Pregnancy and Cats?

Yesterday a friend of mine at work came to me and asked if I would take her cats as she is pregnant (3.5 months) and is concerned about how her 2 cats will react when her baby is born and she brings him home. Her husband advised her to wait and see what the cats' reaction will be and I did too, figuring there is time to prepare the cats.

I have read many stories about getting cats ready for a baby and how the cats reacted once the baby was home. I would love to be able to give her some good, sound advice and tips so that, hopefully, she can keep her cats.

So, my question is: has anyone been faced with this and how did you get your cat(s) ready for a new baby?

Thanks!

I am a in a pediatric office and my daughter is expecting her first baby the end of May. She suffers from the same disease that I do and has five cats and a sixty five pound lab-mix dog. We plan to record some baby cries at my office and play them for her cats and dog before her baby arrives. Also, one of the doctors in our practice had a baby last year and she wrapped the new baby in a blanket brought to the hospital for that purpose then her husband took the blanket home so her dog could get used to the smell. It is also recommended that the expectant mother walk around the house with a babydoll wrapped in a blanket so the animals get used to seeing her do it. When the new mom comes home the baby should be left outside with Dad or Grandparent and mom should go in the house and greet the animals first.
Tell your friend to keep her cats!

Thanks, Kaaran, those are really good tips. I had heard about the baby blanket thing but not about recording babies cries nor the carrying around a baby doll. I would really like to see her keep her cats and I think she can with a little bit of preparation which she is very ready to do.

Thanks, again.

Thanks, Hissy, I've printed the article to give to my friend.

I moved this thread to the behavior forum, I hope that's okay. I think you have gotten alot of good advice here! I thought maybe it belonged in behavior, since we are basically talking about how the cats behaviour with a new baby would be.

Thanks!