babies and pets

we have 2 cats which are currently our babies. I am a bit worried how will they react once we bring the baby home. They are a bit spoiled and get to go wherever they want and if we don't let them they insist and usually get their way. So this makes me worried about how will they going to be with baby's room. I am scared they will want to jump into the crib, or leave their hair everywhere and all over the baby stuff. Closing the door I do not know if will help as they will bang on it until it will open.
Another thing that worries me is the cats are very loving and always pet us, of course they do it with their nails so what if they like the baby so much they want to pet it? We try to keep their nails trimmed, but they are still nails...
Any experiences integrating pets and baby?
I do realize I prob sound a bit insane just want to make sure all 3 will feel safe and loved

babies and pets

My mom has a cat that hates everyone (except her). She usually hides when we have people over, but i'm wondering how she will act with my baby (My mom will be watching him when I go to work).

babies and pets

We also have two cats. I wasn't really worried but I know dh was. When we first came home with dd they ran away from me. When she would cry they would look at me like wtf is that. We always always always keep her nursery door closed. We leave it open only when we are in there with her playing. One time I was nursing dd and one of the cats walked right in and leaped into the crib from the ground!

Now she knows she's not allowed in there. It's actually cute. Even when the door is open when we are playing the one cat will sit in the doorway and watch, but never cross over.

We also keep the guest room door closed in case guests are allergic to cats and one of them will bang on the door. Just catch them doing it, bang the floor or use a spray bottle and they will learn not to do it.

Now one of the cats will come up to us on the couch and head butt me and dd to be pet. Dd just giggles. So cute.

Edit. This is more for dogs, but we did it too. When you are still in the hospital have your dh bring home one of the blankets the baby is in. Let the cats smell it.

Message edited 1/9/2014 1:29:43 PM.

Re: babies and pets

so ur cats were kinda scared of the baby at first? did they stop eating? or just hid a lot?

those are good advices, tnx. tho we never discipline them, just yell "NO!" they usually just ignore us. could be our fault
we are moving tomorrow, so will try to teach them never to come into the baby designated room. I hope it will work.

Re: babies and pets

I don't have a cat, but I do have a dog. Him and my DS are best friends. We brought a hospital blanket home and let my dog sniff it and sleep on it. We let him sniff DS when we came home. We never stopped giving my dog attention either.

My DS always has dog hair on him. He gives the dog kisses and ends up with dog hair in his mouth. He's been scratched a couple of times but nothing serious at all. I don't know how it is with cats, but with my dog it was just about them getting used to each other. The hair all over was inevitable.

Re: babies and pets

I have three cats and a dog. The cats have never been interested in my kids as babies. They only take an interest when the are older and can be petted, lol. You can close the door to the baby's room if you're worried. Yes, there is pet hair everywhere even though I vacuum 1000x a day, but it won't hurt anyone.

Re: babies and pets

Posted by starr

so ur cats were kinda scared of the baby at first? did they stop eating? or just hid a lot?

those are good advices, tnx. tho we never discipline them, just yell "NO!" they usually just ignore us. could be our fault
we are moving tomorrow, so will try to teach them never to come into the baby designated room. I hope it will work.

Re: babies and pets

Posted by ANewDayHasCome

Posted by starr

so ur cats were kinda scared of the baby at first? did they stop eating? or just hid a lot?

those are good advices, tnx. tho we never discipline them, just yell "NO!" they usually just ignore us. could be our fault
we are moving tomorrow, so will try to teach them never to come into the baby designated room. I hope it will work.

One cat is very timid and hid from her for months. The other one would just run away Neither stopped eating or had any real issues adjusting.

The big thing for me was to keep dd's nursery cat free.

It's not as big of a deal as most people, like my FIL, would think.

Re: babies and pets

My cat was older (12) when we brought my DS home from the hospital.

My DH brought home a blanket a few nights before. She sniffed and ignored.

Brought home DS. She sniffed him in the bucket on the floor and walked away.

We knew she would/could never jump in the crib but we allowed her in the baby's room from the start. My feeling is, it's her house too and she was here first. She never disrupted anything. In fact she came to be my night time buddy with the 3/4am feedings. It was sweet.

We tried to give as much attention to her as possible but of course she retreated a little. A big thing for us is we always let her sleep in our bed. She continued and when we got in bed with her (she hung out most of the day on the bed) her purring was so loud. She still loved us.

She started to get afraid of DS when he became mobile. By then she was 13 and had a hard time running so it's understandable. Then DS and the cat became BFFs.

I should mention my cat was declawed so we never had to worry about that.

It'll all work out. There will be adjustments but I'm sure your kitty will love your little one too. You're all a family.

Re: babies and pets

definitely cool reading this. I have 3 cats and was wondering too.

DH is freaking out that they'll suffocate the baby and a bunch of crazy things…I think they'll be fine or ignore.

1 of my 3 loves to snuggle against my belly now when I sleep on my left side so I keep joking they're buddies already

Re: babies and pets

I only have one cat and he was 17 years old when DD was born, so he was my baby and I let him go anywhere in the house. I started to close the door that we were using as the nursery. That was all I did before DD arrived. After she was born I had DH bring home a blanket from the hospital and let him sniff it.
Once we were home I let him go near her while she was in the car seat, he just sniffed and walked away. Everything was fine, he never tried jumping in the bassinet or crib. He does go by her toys but he just rubs against them.

Message edited 1/9/2014 4:06:37 PM.

Re: babies and pets

I worry about the same thing. My cat is a princess and totally spoiled. She goes everywhere in the house and gets into everything. I would just close the nursery door BUT she knows how to open doors! We have the lever door handles and she just jumps up, pushes it down, and pushes the door open...she's nuts. She also loves to cuddle with her mommy--she sleeps on me every night but she's not totally comfortable with people other than DH and me. I'm hoping she will just ignore the baby.

Re: babies and pets

we had a cat when we brought my son home & they LOVED each other!!! i never had a problem at all!

in the beginning i would close the door to his room, but when my son was around 4 months old i got over it & just started letting the cat go in there whenever he wanted. he never tried to jump in the crib... in fact his favorite place was sleeping UNDER the crib! nice tight space!