Prepping cats for a new baby

[Peasplease12]

I’m due in 7 weeks and I’m just wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks to help prepare our cats (aged 2) for the arrival of the baby?

I’ve been wfh the whole time we’ve had them so they are very used to getting fuss and attention when they please. One of them is quite needy and will often wait by the door when we go out.

A friend brought her toddler round to see the cats and they weren’t bothered in the slightest when she wanted to stroke them/ was making noise, which I thought was a good sign.

Things I’ve thought of already:

• feliway - I’m going to put this on a few weeks before my due date


• probiotics- they absolutely love this stuff and one of them can be a bit fussy about food so I thought I’d give them this on their food as a treat for a few weeks when the baby arrives (I would give it to them all the time but it’s just too expensive so they get it every few months)


• their flea and worming medication is all up to date


• I’ve not let them get attached to any of the baby’s things- anything they might mistake for a cat bed is out of reach


• I’ve bought a net to go over the crib. Obviously I don’t plan to leave the cats and baby unsupervised, but it’s a literal safety net in case one if them does think the crib looks cosy.

Honestly I didn't do anything special with my cats but I appreciate they all react differently.

For the first year my cats avoided my son like the plague probably because he was a noisy loud small thing haha but he's 18 months old now and he gets the approving head bump and will sometimes lie with him but we've been teaching son to be gentle since he could get to them.

We didn't let the cats in the same room where the baby was sleeping, still don't.

But on the other end of the spectrum my friend had to rehome her two cats as they were so stressed and upset from the new arrival and it just didn't get better no matter what she did.

Your ideas sound great and if they weren't bothered about toddler hopefully they'll be okay!

Congratulations though, how exciting!

I'm having another baby in November, don't dare tell them yet

I think you’ve got it covered. The cats will be indifferent to the baby, the only thing you have to be really careful with is their sleeping habits as there is nothing more appealing than a new giant cat bed with lovely, clean Bedding and a warm baby to snuggle up to.

my cats have always been my whole world, and the worst part for me was I simply didn’t have the time or energy to keep up the same level of attention when the babies came.
I felt so guilty. One of them also distinctly disliked DS when he became a toddler as he was noisy, but we all muddled along and the cats never left home.

cats have always been a part of our family, before the children, throughout them growing up and now after them. My DC. have houses and cats of their own now.

good luck 🐈 🐈‍⬛

Thanks both. I absolutely adore our cats so I’m desperate for it to work out. They were both hand reared after being found abandoned in a bin so I’m not sure that they totally understand humans and cats are not both part of the same species so part of me wonders if they’ll just think we've added a kitten to the household (I’m aware I probably give them far more credit in terms of thinking then actually goes on in their heads, but I can’t help it).

The cats won’t be in allowed in the bedroom when baby is sleeping but the net is just in case baby is having a nap and I need to sort things in the kitchen and it makes sense to have baby there too.

tbh I’ve not done this before so I’m kind of winging it, but reassuring to hear there’s nothing obvious I’ve missed

Ours were fine until the baby starting crawling.... then they knew to get up high 😂

Our previous pair of cats avoided the baby as much as possible - they spent a lot of time upstairs.

I remember when DS went from struggling with one stair step to suddenly climbing the whole staircase in one go. One of the cats was dozing on the landing. As his head appeared, her head shot up as if to say "Oh fuck! It can climb stairs now!"

And this...

Feliway... and continue with it for the next year at least. Cats won't be bothered by newborns as much as they will be by crawling babies trying to grab them.

You’ve pretty much got it covered! Feliway massively helped for us.

Another thing you can do is play recordings of a baby crying - start at a low volume and gradually increase over time. That way when baby arrives the crying isn’t an unfamiliar noise.

If you have room in your home, I’d also consider having a room where the cats can hide where you won’t take the baby. We have a study that is a baby-free zone and have made a little den for the cat in there with one of her cat beds. Once the baby is crawling we plan to close it off with a baby gate so it’s always a safe, quiet space for the cat.

Oh also we didn’t do this as we were only in hospital for a day but if you’re in for longer and your partner is going back and forth to home - you can take a babygrow the baby has worn or anything else with their scent and let the cats have a smell of it before you bring the baby home.