How did your cat get on with your baby?

[QueSyrahSyrah]

Just wondering if anyone could share their experience of introducing a new baby to their cat?

I'm due in June with our first and starting to think about how best to prepare our (old and quite nervous) cat for the new arrival.

The big challenge is going to be keeping him out of our bedroom I think, he's not as keen to sleep on the bed in summer as in winter, but he's not a fan of a closed door! We plan to start easing him out of the room when the weather warms up so he's used to it before baby arrives.

Any tips or stories to make the transition to him no longer being our only 'baby' easier for all of us?

Our cat was fine. She still slept in our room too on the end of our bed.
I get the worry about them sleeping on the baby but if it's a nervous cat it'll most probably stay away.

She was kind of motherly to her. She would sit on the sofa arm looking down at her on her playmat.

She wasn't too keen on the crawling stage, however!

We got a stream of ‘presents’ in case we forgot about DCat.

Otherwise it all went very smoothly. DCats are usually found with DSs these days (DSs are now 11 and 7). They’ve tolerated the toddler stage and now have four servants.

Your cat can still sleep in your bedroom - when he realises that the baby makes all that noise, he probably won't want to be in the same room

Had cats with my children, and also with the grandchildren

Lot of sulking since he was kicked out of the bedroom for cosleeping.

A judicious amount of pass agg bottom washing with shirty looks and he got over it. I made sure he had a quiet place to sleep and lots of pets.

He was very good - just looked a bit hopeless if she got near him at the toddler stage. No scratching. Just a look of "help"

Is she a doorway carpet scratcher? With my first baby I closed the door early on and you could put tinfoil under the door to deter it do it now before the baby arrives plenty of time to train a cat

Make sure there are high spots for the cat an extra litter tray if one is used pheromone spray calming everything

Mine were great with the baby tbh and when my ex burned food my one cat broke the door to get to me woke me up led me to dds room FIRST before taking me through a smoke filled house

If ever she woke at night he would wake me if I wasn't quick enough when she was sick his brother would be lay as close as I would allow 😁

Thank you, all very reassuring!

I read a tip somewhere to keep a couple of sheets of tin foil in the next to me crib whenever baby is not in it, then if he tries to have a sneaky investigate he'll soon learn it's not a pleasant place to sit, so we'll definitely try that.

@Theunamedcat He is very much a doorway carpet scratcher, I hadn't thought of using tin foil there too, great idea!

Ours avoided the actual baby but fully invested in timeshares in the pram. Once she didn’t realise the baby (by now nearly a year old) was in the pram and leapt in for a snooze. She jumped out quick.

I put a fitted sheet over the Moses basket etc to keep the cat out.

Cats were completely disinterested in our kids from birth (and that hasn't really changed 8 years on). The cats loved the baby items, but skeddadled if an actual baby appeared in them. As such I never had to keep them away or change any sleeping arrangements.

I have 2 cats that actively avoided mine as babies and one that would go out of his way to wee on their things 😂

Yikes we'll watch out for that!

My cat was fine actually. Which was amazing considering he's an old man who hates change and most people! When ds (14mths) came along I think he really liked that I was home a lot more. I bf so meant many hours on the sofa or in bed cluster feeding at the start and my cat loved that he could just snuggle in beside us and he probably had more company than when I was at work. Even now ds is obsessed with the cat, we need to teach him not to chase the cat or follow him too closely and we've taught him how to pet very gently but we still need to be beside to check the cat isn't changing his mind. But he's never swiped/ scratched/hissed or bitten at ds even when he has pulled his tail or been a little rough, he'll just turn and give him a look and we'll remove ds immediately. Ds's first word was even cat! So yeah our cat has done us so proud he's been great!

My cat was fine with my children from babies - so many photos of him round about them when they were little.

One took one look, tentatively went to sniff a tiny foot in the car seat, DD moved, cat leapt up two foot in the air and took herself off to live in the wardrobe for the next three days. We just carried on as normal, she came out on the third morning and spent the rest of her life nursemaiding DD. The other one decided she was quite interesting, but not as much as the 6 year old and firmly attached himself to her night and day for the rest of his life.

When I did the bedtime stories, both cats would come in to hear them as well, then the first one would only come back out again around 40 minutes after I was on the sofa as though to say 'they're both properly asleep now, shift up, it's my time for fuss'.

Aah I love that story

Our boy hasn't had much to do with little humans, but the one time we had a 2 year old visit he was nervously curious, didn't run away from her, and he seems very interested in new next door neighbours 3 year old, stops what he's doing and pricks up his ears whenever he hears him, whereas he doesn't bother with adult background noise.

My cat had a complete breakdown, couldn't cope with not sleeping in the bedroom, tried to get to me when I was holding baby etc. Then the poor girl started pulling her fur out. We put her on antidepressants from the vets but it didn't ease and after 3 months we rehomed her with some friends. It was very sad for all of us. Luckily I do get to see her fairly regularly and she is much, much happier now.

DH and I have agreed we will wait til LO is at least 3 before getting another pet.

I had 5 cats when ds was born. All but one of them gave him a wide berth from birth 😂. They seemed more interested in his pushchair, swingchair, bathrest, changing table than him. They still don't have much interest in him now, and he's 8yo.

Oh no

When arriving home from hospital with the baby, we placed the car seat in the middle of the room and the cat approached cautiously, sniffed the air not the baby and proceeded on her merry way to the kitchen because our arrival home had coincided with her dinner time!

Echo others about cat being more interested in new sleeping options e.g. pram, car seat but was not problematic.

Once your baby is on the move then the cat will probably skidaddle for fear of tail pulling.

Fine (two cats). I actually bought a cat net to go over the crib but they never tried to go in it.
Why do you want to keep the cat out of the room?

I was so worried about how my very spoiled cats would cope and one of mine was aggressive towards children so I was especially worried about him but they were all fine, in fact they absolutely loved me being home more

I had a feral stray before I gave birth. Very territorial. My DD is now 7 & they’re best friends, having a pet has been so good for her. My cat was a bit unsure at first but plenty of attention & dreamies & it’s the loveliest relationship. I also had (& still have) my dog & there’s been absolutely no problems at all. My DD will adores them, she’s grown up with them. The problem will be when the dog & cat die.

All but 1 of my friends had pets when children were born & they’ve all been fine too & they were mostly cats.

Edit to say, I never had anywhere that was out of bounds for my child/pets, I just supervised & kept calm & they just all got used to it & adapted.

Lay on the pram, even with a net on. I'd never keep them in the same room whilst the baby sleeps.

When her baby cries, my friend’s cat howls and he runs to whenever the nearest parent is whilst continuing to howl and then follows them back to the baby. It’s like he doesn’t think they know what to do or they may not have heard so he’s being and alarm (in case they haven’t heard) and then checking they have actually gone to help. 😂