Cats and new babies

[Wendalicious]

I am 5 months pregnant and am worried about our cat - I baby him so much and he even sleeps in our bed. Everyone has given me really unhelpful advice and I'm a bit worried that he will get really jealous.

Does anyone have a cat and a baby?

I've had two babies since having my cat, she has never taken a bit of notice of them!

She would try and sneak in the pram or moses basket before they were born, but never bothered once they were here, she just kept well away!

Thanks, he has tried to get into the nursery but I think that's cos the door is shut and he is curious!

Thanks, he has tried to get into the nursery but I think that's cos the door is shut and he is curious!

I have two cats and a two week old. My cats are just over a year old and have been my babies since I got them in March. TBH the cats have had a sniff and a little look at her and then gone about their day. They aren't allowed in our bedroom or in the nursery. We are just making sure that they still get the same level of fuss as previously so they don't get jealous. The only thing I will say is that they are buggers when it comes to the babies milk. I am expressing and they are all over me trying to get to the bottles so bear that in mind. But all in all they have been very well behaved

my cat moved out for ages when ds was born.

he's 3 now and the cat has only recently started tolerating him.

I was really worried about mine and they were house cats. They weren't at all interested in him and I bought all the nets etc but never used them - just shut his door when he was sleeping so they couldn't get in. They were girl cats though - who knows if that would make a difference. Strangely the one who always hit all strangers never ever went for him when he grabbed at her. She instinctively knew he was my baby and respected that.

We too had a very indulged cat so was worried when dd was born.
He was iterested when she first arrived, but she did the most amazing armflings (morrow reflex or something, I can't remember its a long time ago!)that he ran a mile from her
Anyway then when she started having naps upstairs, away from us, I found that the cat would be upstairs, stretched out along the door threshhold like a guard cat. He would start mewing as soon as she started crying (just in case I hadn't heard her!)
Like izzybiz quite interested in pram etc before sh arrived but never tried to get in after.
We did buy cat nets but never used them.
I think you do need to keep a careful watch to start with just to see how it goes.

I have the ULTIMATE problem, two cats and a completely open plan house!!

I have bought a net for the moses basket and cot to try and keep the cats off - it's a free standing one so I can put it over the pram, moses basket etc. The net is from Ikea and the stand to put it on is from Vertbaudet.

I'm due in a couple of months but there's only so much I can do - I'm sure the cats will run a mile anyway.

Our two cats really weren't that interested, but I've always been very careful not to test the theory too much! I don't leave them alone together and they've never been allowed in the nursery.

We used to give them the run of the whole house and they slept on our bed, but about 3 months before my due date we instituted "kitty lockdown" and shut them downstairs at night. They adapted incredibly quickly and really don't seem put out at all. Much better sleep for us too (well it would be if I wasn't up all night with the Incredible Non Sleeping Baby)

Cats are hugely adaptable and if you do choose to make any changes, you will be amazed how they cope. I would recommend making any changes now rather than when bubs arrives though, so that your cat doesn't associate the restrictions with the baby, IYSWIM.

This has me equally worried.

My cat is 18 and has always had full resign of the house and she is extremely vocal about being shut out of anything.

She also sleeps on my bed - whether I am there or not and always had.

When I fell pregnant, she immediately started peeing all over the house (check and its not due to an medical issue). Thankfully I just moved and she seems to have calmed down and has stopped.

I have every intention of keeping the baby in my room when I sleep as I am single and really think it will be easier to manage. But the cat issue has me worried too.

And adaptability at this stage of her life is not her forte.

I totally understand.

Wow ... ths number of typos in that post is impressive.

Sorry .... cough.

There's a really useful post about this here

We have a quite old and very indulged cat who used to sleep on our bed before we had DS (now 2). I stopped him sleeping in the room after DS was born and we had the baby in with us. Poor cat has really had his nose pushed out but has adapted quite happily and accepted DS into the family. He will go up to DS and give him a little kiss on the forehead when he enters a room, he sleeps outside his door like a little guard cat, comes and meows at my door in the morning when DS is awake if I am being slow at getting up! He never went in the cot when DS was a baby but since DS has been older I have discovered the cat in with him a couple of times (walked in to find them both looking slightly guilty as if they were planning something naughty...) Cats are very very adaptable and they quickly learn their place in the new hierarchy I think.

We have a quite old and very indulged cat who used to sleep on our bed before we had DS (now 2). I stopped him sleeping in the room after DS was born and we had the baby in with us. Poor cat has really had his nose pushed out but has adapted quite happily and accepted DS into the family. He will go up to DS and give him a little kiss on the forehead when he enters a room, he sleeps outside his door like a little guard cat, comes and meows at my door in the morning when DS is awake if I am being slow at getting up! He never went in the cot when DS was a baby but since DS has been older I have discovered the cat in with him a couple of times (walked in to find them both looking slightly guilty as if they were planning something naughty...) Cats are very very adaptable and they quickly learn their place in the new hierarchy I think.

I also have a very indulged cat and a baby on the way. I'm intrigued/dreading/looking forward to seeing how we all adapt. I have visions of one of us (me or DP) rocking the baby to sleep in our arms and the other rocking the cat :)

Started trying to stop him (cat, not DP) sleeping on our bed, and have bought him his own new beds and put one in the spare room so that he can have his own baby-free space. He seems quite content with the arrangement so far.

Thing with cats is, whatever you don't want them to do they will find a way of doing it so I'm going to try and be as relaxed as possible. Obviously won't leave them alone in a room together whilst baby very young, but otherwise I'm going to attempt to be the epitome of cool about it all

My cat is slightly psychotic and very difficult, extremely bonded with me and suspicious of all others (and sleeps in our bed too) so I was very worried. Turns out, completely unexpectedly, that she is very fond of newborn babies and liked nothing better than to snooze on my knee while was feeding, or sit on the arm of the chair and lick the tops of their heads. She found somewhere else to sleep at night when we were co-sleeping, but when babies were in cots she would still nudge her way in to 'her' spot in the crook of my arm, and I would often wake up not knowing if it was cat or baby I had there ... She did jump into moses basket with baby in it once, baby made a loud noise, she never did it again!

She is less tolerant of them now they're bigger (2 and 4 now) but that's no bad thing, they have learned to respect cats and be gentle with animals. I think you can only try it and see how you get on, but most cats are fine.

Our cat was terrified of my dd when she was born and he wasn't a terrified sort of cat. Mind you she had a scream on her that would wake the dead.
He stayed well clear and never once tried to go near anything associated with her.
I'd stop worrying but just keep an eye when your baby does arrive.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your advice - I think that I will get hubby to spend more time with cat so that I can weane myself off him x

That link is very useful. The rest of this thread had me laughing histerically. I am too looking forward to introducing baby to my two cats, and the stories here are very reassuring, thanks!

at the positive cat stories on here, as we've had a bad time with my cat and new DS

She's 14, so quite elderly, and very very attached to me. My fault for babying her most of her life.

When DS arrived 10 weeks ago, she was both fascinated and scared in equal measure by him. She instantly looked to me for reassurance and cuddles, but of course that's nearly impossible with brand new baby who is being breastfed.

Consequently, in the past few weeks she has made her distress and displeasure known to us by standing in the middle of the room and just yowling at the top of her voice, and peeing and pooing quite liberally all over the house. Including one incident 2 feet away from me on DS's new rug in the nursery when I was changing him, and hadn't noticed her creep in after me.

She has also been pulling her fur out in big clumps, so she looks like a stray at the moment.

She spends most of her time trying desperately to get my attention, and trying to sit on my lap when I'm nursing.

It's got to the stage where my mum and dad have agreed to take her in, if it doesn't improve.
As a result I've had to make a concerted effort to ensure she gets enough stroking and fussing during the day so she doesn't feel unloved (and only fussing from me will do by the way, DP just gets hissed at these days]. It's a bit wearing to be honest, but seems to be working, as we haven't had a toilet incident for nearly a week.

Fingers crossed your cat is one of those that just keeps their distance, OP!

MAQ - I fear that may be what is instore for me. I mean she already started peeing when I got pregnant ...

And we won't even talk about demanding.

Fingers-crossed I am wrong.

If your cat is stressed, you could try using Feliway to help. I have friends who foster cats and they use Feliway to help new cats setttle, a lot of shelters will also use it.

Buy the plug ins rather than spray. It sends out happy cat pheremones so the cat calms down. www.feliway.com/gb

I second the Feliway recommendation, my friend used to work in an animal shelter and helped rehome cats and only ever had good things to say about it. Not sure of cost but if it helps it will surely be worth it. Good luck!

I tried Feliway and had no success. Actually my cat peed on the diffuser twice (ugh!)

What I have found help is Bach's Remedy in her water. Mellowed her out ..

Ladies sorry, I have hijacked the tread, but I really appreciate your feedback.