How safe is my cat with my newborn

[Motherofpearl19]

I'm actually sad that I'm writing this as it means I've succumbed to some of the annoying things that certain people have been saying to me about my cat (Louie) and my new baby.

I adopted Louie, a big boy cat from battersea a year and a half ago and although he's not the most affectionate guy, I do love him dearly and he's settled in well now. When I discovered I was pregnant, a few people (namely my step mum) made several comments, implying that it wouldn't be safe to keep the cat. I felt very protective of Louie as I do of cats I general (they get such a hard time!) and have been trying hard to convince people that these stories are old wives tales and no, Louie is more likely to ignore the baby than attack.

Now that baby Pearl is here, I have to say I have wondered if I'm being naive to leave Louie and Pearl alone together. I should say that a) this isn't s regular thing as Louie has kept his distance anyway and b) I'm not stupid, I know it's not wise to leave an animal alone with a tiny vulnerable baby and so if I do dash next door to grab something, I don't leave it too long.

But what I want to know is this: is it likely cat would actually lash out? Or bite? I really am not interested in anything other than facts - there is so much BS out there, from cat haters mostly. But does anyone know of an actual reason why leaving a cat near a baby would be unsafe? Especially down the line when I get a bit more comfortable..The only thing I have found useful so far is the fact that cats can seek babies cots because they are warm and so it has happened that cats have sat on babies. This is something I take seriously and so I keep Louie away from the bedroom or from any of her sleeping places - with uncomfortable traps :)

I am writing this as I have noticed Louie looking at Pearl more recently..she's a month old so I think he's over the initial shock..and becoming more interested. But perhaps this is all it is. When she cries he definitely walks away, haha.

Looking forward to hearing what people think!

Thanks :)

A newborn isn't at risk.
A toddler is more of an issue. They can grab cats and chase them.
Your cat always needs an escape route. And don't leave a baby home alone. Ever.

I would have said that at her age the biggest risk is Louie lying on Pearl’s face, but you’ve got that covered. When she’s older, you’ll need to watch out for her grabbing at him and maybe getting scratched in return. And keep his worm and flea treatments up to date, but I can’t think of anything else really.

So the cat is more at risk ;)

And stairgates.
Keep litter tray and food away from crawling child in a few months!

My cats and baby have co existed perfectly peacefully for 7 months.... The baby has just started to notice (and love!) the cats though and he’s working on getting more mobile, so I expect I’m going to have to watch out for grabbing etc in the near future.

The baby is never left alone with the cats (or left alone at all really, he’s part limpit). I’m just going to make sure the cats can always get away and that he leaves them alone as much as possible.

We were paranoid and made sure they couldn't get in her cot with her and suffocate her by accident - they never tried if she was anywhere near, though one would sneak in while we were out.

I doubt he'd attack while you'd popped out of the room at this age.

(I'm assuming that by 'next door' you mean the next room, not that you left the house?)

More danger for her once she's old enough to try to pick him up, pull his tail and chase, if they don't like it they could lash out.

Our cats put up with the dogs and are amazing at buggering off rather than retaliating if the play gets too much, so I'm not too worried, but I annoyed my aunts cat with I was about 4 and got a face full of claws, and a nosebleed as my just desserts, and my mates dog got on the wrong end of her cats claw and nearly lost his eye, so it depends on the cat as well.

Maybe get a top entry litter tray when the baby is crawling. More difficult for her to get her hands in it!

Despite extensively googling, I couldn't find any instances of cats killing babies when I had these worries 6 years ago. Plenty of dog horror stories ago.

Our cat gave the kids a wide berth TBH and even when they stroked her (badly) she took it, and never lashed out. She seemed to know who "her" babies were. Other people's kids were fair game though and she did scratch / bite occasionally.

I always felt 99.9 percent certain that my cat would never hurt my babies, but still didn't want to take that tiny chance, so I didn't leave them in the room together for the first few months. I would probably leave them for a few minutes if they were both asleep and I was just popping out of the room, but not for any longer than that. I think the only realistic worry with a tiny baby is that the baby could wiggle their fingers or toes and the cat might go for them.

As my kids got older and more inclined to try to clumsily stroke and cuddle the cat, they each got a few scratches. But no lasting harm was done and they both have a healthy respect for animals as a result!

In my experience, the majority of cats will give small children a wide berth and will find somewhere to sleep as far from the baby as possible.

It is probably really unlikely that the cat will hurt your baby, but you cannot be completely sure, so surely you won't take that small risk by leaving them alone together - why would you?

Thanks all! Really helpful! I agree, I can imagine Louie going for her feet or something, as he is very playful - in really random spurts! He's a bit unpredictable and still a bit kitten like.

Thanks again, all really helpful replies :)

Whenever I brought my daughter home from this hospital I was hysterical about not leaving them alone together it gave me such anxiety. He literally just sniffed her and looked a bit disdained at her being there, sometimes came and lay beside her. I obvs made sure he never lay on her or in her cot etc.

Now she's nearly two and she loves him she gives him strokes, rubs his nose etc and wants to involve him in her playtime. He's very good with her he rubs into her like he would us and hasn't shown any signs of attacking her (compared to my husbands bare feet cause he loves attacking those). She sometimes tries to pull his tail etc but she's always shouted at for this but he's never tried to hurt her, I think he understands that she doesn't realise she's being mean to him if she does

People speak random bullshit about cats and babies. If you do a bit of research, you’ll see that there’s no case on records of a cat smothering a baby.

As for biting and scratching, depends on your cat but unless he’s psycho there’s not much danger.

My daughter and cat have cohabited perfectly for 9 years. I took the cat in a month before giving birth. She had been abandoned, was traumatised and full of fleas. She’s a fractious cat, a bit of a queen and was initially careful around my daughter. They now fall asleep arms in arms and are firm friends.

Personally I think babies and cats are a winning combination!

Do you know the cat's history around children prior to coming to you?
If he's had bad experiences with children in the past, he may be quick to lash out at a toddler without much provocation.

I had 3 cats and when I was pregnant with number 1 got told I would have to get rid of them as cats can smell milk and smother babies!

After extensive research there has never been one case of a cat smothering a baby. My cats stayed away from the baby, once they were toddlers we had stairgates the cats could get over and to be honest the cats slept all day upstairs out the way then came down at night for a fuss.

The cats actually care to love the children when they got older, they were heartbroken when they died.

My cat stays the hell away from the babies, which I didn't think he would as he's really clingy on me and my hsuband. We were paranoid at first but turns out he's got no interest in them at all!

My experience is that the cat will disappear and find a quieter spot when there's a crying baby around, and even if the baby is nice and peaceful, the cat's usually not that interested in them. I've never left them alone in the same room though, just in case.

Now that I have a toddler and a newborn, the toddler loves to pull the cat's tail and I'm rather worried that the cat might turn on her some day. The toddler's not yet 2 so it's hard to reason with her but I do my best to explain about being gentle. I'd definitely not leave the cat and the toddler alone any time though, it's much more risky than the fat being with the newborn.

Cat, not fat!!

I don't really understand this superstition about cats and babies, they don't care IME. I never bothered with any cat nets or anything and never had an issue. I've also never seen cat nets for sale in other countries, only the UK which makes me think it's a cultural old wives' tale.

I agree it was when the baby was a toddler that it became a problem. I wish I'd taken this approach with the cat TBH:

www.dogsandbabieslearning.com/2011/01/24/mamas-dont-let-your-babies-get-magnetized-to-dogs/

(However I'm inclined to think it's more important with dogs).

My cats would go no where near either of my babies. If there was a baby free cot/pram/bouncer they were straight in it!

Due to my housing circumstances, we sleep in the living room with baby dd, when she was tiny several times I woke in the middle of the night to find our(very laid back and placid) cat asleep on her chest luckily she was a hefty almost 10lber at birth but I shudder to think that he could of suffocated her had she been a tiny baby. I had to keep shutting him out the room and just deal with the incessant scratching at the door but even now at 2yr old he will lay in her cot with her when he sees a chance.
So I think the risks are there, but taking precautions like shutting doors when babies are sleeping etc certainly lowers the risks considerably.