Pregnancy and cats

amazinangie · June 2016

Anybody pregnant or has young babies that has a cat? I've had my tabby since she was a kitten she's a year old now, some ppl make a fuss about pregnancy/babies and cats..my boyfriend cleans her litter box and such though.. I think my kitten will be a little curious turned protective of the baby once the baby gets here instead of trying to act out or harm the baby. She pretty much likes everybody especially kids knowing they will be playful with her as she is so funny and playful!

MorningStarSmiles · June 2016

I have a cat and am not so worried about him when the baby comes, I think he'll just be curious and keep his distance, but I am a little worried about him once the baby gets into the "grabby" stage. He's 8 years old and has tons of energy and loves people but he'll also get too rough from time to time (bites or scratches) if he's really wound up from playing or trying to get attention. We know the signs to watch for but I'm worried about turning my back for one second and him biting or scratching the baby because he thinks it's a toy.

I'd love to hear if anyone has cats and babies/toddlers and how they reacted to each other as well!

kittiesandcoffee · June 2016

I have a good and a bad story about cats and pregnancy. Both happened with my aunt and baby cousin whom I am incredibly close.

The sad/bad story is that while my aunt was pregnant she had a calico named Hope that was really sweet and about five years old. Hope would lay on my aunt's stomach as she got bigger and was super snuggly. When my cousin was born, my aunt trusted Hope but was cautious. All was well until Hope got jealous and bit my cousin on the head. Luckily my cousin was fine even though Hope drew blood. My aunt was absolutely heartbroken and had to put Hope down. My aunt didn't have her son until she was 46 and up until then her babies were the kitties she would rescue. Having to lose one baby for the safety of another was torture to her. Just a lesson to always be cautious.

The happy story! My aunt later got two more cats Charlie and Gracie (she elected to have them declawed for safety - I will not be doing so.) Both Charlie and Gracie are super sweet with my cousin and have always been kind and gentle companions. Now, my cousin is 5 years old and Gracie sleeps with him.

I have one cat that I rescued from under a truck when she was around two years old. I know her. I've had her for four years now but I know her inside and out. I have owned cats for 18 years. I will be cautious with her around Grayson at first because she has zero experience with children and will understandably take time to adjust. But in knowing her I do think that she will be a good companion for Gray once he gets a bit older. I cannot wait to watch them interact.

Moral of the stories: You may know your cat but it's best to still be cautious.

seven6five · June 2016

I have two cats (Malcolm and June) and an 11 mo (yay for 2u2). He's pretty active and definitely chases them but for the most part they just avoid direct contact. My big old orange tabby loves me very much and is a needy snuggler but he does very well with my son. My younger cat, she's 6, spends most of her time hiding or up high.

When I was a baby my brother was 8 and my family had two tabby's (Bob and Emily). Emily was fine until I became mobile and then started pooping under my crib, Bob then peed on it to "cover it up". Emily was given away and the problems ceased.

I played audio of babies crying to ease my cats into the idea of a crying baby for several months. I honestly think it helped prepare them a bit.

leighry · June 2016

When we were pregnant with our first we had 2 cats. They slept on our bed with us and were no problem... after we had Natalie, we kept the cats out of our room so they wouldn't get in the pack and play with the baby. The male cat began to pee on her baby seat and blankets and even peed on me (twice!) When I was sleeping. My husband talked about getting rid of him and I don't know if our cat understood him or not but there was no further incidents. Kind of weird. But since then, they have been great with the kids. They are so patient and the girls love them.

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt · June 2016

We have three cats. Our oldest is 17 and she just avoids babies and toddlers, but she likes them when they get a bit older. She sleeps with my son every night, curls up with him while he does homework, and is starting to warm up to our daughter. Our middle cat was around when our second was born and she absolutely does not like younger kids. Largely just avoids them, though. Worst behaviour we ever saw was a bit of hissing; she's never swiped. Our kitten loves everyone. We'll see how she does with the baby, though we aren't anticipating any issues.

We make sure the cats have kid (and dog) inaccessible spaces so they don't have to be around the kids unless they want to, and we ensure the kids are taught to respect the cats as they get old enough to do so. We honestly haven't faced many issues with the cats and kids.

We we had another cat who was incredibly close with our son. They were just a few months apart in age and nigh on inseparable, but she died of a liver issue back in January. That was really hard for everyone. But she was loyal to him to a fault. Until she got sick, she checked on him every single night to make sure he was breathing, ever since he was a baby. It was a really sweet relationship and I'm glad he experienced it, even though she died so young.

BabyVB118 · June 2016

My poor kitty is still so scared of the new puppy we got in December she spends most of her time in the basement. It makes me really sad that this is the life she is living and reading this thread makes me even more sad. I think she would be really intrigued by a baby and would enjoy spending time with us, especially when I'm home on maternity leave. I hope as time goes on and the puppy continues to calm down she will feel more comfortable coming upstairs.

PrettyPalomino · June 2016

my in-laws have a 1 year old and a cat, the cat was so timid before but then they stopped paying attention to her when LO was born, so now the cat goes to LO for attention! The baby practically rips her tail off but she takes it, because she's so desperate for a scratch. It's really cute.

TwandaFTG · June 2016

My Dh's cat steered clear of DS from the get go. DS loves "Keke" so we are working with both of them on giving/accepting gentle touches with me supervising. But the cat is probably about 8 and has many places to escape to if he feels threatened. But in our case the cat never really went near the baby or his things.

fiscally3 · June 2016

We have two cats, we were told with our first to have my husband bring home one of the baby hats to let them smell it, to adjust to the new baby smell. They were mostly scared of him. Now they just look at us like, oh another one? Ours mostly have stayed out of cribs and such, and we just work from an early age on teaching the kids to be gentle. Most of the accidents have come from there not being clean enough litter boxes than acting out, my husband is obviously in charge of that, and sometimes he forgets. Anyway it was much easier transition than I had anticipated.

You'll get some really weird advice from some people, someone told me to put balloons in the crib so if a cat jumps in, it will be scared by the popping balloons (I thought a missed broken balloon bit would be worst off than some cat hair.)

fiscally3 · June 2016

Oh and I kicked them out of our bedroom pretty early in the first pregnancy. Our fat cat got in the habit of sleeping on my legs during pregnancy, and would give me shin splints from trying to fight him off in my sleep.

MollySm · June 2016

We have a cat. We kicked him out of the bedroom when I was pregnant with my first. He added too much heat, and we also didn't want him sleeping in the room when baby came. He has always been great with my kids. When my first came home he pretty much ignored her until she could move around. Then he showed interest, but was always gentle. We taught our kids to be slow and gentle from early on.

I started an in home daycare when my oldest was 2. My cat has always been great with all the kids, but is allowed outside. He leaves when the more boisterous kids make him nervous.

shevaCC · June 2016

Our cats basically hide from my toddler. The skittish cat hides from both kids and still seemed traumatized about their noise/toys. He now mostly lives in his own bedroom since he's less neurotic with a smaller "world". Our girl cat has started enjoying attention from my preschooler and lately has been curling up on her bed some nights.

rooftop · June 2016

I just had to put down my kitty last week.

She was 17, diabetic and starting to have issues breathing but... she was very involved when DD came around. They got along great right from the start. The only issues we had was her marking the baby furniture, we lost two bouncy seats and a boppy pillow to cat pee, and making sure she didn't cover baby's face when she was laying down since my cat liked to lay on peoples chest and baby was too small for that.

sugar9277 · June 2016

We have 2 Bengals and an adopted stray (all under 2yo). They do great with my 1yo. For the most part, they stay arms-reach away from him and are not aggressive at all. The stray will even rub against him. When he wants to pet them, we hold him and make sure he doesn't grab or pull but does get to pet gently.
It is hilarious when he waves their toys around (the ones on sticks for chasing) and they all play together.

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