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Getting cats ready for a baby?

post #1 of 6
4/15/10 at 11:58pm
Thread Starter 
My dil is due in October. My cats are generally good animals, but aren't use to real little ones, and do get upset by the crying etc. One cat has also scratched (one child) because she keeps putting her head down near the cat. I can tell when my cats upset, but little ones can't.

How do I prepare them to accept a baby? I know not to leave animals alone with young children, so I will be on guard, but I don't want my nervousness to upset the animals as this will cause problems.
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post #2 of 6
4/16/10 at 6:15am
When my granddaughter came home from the hospital, the first thing we did was let the cats sniff her. Binky, the female, was entirely disinterested, and and after a cursory sniff, had nothing to do with her, good or bad. The big male fell in love immediately. He sniffed her, licked her little toes, and appointed himself her guardian. He slept under her crib, would jump on my daughter if he thought she was not tending to her fast enough, and would hiss if he thought someone he did not approve of got too close. 5 years later he still naps on the couch with her.
I think the scent swapping we did worked wonders. We would take a receiving blanket home every night while she was still in the hospital to get them used to her scent, so it was not completely new to them. They were still fed at their regular times, and got lots of attention while the baby was sleeping.
Being nice to kitty was something we instilled in her from birth, so we never had any scratching, hissing,or tail pulling.
I hope things go well for your dil, and her cats.
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post #3 of 6
4/16/10 at 7:05am
I'm glad to see this thread. My husband and I are trying to conceive and I've been worried at how the cats would react.
Since we have a cat who urinates on stuff when things change, i'm a bit worried.
I'm going to keep an eye on this thread.
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post #4 of 6
4/16/10 at 10:56am
Since you know the crying sound is a trigger you can start to desentize to that. Get a recording of a baby crying and play it a very low volume while you do something kitty loves - play, treats or a favorite canned meal. Short sessions are best at first. Gradually turn up the volume, all the while doing those fun things with kitty.
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post #5 of 6
4/16/10 at 11:28am
Pets and babies
Part 1 click here

Pets and babies
Part 2 click here



Author: Sharon Mear, Behavior Counselor and Trainer
Source: animalalliancenyc.org
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post #6 of 6
4/17/10 at 7:11pm
Perhaps getting a feliway a month before baby comes home (roughly, I know these things are never exact) will help to keep the kitties calm.

Animals and babies are weird, my Madison avoids children. I've never had a scratch or anything, he just stay away and lets them be. Maybelle LOVES kids, she is happy to let them pet her. I have a toddler over here often and she is more than happy to be pet by him. He was also taught to be nice to kitties from birth b/c his mommy has them too.

The toddlers mom has 3 cats, none have shown a problem with babies, and she never had a chance to do any sort of scent or anything for the cats, the only difference, is her one cat Percy grows distant when babies are around.

Madison will lay around babies almost like he's watching them, calmly at that. I kind of feel like I've lucked out. I don't have children, but through having my friends and their infants/toddler around I can see I won't have a hard time when I finally do make a kid.

So I reccomend the feliway, the idea of the crying recording sounded appropriate, and other than sharing my experiences, thats all I've really got
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