Cat attacked 6 week old

[rosyposy653]

Not sure what I should do as I've just watched my cat sniff my 6 week old baby (which she's done before and I had thought was quite sweet) but then she suddenly whacked her round the forehead with her paw leaving a red mark but luckily no broken skin. I was so shocked and am horrified as I don't trust her around my baby anymore and feel quite upset but my husband and I have argued about it and he feels I'm being irrational and the cat was just playing and checking if the baby would play back and that she won't do it again. What do others think please? Thanks

I remember before I moved out of my mums I had a cat and she is lovely but she does occasionally dig her claws into you for no reason! In my opinion I wouldn't have a cat around my baby simply because I don't trust them enough but this doesn't mean all cats are bad. Your husband could be right in the fact that your cat was playing but I understand why your anxious, cats are unpredictable. I would try and see how it goes and only let the cat near your baby whilst your watching, if it becomes more frequent or the cat hisses and such then it could be a problem. I hope this all gets resolved for you because it's a horrible feeling when you don't trust one of your animals around children.

It’s always best to keep babies and pets separate until the child is a toddler. Then next step is to have toddler/young child and pet together only when supervised by adult.

I have several cats, but I would supervise any pet with a baby.
Cat is unlikely to be acting with malice. They will often cuff an unknown object to see what happens.
Rub your baby with a flannel and rub it on your cat, do the same with cat and furniture near the baby so their smells swap. It marks the baby as being part of the cats gang.
Get a Feliway plug in diffuser if you think the cat might be a bit stressed.
Be nice to the cat, it's probably a bit confused by the new arrival. But supervise all contact until they are more used to each other.

Keep babies and animals apart. No animal can be trusted with a baby. The cat will soon avoid the baby when they reach tail pulling age. I always had cats when I had my son but was just careful not to leave them one together.

IMO if an animal has shown they dont like a baby and have acted badly towards the baby, then the animal goes. Pet owner owners should alwahs be cautious of an animal around a baby, but if it was may cat and she did that to my baby, I would find a new home for her. She probably isnt a bad cat. She just might not like babies.

Does the cat go outdoors much? If not, it might be worth trimming her claws a little so she can't do any damage and then waiting to see if it happens again.

What has happened in no way justifies rehoming the cat.

You shouldn’t be leaving animals and babies together, babies are vulnerable and animals don’t always understand what a baby is.

Cats whack things they aren’t familiar with to see if it’s a threat to them.

Ours did it to the iron which tells you how often the iron came out.

@Fluffycloudland77

You shouldn’t be leaving animals and babies together, babies are vulnerable and animals don’t always understand what a baby is.

Cats whack things they aren’t familiar with to see if it’s a threat to them.

Ours did it to the iron which tells you how often the iron came out.

Cats have suffocated babies, usually while they are sleeping in a cot or pram, so please don’t let cat have access to your baby when he/she is sleeping.

Yes why not just rehome the cat.....ridiculous. Catteries are full of cats that have been rehomed the second someone has a baby which is a terrible thing to do. Very irresponsible.
They are perfectly ok you just need to keep an eye on them. I had four cats when my son was born and not one of them tried lying on his face. But I didn't give them the chance to.