"Throwing Away" My Cats: More MIL Craziness

b48kate · January 2014

My MIL came to the sudden realization that my husband and I have two cats. We have owned the cats for three years, but it just kind of dawned on her that they will be here when the baby arrived. She freaked out on us. The cats, she says, must be "thrown away" before the babies come. I thought maybe since English is her second language that what she meant was "re-homed", nope, she meant thrown away. She assured my husband and I that after "2 to 3 days" we would would stop being sad and never think about the cats again. I tried to explain that we really love these cats, and that the little one has epilepsy and would never survive without her three-times-a-day medication. MIL was unmoved.

A bit of background, MIL is from rural Korea, and Koreans are not known as a pet-loving people (that is slowly changing back in Korea). Cats in particular have a long history of being considered dirty and thieving animals. Lucky for me my husband is really attached to the furballs so no worries there. I am honestly just afraid to leave my MIL in my home by herself with baby and the cats. I have this odd feeling my cats might "accidentally" escape the house.

I was raised in a house where we always kept a pair of cats - and I made it out just fine. Anyone have any stategies for dealing with this particuliar brand of craziness? Anyone else have cat/baby living togather success stories? If anyone knows of a situation in which maybe a cat carried a baby from a burning building, that might be enough to get the MIL off my back on this!

Lianneferrick · January 2014

I have two cats and I'm not worried at all about them with the baby our 4 yr old is just fine with them I mean they sleep like 20 hours a day lol. Poor fur babies!

dragonfly711 · January 2014

OMG!!!! Sorry have to get rid of MIL!!! LOL Funny my MIL is afraid of cats, when we lived with her for 2 yrs my poor cats had to be stuck in my small room. Thank gosh they were good.

Payback for my MIL now. she lives at my BILs in a studio apartment downstairs, well his cat Bob has taken over her room, bed, he will not leave her room, he goes outside and comes right back to her room. She has had to make peace with him hehehe payback boy!!!

Anyhow. I grew up with 2-10 cats at a time, I am a vet tech so you can know for sure that my 3 cats are not going anywhere. Just adopted one last May. Right now one is behind me on the couch and one is next to me w a jack russell on my lap.

A Veterinarian friend of mine had twins last year and she has two cats, No worries about them at all.

If you have to decide MIL has to go!!! hehehe sorry

This is coming from a crazy animal lady!! 3 cats, 2 dogs, 2 horses

hubbs173 · January 2014

I have a cat and have had her since she was 6 wks old. She's 9 yr old now and there's no way I'd "throw her away"!! She's part of the family! Hopefully your MIL can get past her own views and respect yours!!!

babygabe614 · January 2014

We have two cats and there's no way we would get rid of them. We have had them since they were 10 weeks old and they had a rough start as kittens prior to us adopting them which is even more reason why I could never put them in a perilous situation again. I always had a cat growing up and I like to think I turned out okay. ;-)

b48kate · January 2014

amoot890 said:

How often would your MIL be alone in your house.. ?

I'm somewhat lucky in that she lives an hour away so there will be no regular "left alone" in the house time. She is a pretty fantastic babysitter though, so I was thinking we might have her down occasionally for that specific purpose. Now I'm thinking I'll just take the baby to her house if need be...

hollyfp · January 2014

Ugh - hope she comes to understand that they are your pets, not random vermen.

I'm just waiting for some idiot at work to ask me when I'm going to start getting rid of some of my animals (2 mini donkeys, 4 goats, 9 chx, 2 dogs) since I won't have time once we have a baby :?

Mztwilson · January 2014

My cat is the biggest attention whore. He requires more attention then our dog! He even lets my 2 year old drag him around the house. He is perfect for our family. We adopted him from petsmart 3 years ago. I don't know why anyone would've given up this incredibly sweet animal. I hope she comes around!

k2k2tog · January 2014

Oh. Wow. That is truly nuts.

I don't have any advice, but if it makes you feel better, cats do know where home is and most come back even if they do escape! I learned this the hard way with my cat - more than one sleepless and tearful night after my roommates accidentally let him out during university!

dragonfly711 · January 2014

hollyfp said:

Ugh - hope she comes to understand that they are your pets, not random vermen.

I'm just waiting for some idiot at work to ask me when I'm going to start getting rid of some of my animals (2 mini donkeys, 4 goats, 9 chx, 2 dogs) since I won't have time once we have a baby :?

@hollyfp awesome!!!! you make time!!! it works, when you are used to having animals you make due. I would not give my guys up for anything!!!

Unknown · January 2014

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coffee-saur · January 2014

Before we started having a family, the in-laws told my husband that we wouldn't be able to get pregnant with a cat in the house... Oops! then we have two kids and one on the way! I wonder if they ever feel dumb about telling us that...

I grew up with cats (and dogs and misc other animals) while DH grew up with animals outside and considered a nuisance. I broke him in slowly

I LOVE my cat! But he still just tolerates it. As long as I can have my fluff ball, he can avoid my kitty if he wants!

hollyfp · January 2014

dragonfly711 said:

hollyfp said:

Ugh - hope she comes to understand that they are your pets, not random vermen.

I'm just waiting for some idiot at work to ask me when I'm going to start getting rid of some of my animals (2 mini donkeys, 4 goats, 9 chx, 2 dogs) since I won't have time once we have a baby :?

@hollyfp awesome!!!! you make time!!! it works, when you are used to having animals you make due. I would not give my guys up for anything!!!

Yep I have no doubts that we will make it work, and we would never give them up. We have many many years left with the donks in particular! I won't lie, I do look forward to the day that the kid can help with barn chores!

fferreiralynn · January 2014

My cats are fine with kids. I'm a FTM but I've had kids and babies around with them they mostly leave them alone or hide.

fferreiralynn · January 2014

krptcmschfmkr128 said:
Further proof that cats and kids are amazing together (complete and shameless AW of my kid)

The cat is laying in the middle right of this pic, between the pillow and blanket.

I have so many more pictures of DD with the cats it isn't funny (see my sig). The orange cat (Lily) is "hers" and that cat is literally my daughter's best buddy. We got Lily for C's first birthday. DD is so mean to her, and the cat gets tired of it, but always goes back for more. If my daughter is crying, the cat is instantly running to her, and has since day one. The cat has slept with my daughter since we brought her (the cat) home. If the cat is outside, she will
follow C around, jumps onto her swing set, etc. DH has called the cat to come in, and the cat goes running. As soon as DD calls her, she comes flying into the house.

ack!! You have the cutest fur and non fur babies!!

coffee-saur · January 2014

@krptcmschfmkr128
That is adorable!

chellelynn09 · January 2014

throw away your MIL! we have the same problem. she's ok with the dog but god forbid we have cats around our baby! we've tried everything to convince her but she still thinks the cats are no good and need to be gone. MIL isn't allowed over at our house much. Can't wait to see what other craziness she comes up with before the baby gets here

lscal20 · January 2014

I have 3 cats and am expecting number 1. I'm a vet tech and everyone I work with who has kids has dogs and/or cats, with no complaints

b48kate · January 2014

Thank you all! I feel well armed going into my next (inevitable) conversation with MIL on this topic.

@krptcmschfmkr128 i have a total fantasy about having cute baby/cat pictures. Yes, I'm hormonal, but the pics literally brought tears to my eyes!

mrs_drc_rn · January 2014

I have two cats and will be a FTM. I'm pretty confident we have nothing to worry about with them. You know their personalities so you can explain to MIL how they are and maybe that will help. One of our cats will probably be scared of the baby and the other will probably not give two shits about it.

beachmamaNY · January 2014

OMG. I would not leave her, cats, and baby alone!

Luna C · January 2014

I have four cats. They are my first children. I would throw away my MIL before I tossed any of them.

If you really do want to try to educate her, you can google and find any number of articles about cats who have, for example, alerted their humans to a fire in the house and helped them get out in time and some who have been able to literally sniff a cancerous tumor growing in a family member. (All the heroic stuff dogs do, cats do too. They just aren't big enough to move people.)

Also there are clear, proven health benefits to owning cats and dogs, including improved socialization for kids, lower stress levels, less incidence of allergies, etc.

kittymeowbark · January 2014

My MIL is beginning to throw that idea around as well. She is Caribbean and kept all the animals outside. We have two cats who I would never get rid of and I keep letting her know to not even bring that subject up.

On a side note:
I am worried about one of my fur babies just because I am really the only person she likes and I admit I spoil her. I am worried that she might resent the baby and the attention the baby will get from me. Did anyone experience jealousy from their fur babies?

Thanks and good luck

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