[Kaz99]

I am from the Guatemala adoption board and have a general question.

My cat is my 'baby'. Had him from 6 weeks to 8 yrs. He was alone with me for 5 years until I got married. He likes my husband but it took a while.

How did your cat react to your new baby. Any tips to keep him calm. He is not a violent cat, more a scaredy cat.

Thanks
-Ran

[Fran27]

I'm interested also... After bringing home two dogs I have the feeling that they will hate us when we bring a baby too...

[awaitingagirl]

lol...our pooped in our daughters crib for weeks, had to give them to a new home

[Kaz99]

this is on the Guatemala board aobut dogs:
Major problems with jealous dog!!!!!!!


pooping !! I am also worried about spraying to mark the house as his !!

[awaitingagirl]

Oh I have no doubt they probably did that too. They were both boys. They NEVER harmed the baby though, they would sniff her and walk really far around her, but never attacked her, just her crib.

[mrsdatabits]

We have two cats that were also our "babies" before we brought our daughter home. One we classify as a scardy cat and the other "rules the roost" so to speak. We've had no problems with either one, except that they tend to go into hiding more now. Our scardy cat is actually the one that's gone around the baby and that's only if we're holding her. It's taken the other cat about 4 months to even go in the baby's room (again, only when we're in there because she totally runs at the first sound our daughter makes whether it be a sneeze or a yowl ). We never had any problems with either claiming territory, but then they never showed any inclination before, either (except around the food dishes, and that just consisted of "scratching" the floor and pushing each other away). We did have both cats fixed when they were old enough, so again, we never had problems with spraying or such. At night we do put a baby gate up infront of the baby's door so the cats don't go in there at night (they were taught from the time they were brought home that they're not to jump the gate). Yes, they could jump the gate (and have into our room, but usually only when they're scared - they like to hide under our bed, always have). LOL! Our cats learned from the first night that babies are noisy, and they never have cared for loud noises.

Naturally, you'd want to watch your cat around the baby, but I think chances are good that you're cat will just give the baby a wide berth if anything, especially if s/he's never shown any aggression towards others.

[Kaz99]

He is neutered as well. So he is probably ok. Just more curious than anything. I just have to make sure I stick to his routines I guess, like brushing him and playing with him too.

Ran

[tobeafamily]

One cat hated the baby, is still patiently and deliberately waiting for it to leave (mind you, baby is now 4 YO). She disappears anytime he's around.

Other tolerates him, though she won't seek him out. We've taught him to be 'gentle' with kitties and doggies, and he's done well in this regard.

Both are declawed (came to us this way), neutered females. Niether went anywhere near his crib, carseat, or pack n play.

HTH,

Regina

[tjb52]

Hello, We have a cat that was about 4 years old when I had my son, we never had any problems, the cat liked to try to sneak in and sleep in the crib but only when no one else was in the room. We had no trouble with spraying or anything like that (thank goodness). We had an adjustment period of about 2 weeks before the cat would even come around the baby but never any problems.

We also had a dog that was my baby (the cat was my husbands baby) the dog was 2 when our son was born and he was a little jealous, he would try to sit in my lap every chance he got when I was holding the baby. He adjusted (and I learned how to hold the baby the dog in my lap at the same time) we never had any major problems.

Good luck!!

[Oliver1]

Must be a crib thing. Our two cats also slept in baby's crib prior to us bringing her home. A couple weeks before she was due home, we closed the door to her room so they no longer could sleep in the crib. They had no issues with baby. They had more issues when we made "their" room into a nursery. I believe they left us some brown presents a couple of times during the decorating period...

[thediva320]

I had my cat for 4 years before I had my son. I was worried about many of the stories people had told me about cats adapting to the new additions. My mother gave me her copy of the magazine "Cat Fancy" and in it it said several things about having the two meet (baby and kitty). One of the thing I found incredibly helpful is to bring home a piece of the new baby.......by that I mean, a blanket or hat or something that the baby has touched so the kitty can get used to the smell. I don't know if that will work with adopting (I am not to familiar with that). But that seemed to help quite a bit. My kitty never got in the baby's crib and hardly went into his room at all and was overall pretty okay with him being around. She never attacked him or anything.

GOOD LUCK!

[rebekah1982]

A friend of mine told me to record baby sounds and play them through out the day or night and let the cats get ready to the sounds. Also she brought home baby stuff from a daycare she worked at to get the cats used to the smell as well. She said it worked great the cats acted like nothing had even happened when they brought the baby home. I think that baby's scare animals if they have never been around them and they also get jealous of the time you spend with the baby. its a good idea to start getting them ready for it before baby arrives. It may help there level of anxiety and you may not have as many problems with them adjusting.

[snaps]

We have two cats - one male 16 y/o and one female 12 y/o. The male has pretty much been indifferent to our daughter (now 8 mo. old) although he is pretty deaf. He does not however tolerate grabbing of course so we have to watch her carefully. She loves the cats and really wants to grab/hug them. So far fortunately only one minor scratch. Our female cat is scared of her and jealous of her. The female cat pretty much liked me the best and the male liked my husband the best prior to the baby. The female will come around the baby b/c she can be close to me, however, any loud sound from the baby (squeal, etc) sends her running. She also spends a lot of time by herself since the baby. Our DD tends to squeal loudly when crawling after the cats and gives herself away. Usually they just run away before she gets there. Neither has tried to sleep in her crib and neither has had any "accidents" in her room or around her stuff. We are trying to teach DD to be gentle and pet the cats, but she is still really too little to get it.

[ses1230]

We have 2 cats (one male and one female, but both "fixed") and we haven't had any issues. We didn't have the ability to get something of the baby's for them to learn the scent - we just brought her home.

I think they were both a little scared - after all, there is this new screaming, unpredicatable person in the house. Now one of them still stays away when DD is running around but she sleeps with us. The other one warmed up fast and now he will even nuzzle DD a little (she loves that!).

One thing I did try to do was spend a few minutes with them each day. I think that helped them adjust. I also talked to our vet to get suggestions.

[maxkinzie]

Wow, my cat situation was almost identical to Kaz's, and I was concerned. Most people didn't 'believe' we even had a cat because they never saw him. Well...surprises of surprises he was checking her out (newborn) within minutes of our getting home. He totally went along with it, though he had his space. He never went in her crib or anything, but takes food from her now, and she absolutely adores his!!! I think him maintaining HIS space helped, but the rest??? I'll never understand :-)