Not To get rid of the cats?

[NotAnotherNewNappy]

When I met DH I already had 2 cats, which he thought were cute. 2 DC later and he absolutely hates them. I don't blame him, he is asthmatic and they are troublesome ( today they have thrown up on the kitchen work top and pissed on DD1's pillow).

He has started making noises about rehoming - But I can't see anybody else wanting them as they are old and manky now. Plus they are my cats - and we are hopefully moving from our cramped flat to a house with a garden in the next few weeks. AIBU?

Good tip re lemon kitchen spray.

YANBU but with your upcoming move now is the time to plan some changes. As pengy said, keep them downstairs and def out of bedrooms. The dander is the problem, so do what you can to reduce it, elderly cats do seem to lose more hair, perhaps you could start grooming them daily? Not trying to suggest you stress them out with all these changes, just thinking the house move might be a good opportunity to try to reduce the dander.
I'm sure your DH will appreciate the effort, and hopefully feel the benefit. If he still can't handle living with them, perhaps you can try to rehome them yourself, it'd take ages but you'd know if they were going to a good home.
No idea why some people appear to think you're leaving the pee-y pillows for your kids to sleep on...

What Blu said.

I adored my cats. But if I were faced with the choice of cats v husband's health ("just stock up on ventolin?" that's someone that hasn't watched someone die from an allergen induced asthma attack then - which yes, I have)... It would be an easy choice to make and I wouldn't be rehoming my husband!

Words fail me. My husband and children rank higher in my household pecking order than pets.

YABU. Step back and look at your OP. Having animals in your house is making your husband ill.
I have owned and loved many types of animals over the years, and currently have dogs and horses. I love them all, and they all have a place in my family, but if it came to a choice between people's health or the beasts, the humans would always come first.

The Stupid things are drawing up their own death warrant. The big one has just scratched the baby on the lip. DH is not going to be happy when he sees it

NANN - I had a similar situation and it is really hard. I had cats before I met dh but he was badly allergic.
For about 3 years we tried various anti-allergy things and cats living mostly outside but nothing worked and it was not fair on dh.
Eventually I did take them to be rehomed, they were about 9. I'll be honest, it was very traumatic leaving them and I only felt slightly better once I learned of their adoptions a few weeks after.
However, I still think it was the only decision right for us. You simply cannot put your family's health below the feelings of a cat.
Rock and hard place - and noone can appreciate it unless they have been there; only you can decide and don't let anyone else interfere.

NotAnotherNewNappy, I hope you fine a resolution. It must be painful for you to have to consider getting rid of your cats.

Is it worth investigating whether its possible to pay the Cats Protection League to foster your cats.

Shut your cats out of your bedrooms. This is a basic asthmatic/cat rule and would also avoid pillow-piss incidents. But no, poor things will not cope with rehoming at their age.

That (keeping the cat out of the bedroom) won't stop the cat scratching the baby on the lip.

OP, how do YOU feel about that?

Ask a vet for advice, and your when in doubt, call on the experts.

If you wind up 'rehoming' them, then I think you have to take full responsibility and have them put down. They'll be killed anyway, so you should be with them when they die.

How stressful is your household now you have a baby, setting aside cat behaviour? What steps do you take to ensure your baby isn't scratched?

Our cats were put out by dd's birth, but it didn't last that long, a couple of months at most. When dd was asleep, we did a lot of petting the cats etc. so they still got loads of attention. Often dd would sleep on the sofa, with the cats asleep either side of her. They got very protective of her once they'd got used to her.

If your DH is asthmatic, the feliway may make him tight chested, this happened to me and another friend who also has asthma that has also tried it out.

Good god, excerbating DH's asthma, scratching baby on the lip, vomiting on the worktops, pissing on the pillows...is there any good reason to continue to keep these cats in your household

Maybe I should name change to NotAnAnimalLover

Aargh - can't believe I've spent £40 on pheromones and instead of being the magic cure I hoped it may actually make things worse.

Blu - I feel terrible. Guilty I am putting DH'shealth at risk, guilty every time I look at poor DD1's face and guilty I took on 2 stray moggies 10+ years ago and didn't have the foresight to see I may not always be able to provide the best home for them.

But I am hopeful things will be better once we move - whereas DH reckons they will just defile our lovely new home.