How are you all preparing your pets?

SailorPink · August 2009

Hi everyone! I have 2 awesome cats, but I am terrified that they are going to be upset or worse, dangerous, when baby arrives. Specifically I am worried about my little cat. (She's small, fluffy, chatty and likes to sleep on my head - and now my belly). My big cat (black, lazy, 18lbs of muscle and beautiful) is not so much of a worry because she's pretty aloof and cool with whatever goes down.

Has anyone had trouble with pets adjusting?

Is anyone else worried about this?

Thanks!

Hopefull11 · August 2009

I will be taking it one day at a time. We have three dogs. Two of which are still fairly young and in their puppy stage. I won't know how they are around babies untill I bring ours home.

Dani11 · August 2009

I am a little worried about my kitten. He is declawed and fixed but still a hyper little thing. I have heard that is the Manx in him. But he is very curious and needs to "investigate" everything. my main problem with him is that he likes to play bite. My DH and I have been trying to get him to stop, and he doesn't do it very hard, but I am afraid he will do this with LO. I guess we will have to see. I would hate to have to give him to my Mom, but I can't risk having him hurt LO. I would be devastated though, Bosco is my baby...I spoil him rotten..I got him thinking "well he can be my baby seeing as we wont have a real one for a while"..LOL, well that didn't go as planned.

dib · August 2009

I am totally worried. My cat is 13 and HATES children (he's VERY friendly with adults). We're hoping that, since he'll be introduced to the LO when he's harmless to the cat, he'll get used to the baby and become more protective than frightened and defensive.

My SIL's cats guarded my nephew when he was an infant. It was very cute.

bmstee03 · August 2009

I have two Dogs. Kitten is a 10 yr old yorkie/maltese. She weighs 7lbs and hates all children. She just can not handle them because they are usually too rough. We plan on keeping her seperate from the baby as much as possible for her safety. Simba is an 80lb lab mix and LOVES kids. When we have our nephew over he sleeps next to the pack n play. He will be allowed around the baby as long as he doesnt get too excited. He has already made a habit of sleeping in the nursery. I think Kitten will be fine with the baby after she gets used to it. We will just have to wait and see.

BooBahs · August 2009

I am not worried about the cats except when it comes to sleeping arrangement. We are going to skip the bassinet and put the crib in our room because 1. the cats will be too fat to jump in the crib and 2. the dogs won't be able to snout into the crib as easy as they could the bassinet.

I am terrified about our one dog as he has started acting really bizarre in the last two months. He has started trying to do a running jump whenever I walk in the door (he used to do this as a puppy but we trained him to sit and wait) and he has been destroying the house a little bit every day. So far it has just been toss pillows, some tchotkes and some books but it seems to be escalating the more pregnant I get.

DH will be bringing home blankets from the hospital for the scent but I don't know what to do with the dog now unless we drug him or put him back into the kennel.

colliedog · August 2009

AshPal61:

DH will be bringing home one of the hospital blankets with baby's scent on it for our pugs. Hopefully they'll remember the smell when baby comes home.

I was going to write exactly this! We are going to put the blanket on the floor and split it between the beds so hopefully they'll be use to the smell of LO.

SailorPink · August 2009

thanks everyone! I like the hospital blanket idea. our kitties act like puppies around new smells so that might help ease the transition!

swimrbride · August 2009

Our dog has been around little kids and babies frequently so I am more worried about her feeling like she is left out and being neglected than being dangerous. But we plan on letting her sniff all of the baby stuff she wants before the baby gets here so she is used to the new stuff. Then once baby is here giving her the freedom to check out the baby whenever she wants (obviously as long as we are there supervising). And just making sure that she is getting plenty of attention from each of us (when one person has the baby the other has the dog).

melvolcom · August 2009

colliedog:
AshPal61:

DH will be bringing home one of the hospital blankets with baby's scent on it for our pugs. Hopefully they'll remember the smell when baby comes home.
I was going to write exactly this! We are going to put the blanket on the floor and split it between the beds so hopefully they'll be use to the smell of LO.

THIS! I too have a puppy, she will be a little over one when our LO arrives but I am still worried because we call her "baby girl" and she sleeps with us. I am convinced she thinks she's human, but I am so worried about her. We have contemplated getting her a playmate to keep her company.

AmandaToo · August 2009

Dani11:
I am a little worried about my kitten. He is declawed and fixed but still a hyper little thing. I have heard that is the Manx in him. But he is very curious and needs to "investigate" everything. my main problem with him is that he likes to play bite. My DH and I have been trying to get him to stop, and he doesn't do it very hard, but I am afraid he will do this with LO. I guess we will have to see. I would hate to have to give him to my Mom, but I can't risk having him hurt LO. I would be devastated though, Bosco is my baby...I spoil him rotten..I got him thinking "well he can be my baby seeing as we wont have a real one for a while"..LOL, well that didn't go as planned.

For curing play biting, have you tried reacting by pushing the finger (or whatever) he's biting into his mouth instead of retracting it? It worked for our cats. When you pull back, it's more like play/hunting. If you haven't tried it, it might help. You don't have to push hard or hurt him, just don't react by pulling back.

ibis · August 2009

AshPal61:
DH will be bringing home one of the hospital blankets with baby's scent on it for our pugs. Hopefully they'll remember the smell when baby comes home.

I've heard from a dog & baby expert that this is just an urban myth and doesn't do anything.

My dog has been around babies and small children so I'm not too worried, but of course we will be on top of things. His problem could potentially be that he seems to think of himself as the nanny and won't ever stay away from the baby when necessary (like feeding & sleeping times).

This is kind of silly but once a week or so we bring out the bouncy seat we bought, with a doll in it wearing baby clothes, and we just set it on the living room floor while we watch TV so he'll get used to it (and not eat the dangly toys on it). He whines a lot, sniffs the "baby," and then comes to press up against me and get petted. So I imagine there will be an adjustment period....

aocain02@yahoo.com · August 2009

My dog was fine with my niece when she was a baby but my dog was a puppy at the time. We're not going to do anything special but will take it as it comes. My dog is a people lover so we're hoping she is ok. She has been super attached to me since I founs out I was pregnant.

MrsChowBella · August 2009

We have two dogs, one small boston terrier and a larger boxer. Both of them are good with kids and but haven't been around babies much - still, I'm not too worried. The thing I worry most about is the baby's toys and the dog's toys!

A hospital class we took told us to do the blanket/towel thing so that the dogs would be familiar with the baby's scent (keep in mind, you'll probably be in the hospital for a few days, and your pets will wonder where you are). We've also heard that we should buy a life-size/small doll and start treating it like a "real baby" so that the dogs get used to having an extra small someone around... we plan on doing that in the next month or so.

Dani11 · August 2009

Thanks for the response! I have tried this, and it doesn't seem to do much, or maybe I am not doing it "hard" enough. My sister told me to do to do this as well. I have also tried water..but he likes water. I have also tried flicking his nose...that just aggravates him. I now just push him away when he does it, and stop playing with him. I am hoping this should help, I am also hopping it is just a kitten thing. But if you have any more ideas, feel free to let me know, I appreciate it!

Married2MrWright · August 2009

AshPal61:

DH will be bringing home one of the hospital blankets with baby's scent on it for our pugs. Hopefully they'll remember the smell when baby comes home.

I've seen my one dog with other babies and she's just curious and stares at them or sits next to them.

This.

We have two pugs, by the way and a cat. And my mom is living with us and has two chihuahuas. I have read that you should introduce baby by smell first (let them smell the baby's blanket, etc.). Then, have the non-pack leader (i.e. other than the pet parent) bring the baby in and introduce him/her to the pets. So we plan to have my mom bring the baby into the house. There are some books detailing this if you want more information.

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