so, I have two cats, neither of which are at all aggressive, and I don't want them to not be allowed to be near the baby, I'm just concerned with them possibly getting into the bassinet during the night while I'm sleeping, keeping them out of the room is not really an option for a couple reasons.
I repeat I DO NOT want to exile my cats, I just want to train them to not get into the bassinet. They haven't really seemed all that interested in it when they are around it so far, and this may not be an issue at all, but I was wondering if there is a peace of mind option that can help me to know for sure they aren't going in there at night while I sleep.
I've seen crib tents, and once the baby moves into the crib, we'll probably use that, but until then I've not seen any bassinet options, any suggestions?
Re: keeping cats out of a bassinet?
lol that would work right up until I took the bag out, my cats are freaking smart(well, one if them is anyways), we have a ssscat thing that blows a puff of air at them if they enter a room(we tried it for the nursery) and one of my cats stared at it for a couple days and realized if she ran fast enough past it it wouldn't get her.... we eventually decided to only leave the nursery door open when we are in there.
We actually wont even have a nursery anymore, for a while, once baby moves into the crib(moving into my parents' garage temporarily due to military discharge), though, so baby will be sleeping most nights in the same room as the cats.
Tin foil, fill the bassinet up with it. I left some in the crib for long time before DS was born and it work, the cat never went in there. You think they are smart, but you scare them badly with it once or twice and they won't try it again lol
I also wouldn't worry about it after the baby if they still go in there. They will probably avoid the baby at all costs so shouldn't bother him/her when she's in there.
Violet Mae born 1/15/13
I wouldn't bother with the crib tent - a lot of them have been recalled due to safety issues.
I would try some of the PPs' ideas.
This. I had heard this idea and we are planning on doing this. We have three cats.
squirt gun (something cheap like from the 99 cent store)! Every time the cat is into something you don't want have a squirt gun and they get wet!
I had one in the kitchen (kitchen counters/breakfast table) as well as the baby room. Only took 2 times and the cat refused to even go into the baby room and I never caught her laying on our table again.
Hey!
I have been dealing with the same thing. I have a net that I keep over the bassinet and the cats have been staying out of it. The net will come down once the baby arrives. Not sure how to keep the cats out after that.
Try a crib net
I know personally, I picked my girl up by the scruff and told her "no". Granted she knows this action from her kitten days. I also put the baby tub, since we have one already, in the bassinet. Like pp said, most cats don't like to share.
Defiantly train your kitties now, before baby arrives. That's a given, I know, but it's one of the most important things to remember. The sooner the better.
Also, if you used a particular training method to keep them, say off the counters, use that method too. Like I said, my cat knows that a stern "no" and being removed means not to do it.
You know...
My cat pissed me off to all ends of hell before my first was born. She would always be on his things, inside of his stuff. When he came along, she didn't touch any of his things. She never once climbed in his playpen anymore.
Either she's really smart, or I scared her enough to never touch his stuff again.