silly furballs. They are so entertaining. 

LondonToSavannah

Maynard doing his best Blue Steel. He likes to help incubate my bump.

jageller

We have a kitty too! She'll be 10 in September, and DH rescued her from the street at a few months old. She's never been a lap/bed cat, so we're not too concerned with her getting in the baby things, and thus far she's shown no interest in the crib, high chair or glider. We are concerned that she'll act out by throwing up, puking and pooing all over the place, since she's done that every time we make a change in the furniture/layout of the house in the lead-up to the baby. Also, we think she's put on sympathy weight! Here she is before she packed 'em on

KKnight1154

We have 3 kitties. The first one is very shy and won't come out from under our bed if she notices there are more than 2 sets of feet in the house. We're curious to see if she does the same thing once LO gets here. Our second one is a different story. We found her and her siblings when she was a few days old and had to bottle feed them because mom was too sick to do it herself. My dad adopted the 2 boys and we kept the girl. She is into everything in the baby's room but once we decided to keep the door open she seems more used to everything and doesn't really go in there much now. I'm hoping it stays that way. I am worried about how she'll handle the baby because she is madly in love with my husband and hates it when his attention gets pulled away from her. We kept mom as well but she hates being in the house so she's out more than she's in. 

PYLWhammy

I love cat pics! Here's my Becky. I've had her for five years and we've been through a lot in that time (three moves, DH moving in, a dog, and now a baby!). She's certainly intrigued by all the baby stuff, and we're letting her sniff around. She wasn't too interested in the crib - just jumped for a few seconds then jumped out. She's a really good, adaptable cat, and we've spent much more time considering how the dog is going to adjust to baby.
This first pic is of her sleeping in my arms, she is such a cuddlebutt.

arj14

We have a Charlie cat too!  He was almost two when we adopted him, and we've had him a little over a year and a half.  He's always been super cuddly, so we haven't really seen a change on that front.  We're still getting baby stuff put together, but yesterday was the first time he was in the Baby's room since we started and he was definitely checking things out.  He loves being in the middle of things.  He did jump in the crib about 3 - 4 times, so I'm not sure what we're going to do about that - I put the question out there on FB about aluminium foil and got several answers that that hadn't worked for their cats and they had used shock mats (???).  We are getting his yearly check-up done tomorrow so we will also be asking the vet about cat-proofing.

Normal snuggle position:



There's a place at the Renaissance Faire that sells cat-sized hats!  I don't care, it's adorable.  He got to take it off after a few pictures

salbb

I didn't really prep cat for meeting baby and as baby was 4 weeks early we all got thrown into it!!

have to say the cat is jealous of the baby, she used to always snuggle me and is not happy baby has taken her place. I hope she cuddles with us soon but she is wary of his noises just now. Doing our best to still give her as much time as before but it's hard just now as baby needs so much of our attention. 

cat treats and affection as much as we can in the meantime! To be fair also an adjustment someone being home all day I should imagine!!

Love the cat hats 

artteacher19

Our kitties have been our babies for 8 years now. They're family. Kaczpar, the gray one, was diagnosed with diabetes in December but he's now in remission and loves using his renewed strength to climb (a new adventure for him!) Our other kitty is Abner - she's been my little angel for 8 years now too, as you can see from my profile pic. When I got her, I had initially went for her brother - but little 6-week old Abby crawled up my chest, burrowed into my neck and began kneading and suckling. Her mom was killed by a coyote... So she has some adorable but annoying addiction issues with me... We love them both madly! 

We made a point to set up all baby stuff ASAP, and have had it all covered with foil since March. We recently uncovered the PNP and 4moms, and they're ignoring them. No crib issues after initial set-up but Abby is obsessed with the nursery room. They're both being clingy, but it's hard to tell bc they were before. Though maybe more now? Who knows. K still bites me when I play a baby crying noise, so we're a bit worried about that. Hoping it'll go smoothly! 

jenashawn

So this is a pic my husband took of me recently after I passed out in the recliner with my kitty GusGus. He's been my baby since I got him about 12 years ago when he was a kitten. He likes to be carried around like a baby, so I'm guessing he's going to be a bit jealous of the baby. We'll see. He's a super laid back cat though, so hopefully it won't be too bad. We have two other cats that were my husband's before we got married, and also a big ol Lab Mutt. Should be interesting around here once the baby shows up!  I do think that all the cats atleast know that something is up. They are all being super affectionate and want to hang out around in me in a circle when I am home.

kitandcat

So much cuteness in all of these pics!!! @arj14 I have a coworker that suggests putting big double sided tape on cardboard also and laying that down in the crib - that's another good suggestion!! Right now my cats aren't bothered by the nursery door being shut, but in general they don't like closed doors when people are inside... so if the cats try and bang on the door while LO is sleeping then I will most definitely be figuring out how to put up cardboard with double sided tape on the door!! Aluminum foil is definitely working to keep the cats out right now, but I just have no idea if they will continue to stay out once the foil is out and baby is in :-) We will see!!

I haven't played any baby noises yet... that's a good idea, I should try it!! 

I love when the cats hang out with the bump, it's my favorite!! Here's a couple... and our FB announcement that we were having a boy!!  

mmemartinez

I'm super jealous of all of you! With DS1 we had a cat and he was amazing with everything - sweet to the baby and not invasive at all. He passed and a few months later we got two brother cats. We had them for about 2 years. The INSTANT I got pregnant, not even visibly, just BFP, they were peeing on everything. We had to take them back to the shelter They were the sweetest kitties and it really sucked. DS keeps asking about a getting a new cat too, and after being a cat person my whole life I have no idea if we will have one again

yogahh

jenbkc said:

So this is a pic my husband took of me recently after I passed out in the recliner with my kitty GusGus. He's been my baby since I got him about 12 years ago when he was a kitten. He likes to be carried around like a baby, so I'm guessing he's going to be a bit jealous of the baby. We'll see. He's a super laid back cat though, so hopefully it won't be too bad. We have two other cats that were my husband's before we got married, and also a big ol Lab Mutt. Should be interesting around here once the baby shows up!  I do think that all the cats atleast know that something is up. They are all being super affectionate and want to hang out around in me in a circle when I am home.

Awwwww he reminds me of my Henry who passed away 2 years ago. Henry was a HUGE mush too and thought he was my baby.

PYLWhammy

Aww, Henry looks like such a sweetie. Sorry for your loss.

rlworzalla

These are our 3 adopted rascals.  Precious (the first one, the large calico) can't get into any of the baby furniture due to her weight, so we haven't had any worries about that.  She's very skiddish around loud noises, so we've played baby cries on our phone, but she just looks around.  Candice (the orange one) can't stand children - she just runs and hides.  We're hoping she will acclimate to the baby, but she may just end up being one that isn't very affectionate to him.  She has become very cuddly to me lately, snuggling at night, which is out of her norm.  We've had to keep her out of the crib, as she's been trying to sleep in it, but she prefers the glider in the nursery now, which is fine.  Becky (the small calico) is so nonchalant that besides trying to sleep in the PNP, she doesn't really do anything with the baby stuff.  She's rarely in the nursery and when my friend brought her 2 month old over, she sniffed his feet and walked away.  I'm thinking we're pretty set!

NinnyJean

We adopted our cat two years ago, she's around seven or eight. She's wicked snuggly and needs to have you cradle her when she lays on you. We haven't played any baby noises for her but I don't worry about her, besides getting jealous that we can't hold her as often. She's always claimed the nursery as her own because it gets the best sun but thankfully she's lazy and fat so doesn't try jumping in the crib or on the dresser. She slept in the bouncy seat until we got the glider and now she lives in that 

PYLWhammy

@rlworzalla ahh you have a Becky too! Your cats are beautiful - I have a special love of calicos as I had one for 19 years until she passed.

1mae2016

LondonToSavannah said:

Maynard doing his best Blue Steel. He likes to help incubate my bump.

Ahh! I love that his tongue is out. Too cute! @LondonToSavannah

vinerie

Ok, I am a died-in-the-wool dog person, but I must admit, you all's cats are ridiculously cute! 

jenashawn

yogahh said:

jenbkc said:

So this is a pic my husband took of me recently after I passed out in the recliner with my kitty GusGus. He's been my baby since I got him about 12 years ago when he was a kitten. He likes to be carried around like a baby, so I'm guessing he's going to be a bit jealous of the baby. We'll see. He's a super laid back cat though, so hopefully it won't be too bad. We have two other cats that were my husband's before we got married, and also a big ol Lab Mutt. Should be interesting around here once the baby shows up!  I do think that all the cats atleast know that something is up. They are all being super affectionate and want to hang out around in me in a circle when I am home.

Awwwww he reminds me of my Henry who passed away 2 years ago. Henry was a HUGE mush too and thought he was my baby.

Aw! Goodness, they do bear a striking resemblance! I'm so sorry for your loss.

Nicbert1214

Cat lady here! I have 2, Finn, male orange tabby who just turned 3 last week and Sammie, female maincoon mix who will be 2 in a few weeks. I rescued both from neighborhood fosters  I haven't really done too much to prepare them, but Finn has been jumping into the crib and Sammie has been jumping into the bassinet. It's gets annoying because they shed so much, I just hope once LO gets here, they don't continue to jump into these things. I have tried foil in the past, but Finn isn't bothered by anything, so it's difficult to deter him from doing things. I think Sammie will run away from LO when he cries- she doesn't like loud noises. Finn on the other hand I think will cuddle up next to him

rlworzalla

I loooooove seeing all these cats!  @PYLWhammy - we never changed any of our cat's names when we adopted them.  Most people look at us weird when we say Precious because the other two have such 'normal' sounding names, but oh well! 

arj14

I love seeing all the Kitty pictures! 

@kit&cat thanks for the cardboard and tape suggestion!  Our cat is the same, he hates being shut out of rooms he knows we're in.  He also likes to bang on the bedroom side of the bathroom door to wake us up at ungodly hours, so I think that will make a good test run for Baby's door!

On another note, I am a little worried about going overboard with cat-related stuff for Baby...

Dasha420

I have one little furball. She's a year old. So far she tried to get in the crib but only managed to walk the railing for a short time before falling off. She hasn't been inside. I thought it was a good thing but after reading some of these posts- I'm thinking should I put her in there? 

I dont know. I don't want her to get in there when the baby arrives. 
As for the other gear and furniture- we haven't assembled it yet and won't until after the baby is born. 

I made her a warm little spot in our bedroom that she loves just so she can have her own while the baby will have her own. She's really sweet and has been from the beginning so I am not too worried but there is a thought in my head "what if her behavior changes"? What then? Oh well. Time will tell. 

Victoria52516

We have had our two boys for almost a year Lurkey is the bigger one we saved as a kitten from the side of the road in Maine while visiting my Dad, and Bugsy I got from a lady at work because I knew Lurkey needed a friend. They are great with my SO niece Lurkey hides and watches hence his name he loves hiding and watching and Bugsy because he has little black spots on his white paws that look like bugs lol. Bugsy will run away when shes walking around but if shes sitting he will come snuggle. So we are not supper worried but we are hopefully closing on a house before she gets here so they haven't had a chance to investigate any baby stuff since we are leaving it packed. We had a feeling something was up right before I took the test because Lurkey would hang out with me in the recliner but at night sleep across the room and then all the suden he was sleeping on me at night. Now my SO is freaking out because they have been my little shadows the last few days, both laying down with me in bed and both with me in the recliner usually its just Lurkey while in the recliner and Bugsy while Im in bed lol Hopefully she stays cooking till the 18 after we close and move, we will see!

camillaandcarson

I adore my cat! And so does LO! 

LO knows how to treat cats gently and respectfully and the cat has been super close BFF with LO from the day I brought "her" baby home from the hospital. 

We we own dogs too but the relationship with cat and baby/toddler has been the best; really something sweet to watch over the years. 

camillaandcarson

Oh and my cat really is attached to my pregnancies too. I think it is the extra body heat. She will not ever leave me alone it seems!  It honestly gets ridiculous. But she is a good natured cat in general and very outgoing/attention seeking.

camillaandcarson

saladflambe  I'm more anxious about toddlerdom than infant (although I'm hoping a kid raised around cats is a bit more gentle than one who is seeing cats for like the first time). I admit when my SIL brought her toddler over, I was ridiculously anxious watching that kid try to grab at/pick up/etc. my cats absolutely constantly. 

My LO never carries cats around, they aren't dolls. LO respects live animals even as a toddler. So there is stuff you can do to help your toddler learn how to act appropriately around animals, yours and others. 

I would never let mine do that to another persons cats and wouldn't let another toddler terrorize my pets in my home either. I would put the pets away if I saw it was going to be a problem or at the very least make sure the cats have a place to be completely out of reach (via baby gate or whatever). 

Tawny87

Lurking from June:

I want to squeeze everyone's kitties!!! We have 3 cats as well as a golden retriever. I can definitely tell my cats know something is "different" about me. They are constantly on me or at my side, just like last time with my twin pregnancy. They certainly helped make the bed rest more bearable. When o had my twins the cats took right too them and my male orange tabby would always be as close to them as he could possibly be, and still is always at their side at 2 1/2.  Orange cat is Oliver, grey is Annie and black and white is Charlotte.

Sienna516

We have 2 kitties, Olivia & Lily. Olivia adores my husband and I adopted her from an animal shelter. She's about 6 years old or so and is the one with the white tummy and is bigger. So far this pregnancy she has been cuddling with me a lot more. Lily adores me and we got her from a farm. They gave her to us too early, so she's always sucked her tail. She's about 4 years old and chases around Olivia more than she cares for. I've wanted to get more cats, but hubby won't let me.

They don't like changes and took a week to get used to the new couch we got. They are both very skittish and sometimes just hearing the neighbor's car door slam outside sends them running to the basement. They have gotten used to a couple of my husband's (male) friends, but most of the time will stay in the basement until guests are gone. They both have all their claws, but typically don't scratch unless they're distressed/scared. They haven't been sleeping on any of the baby's stuff as far as I can tell. I hear them in the nursery occasionally, but they love to flip toys around on the rugs and we have a rug in there, so it appears that is their only interest right now. I was planning on playing baby cry noises, but I'm due any day now and I don't know if I'll get around to it. We bought them a new cat scratcher & toy this past weekend to give them something new.

amberraysofdawn

Yay for cat pictures! We've had Jack for about eight years now, and Missy for six. 

Jack is a total snugglemonster and is wonderful with kids - will let my niece do just about anything to him - and just lay there and take it. If it gets to be too much, he gets up and goes to another room or jumps somewhere up high where she can't reach. So I'm not worried about how he will be with LO. He's kind of a jerk to Missy though - just yesterday, she was sitting in a basket of towels, and he decided he wanted to be in it. So he poked her until she finally got out so he could hop in. Jack's also a button-pusher. He straight up will not listen sometimes and water bottles do not faze him at all. Thank God he's cute. 

Here he is in our bathroom...he doesn't like it when I'm putting on makeup and therefore not paying attention to him, so I put a towel in a drawer and now he just goes straight there as soon as I open it and curls up. The picture was taken a few years ago, but he still looks just like this.


Missy wasn't ours originally...she kind of came with the house. She'd belonged to the previous owners, but they couldn't take her with them to where they were moving to. Since this was her home already, we decided to keep her. She's very much a feral cat - they found her wondering around a gas station, and her first love will always be the outdoors. It took a year to get her to be comfortable enough to come out of the kitchen and into the living room for more than five seconds (she was closer to the back door and freedom this way), and another year or so before she was coming to us for cuddles. She's still very much a "you don't come to me, I come to you" personality, but she makes up for it tenfold by being an aggressive cuddler. I'm a little more worried about how she'll handle LO though...I'm not worried about jealousy, etc., but I think she'll freak out and try to escape the house as much as she can (she does not like new people at all, whereas Jack is immediately curious and must investigate). I can let Jack outside and count on him coming back in time for dinner, but Missy'll be out there a week before she's ready to come back in. She's been very protective of me throughout this pregnancy though and follows me everywhere. For the first time EVER, she's actually coming all the way into the back of the house to lay next to me in the bed at night! And if she's not sitting with me, she's staring at me. I'd find it creepy if she wasn't such a sweetheart.

Here she is, in the basket of towels I mentioned above:

Dasha420

@artteacher19 you got the mamaroo too! Mine is still in the box. Was it complicated to assemble?
 I just purchased the infant insert. 

kitandcat

@Dasha420 i can't even take how cute that pic is of your kitty all cuddled up in the white comforter. So adorable!!!

Dasha420

Thank you  she rules the household. 

clbness

I just love all these kitty pics and stories!!

I am a pet lady in general, but our 2 cats were MINE before I met DH.  They were with me through some tough times and were truly some therapeutic little furballs.

CJ is my 10 year old, all black, cuddle bug.  The picture below doesn't show how big he really is, but he's a chunk.  I don't worry about him causing any trouble in the nursery or with the baby.  I think he will keep his distance at first, but will slowly make his way into being social with her.  He's such a good boy (for the most part...he has DEFINITELY had his moments).
 

Foxy is my tuxedo lady and she is 9...and diabetic (insulin controlled).  She is the one with some pretty bad behavioral issues.  We moved into our new house in October and she has claimed our downstairs living room carpet as her litter box and our nice new leather furniture as her scratching post (CJ is guilty on the scratching too).  I have her urine tested regularly for infection, so I know that it is behavioral.  We have tried cat attract litter, adding an extra litter box (now have 3, per vet recommendation) and even a pheromone diffuser.  Right now, we have a litter box placed in the middle of the (basement) living room right in front of the treadmill, where her most recent problem area has been.  It is being used daily, I'm just hoping it's being used by her.  We haven't had any issues with the carpet upstairs (therefore, the nursery is safe...for now), as all of it was installed new by us.  The downstairs carpet was used by the previous owners, who had multiple dogs, but was still in good condition, so we kept it.  I just hope she doesn't get even more territorial once baby arrives, because all of this is about to drive DH insane.  I just get emotional at the THOUGHT of having to adopt her out to a little old lady that has nothing to do all day but knit and take care of a diabetic kitty...I just can't.  I'm about to lose my shit just typing it...I just love all my fur babies so much.  
  

saladflambe

camillaandcarson said:

saladflambe  I'm more anxious about toddlerdom than infant (although I'm hoping a kid raised around cats is a bit more gentle than one who is seeing cats for like the first time). I admit when my SIL brought her toddler over, I was ridiculously anxious watching that kid try to grab at/pick up/etc. my cats absolutely constantly. 

My LO never carries cats around, they aren't dolls. LO respects live animals even as a toddler. So there is stuff you can do to help your toddler learn how to act appropriately around animals, yours and others. 

I would never let mine do that to another persons cats and wouldn't let another toddler terrorize my pets in my home either. I would put the pets away if I saw it was going to be a problem or at the very least make sure the cats have a place to be completely out of reach (via baby gate or whatever). 

Yeah I put them away pretty quickly. I couldn't handle seeing them stressed.