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Cats and young children just not getting along

5 replies

HeedNotTheRabble · 14/06/2020 09:39

I'm at my wit's end with my 2 cats and 2 young children and just wondered if anyone had advice or thoughts.

We have 2 cats, a girl (haughty, keeps to herself, likes DH and I and that's it) and a boy (daft as a brush, greedy, desperate for strokes all the time but gets overwrought easily and bites or scratches) Both were adopted before we had children and both are indoor/outdoor with total freedom and the life of Reilly.

Along come 2 children now aged 4 and 2. Both are interested in the cats but have never been rough with them EVER. Both completely supervised around them and taught very carefully about being gentle etc. So far so good.

Except the cats, particularly boy cat, scratch or bite the kids on a fairly regular basis, usually without warning. The boy cat wants to muscle in on anything happening and gets totally over excited and scratches or bites whoever is closest to him. It's usually a very small nip and we just put him out the room and try not to make a fuss but it's getting harder to deal with. My older DC actively doesn't like the cats now Sad

Example, my DD(2) was playing in her play tent with her dollies. Boy cat comes along and comes into tent and starts butting his head into DD. She leaves tent and stands next to it. Cat put his paw under the edge of the tent and scratched her foot, drawing blood. Totally unprovoked, but boy cat had decided HE was playing in the tent. Aaargh!

What's going on? I know the cats aren't happy on some level but not sure how i can fix it? I can't continue with them hurting the children!

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 14/06/2020 10:32

I think he was trying to play but he hasn’t learnt claws in, that’s not aggression. He head butted her so he loves her and considers her family.

I think redirecting his paws with a toy on a stick like da bird would help.

They really can’t help detecting movement and wanting to pounce on it, a huge part of their brains devoted to noticing movement.

Batqueen · 14/06/2020 10:37

The cat wantS to play with your children. When they have that kind of play energy you need to redirect it by using a piece of string or a toy of some kind.

Teach the children how to play with the cat and tire him out.

EachandEveryone · 15/06/2020 06:34

I second Dabird of those wands with sparkly bits on them or a laser. They just want to play.

Fluffycloudland77 · 15/06/2020 07:30

You can tell it's not aggression because he’s not making a lot of noise.

HeedNotTheRabble · 15/06/2020 08:47

Thanks everyone. They possibly do get a bit under-played-with. We have loads of toys for them so I'll try that and see if it improves.

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