Cats suffocating babies - myth or experience?

[SmithTheCat]

Hi,expecting first sprog v soon. Cat seems determined to sleep in moses basket and cot. Have bought it own cat-basket but ignors it. Looking into buying a cat-net but seems v.fiddly to have to take on/off basket/cot in middle of night for feeds etc. Fairly convinced that cat will react with total horror at being confronted with real live child as it already views visitors' children as being evil and therefore to be avoided. However my M is convinced it will curl up in the cot and suffocate the child. Has anybody had any actual experience of cats/babies other than hearsay? Cot/cat-nets any good? Thanks.

if going upstairs is a big problem, why are you getting a cat ?

Don't understand people who make their cats live outside at all - specially made house - big deal.

Cutekids, not just pregnant women are affected by toxoplasmosis.

We've had cats and they've not been allowed upstairs or on the beds. Also not had the freedom to roam the house at night either - they sleep in the kitchen with the door shut. Don't want a 3am offering of dead bird, thanks.

Not allowed on the furniture in the living room either, unless on a lap.

And don't understand people who let them sit on worksurfaces in the kitchen, then prepare food. Think of the cat anus prints [blee]

Forget about the hair... If they spry you while you stroke them and they spray the sofa -never heard of a sofa stroking a cat but they still get spryed often by cats-, what stops a cat from sprying a young baby and its belongings? the pure thought of it makes me sick... sorry.

My Uncle was 'sat on' by a cat in his cot when he was a baby. He had to go to hospital and it was very serious.
I have a cat and I was wary of what to do when ds was born. For first few weeks I would always close doors to the bedrooms and make sure the cat was downstairs with me when ds was in his cot having a nap.
Dont think the cat net is that effective as if a cat wants to go somewhere it will get their regardless of whats in its way!
Now ds is 10months and to be honest I dont think about it, at the moment ds chases the cat around the house!

If you can get them to open a door in a cute way, I hear you can make £250 from You've Been Framed. Otherwise, no. Lazy blighters

STC - agree with everyone that cat will soon learn to keep away from the noisy small human but if you want to deter puss now try putting kitchen foil inside the moses basket and cot - most cats hate foil (the noise and feel of it) so a few long strips tangled together works best. If cat jumps into basket and lands on foil it should scare it away before it gets into the habit of sleeping there! HTH!

Aren't cats drawn to the smell of the milk, not read all of thread so not sure if this has been mentioned and I have no experience so far with this situation. I too have 2 cats and baby is due in Feb, DH is well paranoid about the potential of baby suffocation.

Message withdrawn

Oh ks you have made me laugh ! Like the rug weaving.

My dh is a dog person, brought up with dogs so doesn't understand that cats are not the same and do not obey orders. When we moved into our new house he instigated what he calls the NPU rule: no pussycats upstairs. I told him this would never work. In fact, it has worked, sort of. They know they are not supposed to be upstairs, although they still sneak up if we are not looking, but if we keep all bedroom doors closed it's not worth their while going up the stairs so they don't bother any more.

Um, Chandra, by "spray", do you mean when they urinate on things to mark territory?

If so, that's really only something that unneutered males do. I've never had a cat of mine spray in the house, as my cats have always been spayed/neutered.

My poor old cat died the other week. It was either old age or the shock of 2 babies joining the household in just over a year. She used to let assorted small children pull and yank at her fur/ears/tail without so much as a wimper, the foolish creature.

She got on my nerves when my first was born. Always getting under my feet and bloody meoowing about everything. She was a real lap cat and needed lots of attention. I feel I pushed her out of the way for the children and feel guilty about it. She was my friend when I was on my own and used to get stoned with me and fall off the chair arm... At least I was with her when she died. Poor old Daisy RIP. Any ideas about what I should do with the ashes...?

after our cat peed on our spare room bed for the 10th time, I am trying to figure out how to get the toddler to suffocate the bloody cat...

Meant to say have cat net here if you want it?and it did stop our cats but only when baby was in it curiously.

No more info on cats and babies, but bizarre cat story I've just heard from my sister. Her neighbour came round to say: "I'm terribly sorry, but your cat has been run over," and gave her the remains. Sister shed a few tears and wrapped the cat's body up and put it in a box for burial in the garden. She turned round...

and there was the cat, sitting under the baby's high chair! Gave her a huge shock. So there's the cat, hale and hearty, and there's still a body in a box of an identical cat. Yikes. She's now putting notices up all around in case anyone's missing a grey tabby.

ks, if you ever do get a cat, try buying a cat mat - we got one from our local pet shop. It's filled with cat nip and comforted our poor moggy when she was chucked out of our room when ds arrived. At least it gave her somewhere nice to sleep!

piffle, if your cat is peeing in the bed out of habit (not because s/he hates someone who's using it, or is annoyed at you) there is stuff you can get to hide the smell of cat pee, so the cat will stop thinking the bed is a cat litter tray.

You know your own cats don't you? Just take control and "train"-yes I know you can't actually do this to cats, but they're not stupid. They know where their bread's buttered best on!.I have a photo of my two cats standing on hind-legs, peering over the baby-seat when I brought my first-born home. Yes, they sulked for a while but they soon came round. (By the way, cat-net's are dangerous in my opinion. If-for any reason-the cat did get in the cot, the cat-net can get tangled in their claws and THAT'S when they scratch...cos they panic!) Within 2 years I had 2 more children and with each baby they've just got more and more tolerant. Now, they are the best of friends! My kids love having the cats on their beds-f..k off all you cat haters!- and I think it does kids the world of good being brought up with pets...they learn not to be so self-centred...!!Just be careful and teach your babies/toddlers not to tease their pets and you will be greatly rewarded!