To think I can have a new born baby and seven animals?

[Worriedandabitscared]

Hi all,

I don't know if I'm going to get flamed for this but I wanted to ask and hear other peoples experience. I thought I'd be fine but then a Facebook post has popped up with someone rehoming their animals as they've had a new baby and now I'm worried:

I have seven animals, five cats (all assholes 😂) and two dogs (pug and springer spaniel both two years old), I have a three bedroom house, ones my bedroom, the other is baby's bedroom and the third is the cat room/storage (where they are fed and where the litter is as dogs eat it in the kitchen) when baby comes, cats will not be allowed in my room or the baby's room, they'll be allowed in their room, the living room and kitchen ( living room has no door so couldn't keep them out anyway) I've got some nets for the Moses basket and I've moved them out of like the car seat and used a lint roller and the dogs will be staying at my mum and dads for the first few weeks with daily introductions to the baby (the reason they are staying at my parents is because my springer is very boisterous and will jump up to say hello and I'm worried about the recovery cos he jumps at belly's, this is his only behaviour problem and it's getting better as he gets older, they're both relatively chill now, they're asleep next to me as i type this. I genuinely don't think my animals are a risk to the baby, I made a joke about the cats being assholes but honestly they all have lovely temperaments, they're all gentle (dogs especially) so I have no concerns but I wonder if I'm being too naive? The animals were all rescued/bought before I was even pregnant and the pregnancy wasn't planned and people have told me to get "rid" of them but I can't, it's not in my nature but I know I need to protect my son but I'm not going to rehome my animals for simply existing (obviously if they posed a danger then I'd have no choice and I understand that) has anyone got any successful stories of animals and babies or aibu to think it could work?

@Worriedandabitscared

And then the final lot as can only attach three pictures haha

What a gorgeous crew 💙

They look like they’ll make excellent brothers and sisters.

Your cats are beautiful!

We have three cats, it was fine. Cats avoided DS like the plague until he was old enough to start giving them treats when they became his best friends. One goes up to bed with him for storytime every night and the three of us cuddle up together.

We had 3 cats & a dog, before we started our family, it was ok, no way would I have rehomed any of my pets, just because we had babies. I firmly believe that pets are for life, we had all our pets from kittens/puppy until they died or were PTS.

you can but i wouldnt :D Having a baby was hard enough with no animals .. i couldnt imagine having animals too

@Worriedandabitscared came back and was not disappointed. Loved every one of those photos! that's one lucky baby you have growing up with all of those adorable fluffes!

We had our babies with a menagerie of dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rats, mice, hamsters, ducks and bees. It took a bit of coordination to manage the animal care, but I think the animals have added hugely to the dc's lives.

Absolutely fine. Cats really aren't that time consuming. Consider a dog walker if you're struggling with tiredness.

I would not "get rid" of a pet because of a baby. People have asked "what are you doing about your dog" now I'm pregnant. They just get "we will get a dog walker to come while I'm in labour and InLaws will have her if have to stay in hospital." It might be harder than not having a dog aswell as a baby but really dont see it as an option to get rid.

Its common sense not to leave an animal alone with a baby, in a split second baby could hurt dog and dog bite to defend itself.

By March I intend to have a newborn and over 300 animals so I would say YANBU!

We currently have 330 sheep, 15 cattle, 6 horses (2 are mine and live at home, 2 are my partner's but live with his parents, and 2 are my mum's but we help her a lot with them), 3 dogs, 2 cats, 1 goat and I'm not quite sure how many bees. I also teach full-time. It's perfectly manageable. The key is to see it as a pleasure not a chore :)

As a concession to my future child, I have sold 1 horse.

Those cats and dogs are gorgeous!

I only had a cat when my dc were little. It was part siamese though so attached itself straight away and took on the role of general comforter and alarm system.

Obviously the cat was never unsupervised as babies/toddlers. Once they were old enough to involve him in their games they spent many happy hours dressing him up, putting him to bed in a doll cot, playing vet and checking his nails and teeth...

He was also excellent at putting them to bed. Once they were in proper beds night time routine was youngest went up and read a story, cat would stay until asleep- when a cat is settled on the bed they’d never get up for fear of disturbing him. Then repeat for second. Saved me hours of them getting up and down or me having to sit with them.

He was also very good at knowing if they were ill. Would sit with them on the sofa and not move.

I miss that cat. One in a million.