Why do people believe such silly tales

I have a friend who is very intelligent and they believe cats steal baby's breaths. And I know several people who believe such silly tales.

What do you mean by this. I don't know if I've ever heard of cat's taking babies breaths??

I have never heard this tale before.

I've heard of it, but never understood it really. I think it reffers to cats being attracted to babies either for the warm milk smell from thier mouths or just their warm bodies. I can see how a cat might lay on a baby and hurt them or something like that. I guess that's basically what they mean.

Probably something to do with the way they grew up. Was your friend abused mentally as a child?

I had a friend in college that was afraid to go through a car wash. She really though that the Octopus tentacles would really get her.

Otherwise she was a really bright girl.

Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

I've heard of it, but never understood it really. I think it reffers to cats being attracted to babies either for the warm milk smell from thier mouths or just their warm bodies. I can see how a cat might lay on a baby and hurt them or something like that. I guess that's basically what they mean.

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I think that is the general idea. I have heard of that belief. Think about it...if a full grown cat is attracted to the baby smell and curls up on the babies chest, that is entirely too heavy for a baby and could cause the baby to suffocate. Add that to when when parents come in and see the cat laying there sniffing the babies face, I could see why some people would think the cat "stole the baby's breath".

Originally Posted by lunasmom

Probably something to do with the way they grew up. Was your friend abused mentally as a child?

I had a friend in college that was afraid to go through a car wash. She really though that the Octopus tentacles would really get her.

Otherwise she was a really bright girl.

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I can understand that. Sometimes a deeply ingrained fear, no matter how irrational, is very difficult to get rid of. Like how I know that plants can not hurt me (for the most part) but still just the thought of them freaks me out!

Its not a tale, I have seen cats laying on babies for their warmth. You are not supposed to leave babies rooms open when there are cats in the house. Of course they don't harm the baby on purpose, but they do like the warmth

See I would have to agree with Trouts mom. It's very likely that a cat would lay with or on a baby. They are warm and I remember our cat laying with my little sister a lot when she was just a baby. We got a baby swing for her to sleep in and the door was always shut to her room at night. Of course there was a baby moniter.

lol easy does like to stick his nose into my nose. lol

I think what it means by "stealing the babies breath" is like the cat can kill the kid, or at least that was what I was told. Its kind of like they just suck the life out of the baby. I don't believe it in anyway, I'm just clarifying.

Manda

Yep, I've heard of this very silly old myth. It reminds me of a "cat haiku poetry" email that was sent around a few years back, something like this:

It is not true cats can steal the breath of children
But, if my tail is pulled once more
I can learn.