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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

getting a cat about 2 months before a new baby

3 replies

iskra · 14/03/2011 12:16

any advice? Have never had a cat before, & not sure whether this is a crazy idea. Already have a toddler who would love to have a cat living with us.

OP posts:
girlywhirly · 14/03/2011 14:19

Well, I don't want to sound mean, but you have never had a cat before, you are going to introduce it to a new home and a toddler, and then have a new baby as well. You don't know how the cat will cope with all this, it could be fine, but chances are it will be frightened and confused, trying to escape from the toddler and possibly creating added mess if it's really upset. I'm talking about weeing and pooing in innappropriate places. Won't you have enough to do with the two DC?

I would leave it if I were you, until they are older. Cats Protection don't like to re-home cats into families with babies and toddlers, because they think it's unfair on the cats! I have also known of cats who have simply left home as a result of a new baby arriving (jealous beause not getting enough attention!)

Original poster
iskra · 14/03/2011 18:57

Don't worry about sounding mean! Thanks for the feedback.

We were thinking of getting a kitten rather than re-homing, because of the getting them used to toddler/baby scenario. Does that make any difference?

OP posts:
frankenonsense · 14/03/2011 19:30

I used to have 2 cats, who arrived before DC did. They always preferred quiet people to sit on or a peaceable corner of the house, in other words nowhere near a toddler. Due to me being busy/forgetful, if the litter tray was not impeccably clean or they got shut in a bedroom by mistake they made sure to piss somewhere that evidenced their displeasure- such as a box of lego or a school shoe. And cat piss is a smell that never quite completely disappears - after they died I had to rip up the bedroom carpets to get rid of it finally. More importantly, one of my cats got its tail amputated after my 18 m old pulled and dislocated it. This is actually quite common. The other cat was not quite so defenceless as to let that happen - she scratched the baby's face if he got too close.

Afraid I don't know about kittens as mine were grown when my babies started arriving.

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