those with furbabies... how are they holding up?
PotomacSt
member
If you have pets, how are they adjusting to having a new baby in the house? How are you managing taking care of a newborn and a pet?
My dog, a 70 lb female Dutch Shepard, has been (mostly) great with the baby... she's curious and sniffs the baby, then decides she has no interest and walks off. She's acting depressed though, and I'm not sure what to do. She was used to being alone 8 + hours a day while we were at work. Now I'm home all day, but she spends more time in the backyard. She's actually alone less, but getting less attention when she is in the house, and she's doing weird things like sleeping with her head under our bed (she normally sleeps next to the front door as she loves playing guard dog) and when we close the door, laying outside of it crying.
I am trying to save a few minutes a day to take her on a quick walk or take her outside to play fetch, but it's hard, especially when DH doesn't come home til 10 PM two nights a week when he has class. Not sure what to do... hopefully one of thse days I'll be coordinated enough to push the stroller and walk the dog at the same time.
Re: those with furbabies... how are they holding up?
Our animals (2 cats, 1 golden retriever) are doing great. It was an adjustment at first for everyone. The cats were unsure and the dog was afraid of the baby. Now the cats could care less and the dog shares his bones and toys with the baby (kind of gross when I find a chewed on bone in her lap in the RNP but I guess it's his way of accepting her).
As far as giving everybody their usual attention goes, I take the dog on my evening walk and DH plays fetch with him. The cats get petted and cuddled in the evening when I go to bed and the baby is asleep.
Collins and Ziva (dogs) are doing great. When E cries Collins whines at her and then comes and whines at DH or I if we haven't gotten to her yet. Ziva just wants to lick her, which makes her stop crying so I'm not entirely against it....
As far as the attention goes, we try to make sure we take them for a walk every night and they went to doggie daycare yesterday so they could have some fun and I wouldn't have to worry about them.
My two cats have adjusted better than I expected.
One is the protector and is in the room wherever LO is... It is pretty cute. The other one hates the world and sulks most of the time but she is coming around. She was mom's #1 up until a little over a week ago when LO arrived. They haven't jumped in anything where LO is (which I am glad for) and they just stare at her if she is crying... The protector looks at me like, "Okay mom, fix it -- why is that little cat with no fur making all of that racket?"
My dog, Leinie, is a 70 lb yellow lab and is super curious about LO.. she gets up in the middle of the night and sniffs around when I change and feed. She's pretty gentle and seems to be adjusting well, but I end up telling her to "go lay down" when I'm dealing with a crying infant and feel bad. She definitely is getting less attention now...
I hope your dog starts to feel better! They are our first babies, aren't they?
LMAO!!
This is all making me miss our cat. We got rid of her after we found out we were expecting because the fleas were horrible & we couldn't get rid of them. She's now living outside on a lady's property with other cats. People I know take pics of her sometimes & she looks a lot better & seems to be happy. I just have to worry about my mom's dog adjusting to LO once she's here.