Advice Please-- Cats & Babies

For those of you that have lived in homes with both at the same time, and I don't mean just one cat. I have 6 indoor kitties and I didn't think this would be an issue since my kids are pretty much grown... but unfortunately, I just found out my 16 yr old is going to have a baby... among all the other things going through my mind right now, I wonder how well I can handle multiple cats with a baby in the house. Things like cat hair don't bother me... but babies crawl on the floor and put everything in their mouths, do you think it's possible to manage, or would you consider rehoming some of them? I am so torn.

I don't think it will be difficult. Although I have no experience in the matter, I would say that when the baby is around, all you need to do is just extra vacuuming. 

There are more and more doctors who are saying that exposure to the normal dirt of life is important from the time a baby is born; not having that may be one reason for our high asthma rates. 

You WILL want to keep the baby away from the litter boxes, but other than that, normal cleaning should take care of most of the problems.

Babies and kitties have lived happily and healthful together with no troubles. Just extra cleaning and keeping litter boxes in appropriate places that the baby can't reach. Good luck with this situation and I really hope you don't have to re-home your cats.

There is no reason to rehome your cats.  Just keep a clean home. Vacuum, do kitty litter duty, mop and/or steam clean your floors, and keep your kitty's nails trimmed short and when the kids are old enough, teach them about good hand hygiene.

Kids will be kids and if they aren't eating dirt from your home, they'll be stuffing the sand from their sandbox, or touching everything in sight, regardless of where they are, and putting their fingers in their mouths right after.  You can't keep kids away from dirt and germs.

I have 6 cats and 3 children,I have always had cats and had babies,there is no problem at all,just hoover reguarly and really with a crawling baby its all about "NO" many a time I caught my little ones in the cat food or trying to get in the litter tray,either move them out of reach of the baby or just be firm.My kids have grown up fine with my cats and they are cat lovers too,respect them and don't pull them around. Congratulations on being a grandmum to be,I'm sure it will all work out fine.Remember your kitty babies came first.x

We have 2 cats in our home and 2 kids and it works out just great.  When I was growing up we had 5 resident cats and usually a couple more strays that were being nursed back to health.  Your new Grandbaby (to be) will do great with your kitties I'm sure

I'm expecting my 2nd and have 2 kitties.  I grew up with as many as 3 too.  My DD absolutely LOVES our kitties.  Kitty was her first word (besides the Mama/Dada stuff)!

Honestly I think it's better for them to grow up around animals like that.  I think things will be just fine!  We sleep with the doors shut and I've always made sure they are out of DD's room when she goes to sleep.  But honestly my 2 would rather have a bath then actually sleep WITH DD.  She is 2 now so it's less of a worry if one stays in there for a bit.  I worry more about them waking her up than getting in the crib with her.

She still sometimes plays with the cat food; but we wash hands before meals regardless so I don't worry too much.  When she was into the mouthing everything stage we put the food up and just didn't let her play in the kitchen unless I'd done a check for food and what not. 

ETA: My father-in-law is a retired Physicians Assistant.  He has lots of troubles with his lungs being easily irritated and things like that.  He believes it's because his mother was way too careful about not letting her kids be around germs. No playing on the floor, etc!  He really advocates letting kids be kids because he felt like he never got the chance to build up a good immune system.  I think just regular cleaning and sticking to basic hygeine is good enough.  But I do understand your concerns too.

If you have any questions or anything feel free to PM me at any time!

Thanks for everyone's responses. And I am not a germaphobe or anything. I had 1 cat when my daughter was a baby. But I now live in a ZOO... 6 cats, 2 shih tzu, and one bunny. I expected that by the time I had grandbabies they would be coming to visit, not to live. I know that the kitties were here first, but I can't turn away this baby... and I suppose I just don't want to smother in it cat hair.   I suppose I could just be over analyzing everything because I'm a little in shock at the moment.

I'd be in shock to.  Maybe you just need some time to absorb everything. 

Very likely a bit of shock right now.

If it helps, I grew up with an average of 2-3 dogs and 2-3 cats in the house at any given time, as well as a yard full of horses, chickens and ducks. Like others have said, a good eye and a good vacuum and you'll be fine.  

Miss Mew said:

I'd be in shock to.  Maybe you just need some time to absorb everything. 

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I'm sure your grandbaby will have a much richer life with all those animals than without! I expect your daughter will be able to help with a little extra vacuum duty here and there. :cross:

Wow... it is so weird seeing "grandbaby" in a post to me... LOL... a week ago I was a basket case, it's getting a little better. Thanks, again...

I've yet to see any evidence that a baby has been seriously harmed by a cat. I've literally searched for hours for such a case. I would imagine, statistically speaking, that the chances of harm would be far less than being struck by lightening.

When I was a baby, my mom had to get rid of her cats because my brother has terrible asthma that is definitely affected by the presence of cats. My brother is very bummed that he can't be around cats because he totally loves 'em.

aeevr said:

I've yet to see any evidence that a baby has been seriously harmed by a cat. I've literally searched for hours for such a case. I would imagine, statistically speaking, that the chances of harm would be far less than being struck by lightening.

When I was a baby, my mom had to get rid of her cats because my brother has terrible asthma that is definitely affected by the presence of cats. My brother is very bummed that he can't be around cats because he totally loves 'em.

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That is sad about your brother... so glad I don't have allergies! I never thought about them harming the baby... just that there might be too much cat hair... or something like that.

Miss Mew said:

I'd be in shock to.  Maybe you just need some time to absorb everything. 

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  The good thing is it takes a while to bake em.  I'm sure things will work out and settle into a routine after baby comes.  And like Laurie mentioned; your DD can help with the extra vacuum duty.  She is the Mommy after all!   When is the baby due?

MoochNNoodles said:

  The good thing is it takes a while to bake em.  I'm sure things will work out and settle into a routine after baby comes.  And like Laurie mentioned; your DD can help with the extra vacuum duty.  She is the Mommy after all!

  When is the baby due?

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Mid September... she is only about 6 weeks, very early. And I'm glad that she at least didn't try to hide it like some kids, this way we can work together on a healthy baby.

I've read articles by several allergy doctors that shows proof that children raised amongst animals are less likely to have allergies and are usually healthier in general. My kids have no allergies, hardly ever get really sick, and I give credit to the Dogs, cat, and several birds they grew up with. We also had ferrets, rabbits, and reptiles (bearded dragon, ball python, blue tongued skink) over the years.

With my first child, when the pacifier fell on the floor, I'd boil it. By the 4th child, it was more like "Get the pacifier out of the dogs mouth and give it to the baby". I've seen my kids sharing ice cream cones with the dogs, and I haven't freaked out too badly. I've grown. 

The only concern I'd have with any animal is hurting the child, but cats can have those soft paws put on, and they do run when they aren't played with properly-which teaches the child how to be nice to the animal. My dogs have always walked like on egg shells around my babies. Animals seem to just know. 

Good luck-I think it'll be just perfectly fine.