For those of you with cats...

mockingjay1 · October 2014

I have two younger cats (1-2 years old) that are not declawed. I trim their front claws when needed, but obviously they can still scratch things up. This is our first baby, and I have no idea if I should or shouldn't let them in the nursery? I don't want them to tear anything up (for the most part they are pretty good about clawing their scratching posts and not the furniture). We will also have baby sleeping in our room initially in the pack n play. When we were putting that together, the cats were very interested in it, and one of them started clawing it. With the netting on the pack n play it looks like the cats could tear that up real quick if they wanted.

I guess I just don't know what the normal/recommended thing to do is. When we've locked the cats out of our bedroom before they meow and meow and dig at the door. I want them to feel comfortable around baby and his things, but I don't want them to ruin anything either. I guess I'm kind of at a loss of what the best thing for everyone would be, so I'm looking for those who have experience in this situation.

mander82 · October 2014

Our cat will be allowed to go in the babies room. She will probably be afraid of the baby....she is a chickenshit.

She doesn't normally scratch things around the house though, she has cardboard scratcher and she always uses it.

If she liked to ruin things with her claws though.....it might be a different story

AnnieRoo13 · October 2014

This is tough. We recently moved our bedroom upstairs from the first floor and at that time we put up a gate and have prevented the cat (and dog) from getting up there, so there's no possibility of the cat getting into LO's room. I was uncomfortable with the idea of her being up there because she always loved sleeping on my pillow above my head and I know she'd try to jump in the crib with LO. Also, we had all the carpetting replaced up there and I really didn't want her destroying it. We did this pretty slowly over a few months though as I didn't want her to have too much change all of a sudden- cats are fickle beasts and will revolt at the slightest thing (as I'm sure you know!).

All that being said, we have a little playroom off our main room with a pack and play and some toys etc. and I'm not too concerned. She doesn't seem to be too interested in them yet.

I don't think I provided you any helpful advice, but that's been my cat-baby experience so far.

runningmama14 · October 2014

We plan on keeping the cats out of the nursery and they are already not in our bedroom at night. I do think they will be very interested in the pack and play we will have set up in the living room, but hopefully not too much.

If your main concern is the claws, you could look into soft paws. They are soft plastic covers that you glue onto the nails. Fyi, they can be a pain to glue on, especially at first. Might be worth asking your vet if you can make an appointment to have them help you the first time. You'll probably have to order them yourself though. Most clinics don't carry them.

ssstephanie214 · October 2014

This is a really annoying problem. I'd try claw caps while you let them learn that scratching the pnp is bad. Or first, keep an approved scratcher nearby so you can redirect. I'd be pissed if my cat clawed through the pnp because that mesh is almost impossible to repair

shan24 · October 2014

I agree with the soft paws recommend. They won't destroy anything, hopefully, that way. As far as keeping the cats out of the crib/pack n play, I'm trying a proactive deterrent. I've heard that cats hate citrus, so I'll be putting little containers of cut up lemon in the crib before baby is born to try and create a negative association with the crib. I've heard tin foil works, too. Other than that, I'm just going to try and be hyper-vigilant until LO is old enough to push them away.

mockingjay1 · October 2014

I bought some soft paws when we first decided we weren't going to declaw the cats, but I never used them. I'll have to figure out what I did with them. How long do they last? Are they a lot better than just trimming the cat's claws?

marajay6 · October 2014

We have been slowly setting up all the baby stuff over the past several months. We want the cats to get used to the new furniture arrangements before baby comes - trying to take the changes little by little. It seems to be working well.

We do keep the nursery door closed most of the time - but let the cats in when we are around. They have shown no desire to try and get in the crib. One is too fat and old to even think about trying. We do allow our cats in our room at night and they take turns sleeping in our bed. At first DH was thinking that we would have the baby sleep in the nursery from day 1 and not have to worry about sleeping arrangements with the cats. Now he wants to rearrange the furniture in our room and move the crib in there. Again, we will be doing it soon to allow the cats to adjust before the baby gets here.

As for scratching at the pack n play, I don't have much advice. We haven't even gotten our PNP out of the box...

cindyNmark2010 · October 2014

We have a "No animals in the bedrooms" policy so they won't be in the nursery.

ssstephanie214 · October 2014

dmo1371 said:
I bought some soft paws when we first decided we weren't going to declaw the cats, but I never used them. I'll have to figure out what I did with them. How long do they last? Are they a lot better than just trimming the cat's claws?

I liked using claw caps but they are a PAIN to get on, it's Definitely a two person job. They stayed on a few weeks and started falling off one by one. They'll fall all over the house so don't expect to recover all of them. You still have to trim the claws to put them on.

Also note: When I reply to threads it seems like I'm the first one but then when I reload it all of the sudden all these other replies appear before mine?????? So, sorry for repeat info.

ejpetey · October 2014

I tried the claw caps once and the cat had chewed them all off within a few days. How about some wide double stick tape on the tempting parts of the P&P? I have these on the back of my couch and it works great: https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Pet-Sticky-Furniture-Deterrent/dp/B0006NE4QC/ref=lp_6402635011_1_4?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1412623096&sr=1-4.

I will probably end up locking the cat out of wherever the baby is sleeping (my room to start and then his own room). I'll feel bad since she's always slept with me but I don't want to be worried that she'll try to curl up with him in the middle of the night or something. And plus, I love her dearly but she's an animal. No contest when competing against a tiny human!

highbornhunter · October 2014

Our cat isn't allowed in our bedroom or the nursery - it was the guest room before that and she wasn't allowed in then either. We don't yet have a pack and play for our downstairs area. She's usually good about not scratching furniture and prefers her sisal rope scratching posts. We're moving her litter box to our garage. Really, if I catch her with claws out near the P&P with the baby in it, she's likely to be turned into a fur hat, so problem solved. ;-) I'm glad you brought this up, I really hadn't thought a lot about how she would react to a P&P since most of the baby's things will be behind closed doors. I want to try wearing the baby/holding the baby as much as possible in the house. Maybe I won't even set up the P&P downstairs?

Yay something new to worry about I was running low.... not....

MmmPopcorn · October 2014

We started kicking the cat out of the bedroom a few weeks ago to help him adjust to the new routine with the baby coming. He still bitches outside the door when he gets lonely, but he has gotten better. The doors have gotten a little scratched, but I would rather him scratch the door than scratch the baby stuff.

lizgrace03 · October 2014

We have all our stuff (PNP, RNP, crib) set up and amazingly they've left everything alone. I was surprised because our orange tabby scratches the carpet sometimes. The brown tabby tried getting in the PNP once, I yelled at her in my voice that I reserve for if they do something EXTREMELY bad, and it hasn't been a problem since...

I don't like to shut them out of rooms so I'm hoping that having all the furniture around will help them acclimate. They don't scratch on other furniture so why should they scratch baby's stuff if they're used to it was my thinking.

MalachiteDrake · October 2014

I started training my cats to deal with not being in my bedroom at the beginning of the pregnancy (both for when the baby gets here and because they were being super annoying at night). More than preserving the PnP, my concern with cats is them deciding the warm baby is a good napping pillow. I'm paranoid enough about it that they just aren't going to be allowed in the bedroom while the baby is very little.

For the room that I'm in most of the day, I'll have a bouncy chair and swing in there. If the cats claw on either or try to snuggle up too much to baby in them, I'll have to lock them out of that room as well. They're all fairly startled by loud noises and run for cover when small children come over to the house, so I don't think it'll be an issue, but I'll be keeping an eye out anyways.

TeeJ526 · October 2014

I've already let my cats roam in the nursery. I figured it was better for them to get familiar with the changes now rather than adjust to a new baby and a new room that they wouldn't be allowed in. For now, now that they've been in the room months ago, they have no desire to check it out.

mockingjay1 · October 2014

lovebuggies1 said:

Eh, cats are truly uninterested creatures until you make it seem like it's something they should be interested in. I let my cats sniff all the stuff and roam freely. I found that they don't give two shits lol. I have 4 of them. The youngest being 3yrs old- oldest 19yrs old. I really don't understand keeping them out of certain rooms but hey TETO. As for claws, they have ruined furniture. So we got them huge cat gyms with scratching posts. And separate floor scratching posts with catnip on it. Problem solved. (Until they want your attention and they scratch something to get it.) Whenever we have babies over for company, one or two cats sniff the carseat and then promptly runs and hides. If you really have super curious cats try buying the calming pheromones.

I let them in the nursery for a little bit today. One of them started clawing the rocker/recliner. I don't mind if they check things out, but I don't want them ruining our nice furniture. Hopefully as they get used it they will leave it alone more. I really don't want to have to lock them out of any room.

They have a giant cat tree and three different scratchers. We put the pack n play away for now, but when we get it out next time I'll put one of the scratchers close to it. Hopefully it's just a matter of getting used to things.

Kehlepop · October 2014

My cat has free reign of the whole house and I have no intentions of restricting her. I trained her at a very young age not to scratch anything except her cardboard scratchers and she has been good for 12 years now.
I would suggest using a spray bottle if you see them trying to scratch or deterring them with double sided sticky tape.

Snuffy007 · October 2014

When we met with our new pediatrician, she said to keep the cats out of wherever LO will be sleeping because a lot of cats (and ours are definitely cuddly) like to snuggle up to anything warm, including babies. Since they usually sleep in our room, we started closing the door at night so they get used to it, plus don't associate the arrival of a baby with them getting kicked out. During the day I leave the door open so they can nap on the bed and sit in the window.

We have most of the baby stuff set up, so far I've just been letting them sniff stuff and get used to it. The younger one seems to think the PnP was purchased just for her. So far no scratching though, knock on wood!

AnnieRoo13 · October 2014

Just an FYI about the soft claws- I used to use them all the time and they were great, but the last time one didn't fall off and it ended up growing with the claw into my cat's pad. I was able to cut it off and all was well, but make sure you monitor them closely to ensure they're coming off on their own. I still think they're great though!

meeshybee · October 2014

Ours may have tried to scratch the PnP once or twice, but once they got used to it they just tried to sleep in it. I keep a blanket over the crib mattress and the PnP bottom (when it's out) so if they get hair on it it's not a big deal. And when a baby is in there they won't go near it.

I would try only letting them in the room while someone is there at first. Maybe once the novelty wears off they'll behave better. If it becomes an issue, you could always decide to keep them out all together.

DoubleUp8 · October 2014

shan24 said:

I've heard that cats hate citrus, so I'll be putting little containers of cut up lemon in the crib before baby is born to try and create a negative association with the crib. I've heard tin foil works, too.

I put tin foil in the bassinet down stairs. The cats jumped in, but they jumped right back out because the texture of the foil on their paws makes it an unappealing place for a nap.

kikimeemee · October 2014

Our cats are declawed and sleep in the basement with the door closed until morning (finished basement so it's cozy down there). Our bedrooms are two floors above that. I can't imagine having cats with claws around a baby. But I also can't imagine having a dog with a baby but people do it every day.

The cats are my hubby's pride and joy, otherwise I'd want a pet-free home.

I do worry about day time naps with s nanny watching baby. Will cats stay out of the way? Ugh...stress...

AubriasMomma113 · October 2014

I have four cats and I don't allow them on any of the babies things. The nursery has been kept shut. I did have her pack n play in the living room covered with a blanket and they soon began ruining the pack n play needless to say I learned my lesson and moved all of the babies things to my room or her room and no animals are allowed in either rooms. I'm too worried about her being allergic to them or something and they won't stay off of her stuff if they can get to it. Plus I worry too much of them trying to sleep with her and suffocating her or something once she's born. So we just made those two rooms off limits for them, including the dogs. Idk if this helps or not in your decision making but I thought I'd try.

AubriasMomma113 · October 2014

I haven't exactly figured out how to keep them out of her swing and such once she's born and its brought to the living room though..

babysis013 · October 2014

DoubleUp8 said:

shan24 said:

I've heard that cats hate citrus, so I'll be putting little containers of cut up lemon in the crib before baby is born to try and create a negative association with the crib. I've heard tin foil works, too.

I put tin foil in the bassinet down stairs. The cats jumped in, but they jumped right back out because the texture of the foil on their paws makes it an unappealing place for a nap.

I once put foil over a leftover pan of cornbread to keep it from the cats overnight. Got up the next morning and the foil had been chewed through and some of the cornbread eaten. Crazy cat!!!

lizgrace03 · October 2014

Cats are cats. Not monsters. You can train them, like dogs.

Clarify that this is not aimed at Dmo but at those who seem to be afraid of their cats.

kikimeemee · October 2014

@lovebuggies1‌ - do you oppose neutering animals too? Are we really going down the road that one solution fits every cat owner?

I didn't grow up with any animals so I take some peace in knowing that my hub's cats can't scratch my baby or ruin my furniture. Boo! Hiss! I'm a 'horrible' person.

You can disagree with me but theres no need to refer to my comment as "sh!t."

BridgetThoams · October 2014

dmo1371 said:

I have two younger cats (1-2 years old) that are not declawed. I trim their front claws when needed, but obviously they can still scratch things up. This is our first baby, and I have no idea if I should or shouldn't let them in the nursery? I don't want them to tear anything up (for the most part they are pretty good about clawing their scratching posts and not the furniture). We will also have baby sleeping in our room initially in the pack n play. When we were putting that together, the cats were very interested in it, and one of them started clawing it. With the netting on the pack n play it looks like the cats could tear that up real quick if they wanted.

I guess I just don't know what the normal/recommended thing to do is. When we've locked the cats out of our bedroom before they meow and meow and dig at the door. I want them to feel comfortable around baby and his things, but I don't want them to ruin anything either. I guess I'm kind of at a loss of what the best thing for everyone would be, so I'm looking for those who have experience in this situation.

I have a cat, about 1yo. At this point we can't keep the cat out of the nursery because we are living in a studio apt for another month or so. The only thing my cat seems interested in is the bouncer, I always find him sleeping in it, and he is allowed to go outside so he has been bringing dirt and stuff in, I have put the bouncer on its side to try and avoid the dirtying of the bouncer.

I have read that putting balloons or tinfoil in or around the items you don't want cats to play with the deter them. Maybe you can fill the pack'n'play with balloons so when the cat claws at it they will pop and scare the cat...

runningmama14 · October 2014

I have no problem with people having their cats declawed. If it weren't an option, there would far fewer cat owners and more homeless cats. I don't share the fear of having a cat with claws around my baby, but I don't think having that concern makes you a bad person.

As far comparing to spaying and neutering, I kinda doubt there would be so many owners getting their cats fixed if it weren't so annoying to own and intact cat (male or female). It's nice to say that is for pet population control, but there are a lot of owners who don't bother until their cat reaches sexual maturity. Then they realize how inconvenient it is for them and rush right in.

And also, having just performed a declaw this morning, I assure you, I don't break any bones doing so, but thanks for perpetuating false info.

Fwiw, two of my cats are declawed and two aren't.

lizgrace03 · October 2014

runningmama14 said:

I have no problem with people having their cats declawed. If it weren't an option, there would far fewer cat owners and more homeless cats. I don't share the fear of having a cat with claws around my baby, but I don't think having that concern makes you a bad person. As far comparing to spaying and neutering, I kinda doubt there would be so many owners getting their cats fixed if it weren't so annoying to own and intact cat (male or female). It's nice to say that is for pet population control, but there are a lot of owners who don't bother until their cat reaches sexual maturity. Then they realize how inconvenient it is for them and rush right in. And also, having just performed a declaw this morning, I assure you, I don't break any bones doing so, but thanks for perpetuating false info. Fwiw, two of my cats are declawed and two aren't.

I always thought declawing cats was supposed to be inhumane? Wasn't there a documentary about that recently? I have only heard this through friends though, so I could be wrong.

I just get irritated when people demonize cats. I've successfully trained mine not to do (most) bad things and it wasn't that hard.

runningmama14 · October 2014

runningmama14 said:

I have no problem with people having their cats declawed. If it weren't an option, there would far fewer cat owners and more homeless cats. I don't share the fear of having a cat with claws around my baby, but I don't think having that concern makes you a bad person. As far comparing to spaying and neutering, I kinda doubt there would be so many owners getting their cats fixed if it weren't so annoying to own and intact cat (male or female). It's nice to say that is for pet population control, but there are a lot of owners who don't bother until their cat reaches sexual maturity. Then they realize how inconvenient it is for them and rush right in. And also, having just performed a declaw this morning, I assure you, I don't break any bones doing so, but thanks for perpetuating false info. Fwiw, two of my cats are declawed and two aren't.

I always thought declawing cats was supposed to be inhumane? Wasn't there a documentary about that recently? I have only heard this through friends though, so I could be wrong.

I just get irritated when people demonize cats. I've successfully trained mine not to do (most) bad things and it wasn't that hard.

I guess it comes down to your definition of inhumane. I don't know anything about the documentary you mentioned, so I can't comment on it specifically. I will say, depending on the source, it may or may not be a fair and accurate representation of the issue.

Declawing is an often debated/discussed topic in my profession. I've heard lots of reasonable, well-educated, and experienced people weigh-in during respectful conversations. Coupling that with my own personal experience as a surgeon and a cat owner, I have no issues with declawing when done with good patient selection (indoor only cat, front claws only), proper technique and proper pain control. Of all the fellow vets I know, I only know of one that doesn't perform the procedure and she still offers them in her practice that she owns (an associate doc performs them).

As far as training cats, yes, they absolutely can be trained! But, just like any species, some are more trainable than others. I would say comparatively, cats tend to be more difficult to train than dogs. Add that to the fact that a lot of owners are drawn to cats because they tend to be "lower maintenance" and cat behavior issues probably top the list of why I see cats in my practice (other than routine preventative care). Behavior problems are also the number one reason for surrender of cats at my local shelter.

Edited to fix quote box.

lizgrace03 · October 2014

This is the documentary: https://www.pawproject.org/

Some cats are definitely more difficult to train, but I think some people don't work with them enough (probably goes back to what you mentioned about people thinking they are low maintenance- which they usually are, until there's a problem). Anyway, my cat was pooping all over our old apartment for awhile because of the dog that lived there before, but we took care of the issue in time by giving her attention, changing up the litter, we even tried kitty Prozac but took her off of it eventually. As far as scratching, I've never had a problem but maybe I lucked out with easy cats. I guess some people don't like to put in the effort for cats, but hey what can I say, I'm a crazy cat lady.

runningmama14 · October 2014

lizgrace03 said:

This is the documentary: https://www.pawproject.org/

Some cats are definitely more difficult to train, but I think some people don't work with them enough (probably goes back to what you mentioned about people thinking they are low maintenance- which they usually are, until there's a problem). Anyway, my cat was pooping all over our old apartment for awhile because of the dog that lived there before, but we took care of the issue in time by giving her attention, changing up the litter, we even tried kitty Prozac but took her off of it eventually. As far as scratching, I've never had a problem but maybe I lucked out with easy cats. I guess some people don't like to put in the effort for cats, but hey what can I say, I'm a crazy cat lady.

I would say that MOST people don't like to put forth effort in training their pets; dogs, cats, whatever. That doesn't automatically make them an unfit pet owner, at least in my eyes.

I'll try to check out that link if I get a chance this afternoon. Thanks for posting!

ETA- I also wanted to say, that it's not a surgery I recommend as a routine part of cat ownership. In fact, I never bring up declawing with the owner. They have to request it from me and then we talk at length about what other options there are as far as training, nail trimming etc. I also do my best to discourage the surgery in older or obese cats, as they tend to have a higher complication rate.

MalachiteDrake · October 2014

I had been told that declawing a cat was analogous to cutting off a human finger from the first knuckle up, not just permanently trimming nails. That's why we stopped declawing our cats. I'm not a vet and I haven't done extensive research on the issue, but we figured it was better to err on the side of training the clawed cats than unnecessarily (for us) altering their bodies.

We do have all of our cats spayed and neutered, but we also get them from shelters (where it is mandatory), with the exception of two cats that we rescued from the wild. We still got them fixed as we don't want to be breeding cats and because unfixed cats are huge PITA to manage.

I've had a few worry sessions over their claws, but I also have cats that go nuts over laser pointers. They will run themselves ragged and crazy chasing the red dot, but they will back off if the dot lands on a person. They refuse to bat at a human at all and when we've had toddlers around, they're just hiding anyways. I don't think them scratching the baby will be an issue.

I've kicked them out of the bedroom for my sanity (they keep me up, either with excessively loud purring and drooling from one of them or by wanting to play), and that's where the baby will be for her first while. My only concern with letting them around her when I'm not directly supervising if she's a quiet baby and they decide she's a cuddle buddy.

runningmama14 · October 2014

MalachiteDrake said:

I had been told that declawing a cat was analogous to cutting off a human finger from the first knuckle up, not just permanently trimming nails. That's why we stopped declawing our cats. I'm not a vet and I haven't done extensive research on the issue, but we figured it was better to err on the side of training the clawed cats than unnecessarily (for us) altering their bodies.

We do have all of our cats spayed and neutered, but we also get them from shelters (where it is mandatory), with the exception of two cats that we rescued from the wild. We still got them fixed as we don't want to be breeding cats and because unfixed cats are huge PITA to manage.

I've had a few worry sessions over their claws, but I also have cats that go nuts over laser pointers. They will run themselves ragged and crazy chasing the red dot, but they will back off if the dot lands on a person. They refuse to bat at a human at all and when we've had toddlers around, they're just hiding anyways. I don't think them scratching the baby will be an issue.

I've kicked them out of the bedroom for my sanity (they keep me up, either with excessively loud purring and drooling from one of them or by wanting to play), and that's where the baby will be for her first while. My only concern with letting them around her when I'm not directly supervising if she's a quiet baby and they decide she's a cuddle buddy.

It is an amputation of the third phalanx (so yes, it does remove the entire third bone of their toe). But, it doesn't require me to break any bones and implying or stating that it does that frustrates me because it's total propaganda speech.

I'm glad your vet took the time to educate you and you made the decision for your pets that you are comfortable and happy with. I try my best to do same for pet owners that come to see me.

runningmama14 · October 2014

@lizgrace03 - I watched the trailer for the documentary and perused their website. None of their links for research or disclosure of affiliations and funding work, which is unfortunate when one is trying to weigh the information provided by the site. The trailer looked like it wanted to lump all vets into a group that I certainly don't belong in (implying that we don't educate owners about the procedure and sell it to owners because it's "bread and butter") so I'm not inclined to pay to watch the whole thing.

I'll just leave it this: once I've discussed and explained the procedure and educated owners on risks and their non-surgical options, I'm more than willing to perform the procedure. I also rarely see any long term issues. All that being said, I just looked at my numbers for this year and I've performed 5 total in 2014, one just happened to be this morning

Clearly, I'm not a declaw factory.

lizgrace03 · October 2014

Thanks @runningmama14‌ for your input, I'm often skeptical of documentaries that are super opinionated... I still prob wouldn't declaw my guys but understand why it may be an option for some. Certainly better than giving the cat up.

runningmama14 · October 2014

lizgrace03 said:

Thanks @runningmama14‌ for your input, I'm often skeptical of documentaries that are super opinionated... I still prob wouldn't declaw my guys but understand why it may be an option for some. Certainly better than giving the cat up.

It's sounds like you are great kitty owner

lizgrace03 · October 2014

runningmama14 said:

lizgrace03 said:

Thanks @runningmama14‌ for your input, I'm often skeptical of documentaries that are super opinionated... I still prob wouldn't declaw my guys but understand why it may be an option for some. Certainly better than giving the cat up.

It's sounds like you are great kitty owner

runningmama14 said:

lizgrace03 said:

Thanks @runningmama14‌ for your input, I'm often skeptical of documentaries that are super opinionated... I still prob wouldn't declaw my guys but understand why it may be an option for some. Certainly better than giving the cat up.

It's sounds like you are great kitty owner

-------------
I love them!!
:x

minibean16 · October 2014

My cats tell me I am far easier to train than they are. They are my little angelbabyboys, so LO and I might end up sleeping in the hallway so my kitties can stay in my bed.

Totaaaaly rational!

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