Cats and baby

[constanthiccups]

I have always had cats, and I am really feeling the lack of cat in my life at the moment.

I am due a baby in December. I want to ask OH for a cat (or two!) for Christmas but when is a good time after having a baby? I don’t tend to think of cats as particularly problematic pets (would be looking to rehome adults, rather than kittens) but does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Is this your first baby? Honestly you don’t want to be worrying about even a low hassle pet with a newborn

If you already had a cat(s) then that's different but now really isn't the best time to get any. Trying to settle in new cats and deal with a newborn isn't great. Once baby is older then revisit. I would wait until DC is at least 3 as you can work out if there's any allergies and get them used to stroking cats of friends and family members or those you see out and about.
There are always young adult cats needing homes and some will be child friendly, not all. I definitely wouldn't get young kittens with a small child.

I agree with PP's that you really should wait a good few years. If you had existing cats, it would be different, but settling in rescue animals and coping with a newborn won't be easy.

I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear.

I've got a much loved cat and dog, I had my DS in January and although I'd never ever give them up I sometimes longed to be able to just care for my son and not worry about the pets and if they were happy. My Cat found having a new baby in the house stressful and started urinating inside
If it was me I'd wait until you felt settled with your baby and then you can introduce some cats to the family

agree with theabove - i would abslutely wait!

pets are lovely (and id never rehome)!, but with young children its a bloody nightmare!

It’s not fair to bring any animal, young or rescue, into a house that’s about to have a baby. They would have no time to settle into their own territory and make themselves secure before having a baby thrust into the mix. Also newborns don’t stay newborns for long and are soon inquisitive, loud tyrants.

I had two cats when I had dd and have said many times that if one or both of them died I wouldn’t get a new pet until dd was much older. Probably around 6/7.

I understand the temptation but honestly you really don’t know how you’re going to take to parenthood or what kind of temperament your child will have. Amongst my friends who have pets and babies (particularly first babies) have commented that their pets have been inconveniences at times no matter how much they love them. I adore my cats but really disliked hairs on my tiny newborn (back now to not really caring!) but it was an almost instinctual thing. My two made themselves pretty scarce only emerging after bedtime for the first few years.