Baby and furr baby issues - rehoming? What would you do?

[MummyGina]

Heya, I’m having some issues with my furr babies and I’m a bit beside myself so would like some opinions (be careful with me!)

I have a five month old baby and two cats (who i have had for years and love very much, and have always been treated pretty much like babies!)

Anyway, me and my husband were living in a small one bed flat with the two cats, it was snug but did the job. Before baby was born they went to stay with my mum until we could get a bigger place because it was no longer going to cut it!

We finally moved to a bigger place (two bed house) a couple of weeks ago and got the cats back a few days ago, but now I am not sure how we are going to cope!

The upstairs is blocked off by a stair gate so they can’t get into the bedrooms, but when I try to get baby down for a nap one of them just meows relentlessly which obviously doesn’t help matters. Additionally, one is a long hair and sheds a lot so I’ve already been picking hair off little mans mouth... and she has just had a nasty bout of diarrhoea, so I had to give up halfway through trying to get babe down, put him in his swing (where he then got upset) while I cleaned, trimmed the cat (was a big old mess!) and disinfected the floor. This then makes me think, if I had t caught it so soon she would have spread mess all over the sofa and floors where i play with my little dude... and I’m not a sterile freak but that’s just not a pretty though!

I am also not sure if he may have an allergy or sensitivity of some kind. Since very early on all his poos had nasty mucous in them (doctors were never very useful with getting to root cause!) and when we moved to a previously pet free house it miraculously stopped as if by magic and we had a glorious week+ of normal poos, and now we’ve had the cats back it’s come back with a vengeance. I know that it’s not the most common pet allergy symptom, but it just seems really coincidental!

I would like to reiterate that I love these cats, which is why I’m so torn but obviously I love my baby more so what the hell do I do! It was really lovely having cuddles with them in the evenings, but I also don’t feel I can ignore the issues 😔

Hi, I feel your pain. I had 2 cats when my ds was born. Initially it was fine but after a few months they would just sit outside his door meowing at 3-4am and wake him every day. I tried everything but eventually had to rehome them because we were all miserable. One of the hardest things I've had to do.
Your situation sounds far worse and I really feel for you.

there is some evidence that children who grow in a home with pets are less likely to have allergies. Many mothers find the demands of their pets change once a baby arrives. Am sure with patience this will settle down . Dont do anything in a hurry

He will get used to the meowing. I say that as the mother of a 2 year old who now sleeps through my dogs barking. The cats will get used to their new situation - new house and their humans are being different/have a new baby. Most cats would do much better with reduced space but with familiar people than going into rescue or a new home with a new family. Just persist in keeping the cats out of the places where baby will sleep and give it a bit more time before you make any decisions.

Thank you for your replies 🙂 I won’t be doing anything rash, but has just been a VERY long day and take it as it comes I think.

As for the allergies, there is research to show it can help but I am worried it’s too late for that and an allergy has already developed. If that is the case then we will have no choice but to rehouse but will have to get a better idea of it first 😕

Hopefully tomorrow is a new day and they calm down a bit more... and I could really do without the long hair having the craps! 😰