Cats and crib - concerned

skintchick

I am PG and have a cat and my plan is to spray her with water if she tries to get into the crib or on the baby, although I don;t expect her to bother, I think she will get into an almightly sulk and go to OH for her cuddles.

SHe knows perfectly well what she is and is not allowed to do, and a smack or water spray usually teaches her and stops her doing it.

I really wouldn;t worry - there is NO evidence that cats suffocate babies and frankly it sounds like total nonsense to me.

Just smile and nod at your mum and mil. Say nothing. Let them think you're listening.

Supermom

On a slightly similar note, I had a cat when my eldest was born. Cat had been a really gentle loving animal and right from the day I brought baby home then the problems started the cat would hiss, try to scratch baby and was really unhappy with baby being in the house. It got to the stage where our cat was spraying on anything that was the babies the cot, blankets, clothes anything that smelled like baby.

As much as I loved my cat my baby came first and for everyones sake (including the cats) I had to have him rehomed (cat not baby) after advice from the vet who said that it was quite common for cats to behave this way when threatened.

Not much help, sorry:rolleyes:

Savvy_Sue

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spookylukey

caevans wrote: »

Hi
Hoping to avoid having to lock cats out of room, we enjoy having their company as much as we will enjoy our baby's company.....!

How refreshing to hear about someone willing to work around any potential issues rather than banish the the cats to the kitchen 24/7 or rehome the second the pregnancy is announced :T

I recently bought a ride on soft toy for my nephew to play on when he comes over and my Mum asked where I was going to keep it as if I left it out my two cats might go near it and get cat hairs on it! I pointed out that when I have my own kids the baby will have to live *shock horror* in the same house as the cats and whilst I wouldn't encouarge them to get on it I wasn't overly worried about my nephew's toy getting a few cat hairs on!

No idea about cat nets but if your cats haven't been around babies before you could try getting them used to the sounds by getting a baby noise dog training CD - it actually says suitable for cats too in the booklet

http://www.soundtherapy4pets.com/product.php?pid=8

Buttonmoons

When I had my DD, I used to live between OH's parents house and my mums, until we got our own place. He had a cat (which I hate) for the soul reason that if it got into the bedroom at nights it WOULD sleep on my face. I'd wake up at 4am gasping for breath, and choking on it's fluffy butt.
Needless to say I didn't trust it around my baby, and good job I was extra vigilant because I saw it try and get into the moses with her numerous times. I eventually stopped going there because I swear that cat was evil, we got our own place about 2weeks later though.

I now have my own cat (which OH hates haha) and if anyones face is in danger of being smothered it's my cats. Bless.

grace1990

There have been lots of cases of cats smothering people, so all those who think it's an old wives tale think again! I agree with what spookylukey said about nice that someone isn't going to put their animal in rescue just because their pregnant, it happens so often and it's ridiculous, don't buy an animal if you are going to abandon it as soon as you get up the duff!

LittleTinker

Ooo me and my daughter were talking about this yesterday as we have a lot of cats and she is pregnant.

I have 5 children and have always had cats and have never had a minutes trouble with them sleeping on the babies faces.

Yes, they might go and have a sniff.....maybe a cat might fancy curling up at the end of the cot but i have never found any evidence to suggest that i should suddenly stop treating the cats as part of the family.

Do what you would with a small child who would go to disturb the baby, and shoo them away.

Other than that.....there wont be a problem....really there wont be.

LittleTinker

iieee wrote: »

My cat was completely bewildered by our new baby and only ever tried to get in the moses basket when she wasn't in it. We just gave her a firm 'no' and moved her away each time it happened and that was that.

A friend of mine did try the cat nets, she told me they were a waste of time but I can't for the life of me remember why now.:o

They are a waste of time because they cannot streatch taut enough and high enough to stop a cat from touching the baby anyway.

So you just end up with baby,with a cat laying on a net LOL

daphne_descends

grace1990 wrote: »

There have been lots of cases of cats smothering people, so all those who think it's an old wives tale think again! I agree with what spookylukey said about nice that someone isn't going to put their animal in rescue just because their pregnant, it happens so often and it's ridiculous, don't buy an animal if you are going to abandon it as soon as you get up the duff!

Links?????

caevans

Hi
Thanks for the advice everyone, its good to know that other people have worked around potential cat/baby problems.
There is absolutely no question of getting rid of cats, I would be devastated if anything happened to them.
Think I will play it by ear. Will buy crib and set it up in room asap and monitor the cats behaviour and decide from that whether or not I need to start shutting them out bedroom and/or getting a net. We have also used feliway plug in to help older cat deal with kitten which seemed to work quite well. Will need to bulk buy!!!!
Thanks