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February 2012 Moms
future mil vent wants me to get rid of my pets!
I have two cats and a dog. I've had the cats for 8 years, one of them since she was a few days old that I bottle fed and hand raised. I have had my dog (a boxer/mastiff mix) for 4 years. My future mil in keeps telling me that I need to get rid of or put my animals outside because the cats are going to "steal the babies breath" and my dog is going to hear the baby crying and this is going to wake his hunting instinct and he is going to attack and kill the baby. I think this is all bull.
She even got my fiance on board! I finally told them that the animals were non-negotiable in my life but they were and they have all backed off but I'm sure it will come around again. UGH. I have agreed to get a screened topper for the crib so the cats will not be able to get into it when the baby is sleeping, but I have never heard of my friends with cats having problems.
I have never seen an ounce of aggression out of my dog. He's been around friends small children, not really babies, but they have definately had tantrums around him and climb all over him pulling his tail and ears and he just loves it. Never done more than cry when they hurt him.
I just think this is ridiculous and needed to vent.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: future mil vent wants me to get rid of my pets!
I sorta know how you feel.
My ILs are dog people. They have 3, ill-behaved, dirty, barking, jumping (the list could go on forever) dogs. I love dogs...just not theirs.
When I was pregnant w/ Buggie, they thought my 2 cats were going to smother her. They kept telling DH that he should make me give them away. It was ridiculous. My cats are very well-behaved. Thank goodness I stood my ground (not like I would ever give up my kit-cats). The one cat is my DD's favorite pal. When she gets tired, she gets her blankie & lays her head on the cat's belly. It's precious. I can't imagine her not having a pet (especially such a good one).
It's an old wives tale that cats steal infants' breath in their sleep. Obviously, totally unfounded. I don't think the nets are for crazy people who believe in breath stealing, but instead are for curious cats who might cause trouble.
As for the OP, is there any chance you can tell your MIL you took the pets to a pet psychic and the pet psychic told you the animals are ready to protect your baby? If you believe in cats stealing breath, there's a good chance you also believe in pet psychics...
Actually they are animal people, they have a ranch, but they believe an animals place is outside. His mom doesn't like cats though. She says that cats kill babys by sticking the cats head in the babies face/mouth and taking all the oxygen away. I could see a cat accidentally suffacating the baby as I know people who have cats who sleep on thier heads/faces/pillow and a baby wouldn't be able to move them, but mine do not do that.
I couldn't imagine giving up my animals, they are part of my family.
That must be adorable! I have high hopes for mine. Right now my little cat who I hand raised tries to mother my dog, she sleeps with him and grooms him and if I don't realize he is at the door waiting to come in she will even meow to alert me!
Same with ours, I'm not a fan of thier dogs because they are not well behaved. They have a big rotty mix and I've seen him go after my fiance's friends. He likes me but I'm still nervous around him. My dog is well socialized and been through training. I of course will be vigilant when we bring the baby home, but I would be extremely surprised if he became aggresive.
LOL I might try that!!
This is an awesome answer, although I think the way OP told her fiance and MIL that pets are non-negotiable but they are was really good too!
The ASPCA website has some great tips on how cats and babies interact (https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/cats-and-babies.aspx sorry Firefox won't let me make it clicky)--maybe e-mail it to your fiance and tell him to tell his mother to back the F off. I'm sure there are other reassuring websites out there as well to let them know they are being completely and totally ridiculous about this.
Stealing the baby's breath is a very very old idea. It comes from Colonial days when they had many superstitions. One of them was that a cat could do just that- take a baby's breath and make it ill, or suffocate it by inhaling its breath. This is thought to happen because of jealousy for the new little one and the attention it gets.
I would keep the cover for the crib to keep the cats out- perhaps it would help keep hair out and make your MIL happy. Otherwise, it is utter bunk.
I have no idea about the dog. You know it best.
We have two dogs and a cat. The "stealing breath" thing is fear they will lay on baby's face and cause suffocation. I just made sure our cat was NOT in room when I closed the door for nap, and I had the net thing in living on bassinet/happy camper. And I, actually, read somewhere that a cat would never do that. Altho, my sister's cat sleeps on top of her head. LOL So, I just didn't want to take the chance- more at an accidental scratching.
One time, hubs did something and scare the CRAP out of DS when he was teeny, he let out this BLOODCURDLING terrified scream and our cat jumped up and went to try to pick him up by the "scruff" of his neck to save him from hubs! LOL They are BFF's.
Our dogs are more outdoors now, and that's OK with them. This was my issue, after one of them pooped and then I realized they sit with their non-cleaned poophole right on the carpet my baby is laying on and putting mouth on. LOL! Plus, we took in my bro's dog and he is not a friend to the cats. I suppose that's the real reason. He just can't NOT go after her! LOL And so now they come in when she's in "her room" for awhile(the office) and we play with them outside.
Animals are fine. It's just some people are morons who don't think. LOL My son's best friends are his fur friends.
This is exactly what I have heard. Just keep the cats out of the baby's room. I would not give up my dog either. He is part of the family. Good for you for standing your ground.
"When the world says, 'Give up,' Hope whispers, 'Try one more time.'" -Anonymous
I'd be pissed. My parents have an English Mastiff, it survived me nannying a little boy from the time he was 2 1/2 months until 9 months without having some 'hunting instinct'. Once the little boy learned to crawl, he crawled all over our mastiff and she never cared. It now hears my sister's newborn girl cry every weekend almost, she doesn't even get up nevermind 'hunt' her.
My SO and I have a pitbull and a pitbull/german shepherd mix. His parents think they are horrible, awful, attacking dogs but they've never done anything. A friend of ours always has her 19 month old daughter in the backyard with them and although they follow her around sometimes, they never knock her over or get aggressive with her. She even walks around with food and they don't try to mess with her but it never fails that when his parents notice they freak out and lock the dogs up 'before they bite her'. It's stupid. But they know better than to ever try to make us give up our dogs, SO's gotten in a few fights with them over that in the past.
That's exactly how I feel about my cat. I've made that plenty clear to everyone who knows me. I think that the screen topper on the crib is a reasonable compromise and one that I might do myself. If your pets have never been around children (especially cats) then it's really hard to say how they will react. My cat doesn't think that anyone under 3 years of age is human yet. Plenty of people have pets with very young children. I think that the biggest thing is that you don't want to change your life totally and completely for your child because I have seen it happen far too often where that eventually turns into resentment towards the kids. Kids and pets can be taught to co-exist!