I'm thinking of getting a cat or kitten. I have a DD who is nearly 20 months. Is this a good idea?

[PeppermintPatty]

Me and DH have been thinking of getting a cat for a while.

I just rang my local cat rescue place and they said they have a policy which means they can't rehome cats to families with children under 3. I asked why and they said in the past they've had lots of people returning cats because they've scratched their child.

So now I'm wondering whether it's a bad idea?

I spoke to the RSPCA place too - they said they would recommend a kitten rather than a cat as older cats may be not be used to children or are even scared of them. However, they said kittens tend to be more scratchy.

Does anyone with any experience of cats and young children with any advice?

DS is five and we have just taken in two RSPCA kittens. He is quite good with them but occasionally a little over-loving/exuberant and he has been scratched more than once -but at five he is old enough to know that it's his fault rather than the kittens' and that he needs to be more gentle. This may not be so easy with such a young child!

I had two cats before I had the dds and in practice, the cats kept well away until. One of them actually likes dd1 a lot now but waited until she trusted her to be gentle before letting her get close. Neither cat lets dd2 get anywhere near.

I would hold off. I have 2 cats (4 years) and a ds 20mo. Neither of the cats have ever hurt him and I think they only would if they felt very threatened by him. One just hides and the other is subject to frequent heavy handed hugs and kisses, fingers in ears, tail pulling etc. The most he has ever done is kind of miaowed at him in a pissed off way but never a scratch so far.

Nonetheless we have had a spate of the same cat peeing in the house, obviously a nervous reaction but very unpleasant. They also notably feel pushed out since ds came along. You might not be able to give a kitten the attention it needs while looking after ds/ trying to protect the kitten from him