Advice: Cat and a newborn...thoughts?

Rachineire

I was looking for a little advice on a problem my OH and I are having.

We have a cat, he is about a year and a half old and is an indoor cat. Hes quite an active kitty and is still very playful and needy. He can also be quite aggressive. He won't bite my OH but everyday he is going at my hands and feet everytime I get near him unless he is feeling very sleepy.

My OH wants to find another home for the cat before the baby gets here. He is worried that the cat will not adjust well to the baby and is worried about the cat biting the baby or sleeping in the moses basket or cot while baby is sleeping in there. I have the same concerns but I also love the cat (despite the biting) and would hate to give him up.

What do ye think? A risk to keep a hyper kitty with a newborn?

pushkii

That Is a tough situation :-( i love my cats but they will be banned from coming inside once bab arrives :-( i already found one inside the Moses basket in the spare room looking too comfy.
Your cat is probably only playing biting but i know ye wouldn't risk it with baby around. Is he neutered? That might calm him down or would ye be able to limit him to certain parts pf the house?

Glowing

We bought a cat net in mothercare for about 6 euro. It fits over the crib/moses basket to prevent the cat from getting in on top of the baby. And that will prob be the only time your baby may be left unsupervised in the first few months.

You could put the net over the basket now and leave the door of the babies room closed to get the cat used to not having access anymore ...

sara317

Oh you poor thing, what a situation to be in. I have 2 kittens, I got one kitten and she was too playful I was getting scraped all the time so we decided to get another kitten to see if that would help, and it did, they just go off and play together, the only time they come near us is to cuddle up and fall asleep. This was all before I found out I was pregnant and I'm sure this probably wouldn't be an option for you. The cat net sounds like a good idea and being vigilant to make sure that the cat is outside if the baby is in the room by herself.

Other people have used a spray bottle to discipline their cats, e.g. if they jump on the counter they say NO and spray them with water and the cat then will associate this with an unpleasant feeling and will eventually get the message not to go there, you could do this with the moses basket perhaps?

Rachineire

Well he is neutered....we got him snipped around last January and thought that might calm him down and it hasnt. The cat net sounds good....unfortunately it won't solve the biting issue. It seems no matter howany times we discipline him he won't stop attacking hands and feet! The amount of times I've nearly fallen down the stairs from him attacking my feet! I know its play for him but he can't grasp the concept of play nice ( he is just a kitty I know!!) I don't mind him biting me it's him biting baby me and OH think will happen.

Glowing

What are you feeding him?

We feed ours a mix of Felix and Science Plan dried food. We tried to give her a bit of variety one evening and got her a few single food sachets in Tesco and when we gave her the Tesco branded one, she went absolutely bezerk for hours that evening!! We hardly got a wink of sleep - it was like she was on speed.

When we did some investigation, it turns out that some of these foods have more e-numbers and additives in them and can actually cause aggression and hyperactivity! Maybe worth changing his food and seeing if that calms him down?

Mink

As long as the baby is never alone with the cat it shouldn't be a problem. You could also speak to the vet re behaviour issues. I have two cats and they will be banned from the room if baby sleeping in there on own (ie a nap) and I would never leave them alone with him. Same if I had a dog or toddler to be honest. As long as you're there shouldn't be an issue.

It's very hard to rehome a pet and would be heartbreaking. The dspca took in 43 abandoned cats just in the last week and they were already at capacity.

mslady

I'd second Glowing's advice re looking at the food...our cat was about the same age, hyper all the time and would take a swipe at anything. Had her on whiskas/kitekat wet food.

OH went to a petshop one day and was chatting to the owner - he reckoned that feeding cats wet food every day was the equivalent of feeding a child mcdonalds for every meal!!:eek:

Switched her to dry Royal Canin and she's a different cat since, much more chilled - still playful but much less aggressive playing! Might be worth switching up the food to see if it makes a difference?

Minxy Moo

My cat used to do the same, attack feet, hands really hurt me a few times. When we got another cat she really helped to calm him, because he just played with her instead. I also slowly introduced them to the outside world. They both still comes inside but are way more relaxed, and he is a totally different cat altogether. He's snoring at my feet as I type this :rolleyes:

pushkii

What is it with cats and their fascination with human toes and fingers :-) i heard that too about wet food being like being like mc Donald too. Dry food is the way to go!

07734

We had a very similar situation when our son was born, the cat was very much used to being the centre of attention, etc, and we were concerned that there may be issues.

As it turned out, the cat couldn't have been more gentle with the baby, kept his distance most of the time, and only occasionally came near him for a sniff!

The cat certainly seemed to know that the baby was something to treat with care, and never protested, even during toddler years and all the tail pulling.

Rachineire

Thanks for all your advice its much appreciated! I have never heard that about the wet food and we do feed him one square per day with dry food as well (as per our vets instructions!) I am going to not give him any more wet food for the rest of the weekend and see how he does. I am definitely more in favor of keeping him because I feel like he is a furry family member...my OH is much more detached and in favor of finding a new home for him....:( we are more split on this than we would be on most things

Will let you guys know how it all turns out!

Mink

That's a pity he doesn't feel the same re the cat, hopefully it will work out.

I feed mine only dry food too, it's called Hills Science plan or something like that. Can get it in big pet shops. I never feed them wet food or Go Cat, makes their poo stink even worse and it's really bad for them.

xiwang

There are some animal nutrition people who say that only feeding dry food is not ideal either, since they often come in large packs and mites and bacteria can enter the dry food easier and then make their way into the cat's belly, or even be in the factory where it's packed. I was reading up a lot about cat nutrition last year and almost started making my own cat food but didn't find the time to do it in the end.

We have ours on Felix as well and if the shop doesn't have any and they get different food they do get more hyper and complain a lot, and they wouldn't go near any other type of cat food now when they know that there is Felix in the house... either they know it is better for them or there is some cat crack in Felix.

Really hope the food changes your cat's behaviour, it would be terrible to have to give him away

scrgirl

Just read an article that claims babies who are exposed to cats and dogs have better immune systems and experience less childhood illness than those not.
I have cat, indoor spoiled rotten, she is about to get the shock of her life when the baby comes in December! She will be getting a cat house and moving outdoors. I will still let her in under strict supervision around the baby of course. Hope you hold on to your pet the baby will love it when it's old enough to play with it.

Glowing

scrgirl wrote: »

Just read an article that claims babies who are exposed to cats and dogs have better immune systems and experience less childhood illness than those not.
I have cat, indoor spoiled rotten, she is about to get the shock of her life when the baby comes in December! She will be getting a cat house and moving outdoors. I will still let her in under strict supervision around the baby of course. Hope you hold on to your pet the baby will love it when it's old enough to play with it.

A life outside for an indoor cat in the depths of winter will be very very hard! Unless you could provide a heated house, I'd be more inclined to rehome her rather than put her through that. Would she be sleeping inside or out? Indoor cats are just not equipped to deal with a life outside unfortunately ..

OldNotWIse

Mink wrote: »

As long as the baby is never alone with the cat it shouldn't be a problem. You could also speak to the vet re behaviour issues. I have two cats and they will be banned from the room if baby sleeping in there on own (ie a nap) and I would never leave them alone with him. Same if I had a dog or toddler to be honest. As long as you're there shouldn't be an issue.

It's very hard to rehome a pet and would be heartbreaking. The dspca took in 43 abandoned cats just in the last week and they were already at capacity.

In fact, I heard through the course of my volunteer work with a different animal charity that they were unable to take in cats for a period a while back. Very sad indeed Far too many people not neutering/spaying, and others simply abandoning their furries.

I agree, once the cat and child are not left alone (and why would you) there shouldn't be any danger to the child.

OldNotWIse

scrgirl wrote: »

Just read an article that claims babies who are exposed to cats and dogs have better immune systems and experience less childhood illness than those not.
I have cat, indoor spoiled rotten, she is about to get the shock of her life when the baby comes in December! She will be getting a cat house and moving outdoors. I will still let her in under strict supervision around the baby of course. Hope you hold on to your pet the baby will love it when it's old enough to play with it.

Not sure if this is best for the cat. She is "indoor and spoilt rotten" and by your own admission will "get the shock of her life" when she is turfed out? Perhaps you should consider whats best for the cat and not keep her for selfish reasons or for the sake of keeping her so your baby has something to play with (incidentally cats dontlike babies pulling out of them) at a later date? Sorry but it seems a little unfair and completely pointless.

Rachineire

Well we ended up finding a new home for our cat.

I was very much of two minds about the entire thing but my husband had his mind pretty much set. He was too worried about the cat biting the baby or sleeping in the cot with the baby. I told him that if he found a good home and NOT a shelter that rehoming the cat would be ok. I didn't want much to do with it as I was very emotional about the entire thing.

my OH placed an ad on donedeal this morning and kitty had a new family this afternoon! I cannot believe how fast it happened. Thankfully it seems like a great family. The cat was for the daughter who just finished vetinary school and wanted an indoor kitty. I definitely cried a fair bit but i think overall it was for the best. I don't know if we would have been able to give our cat the attention he deserved and needed when the baby gets here as I have no family in the country and won't have much help at all when he is first born.

Still sad to come home with no kitty running to greet us at the door and the end of my bed is very empty tonight

Also thanks so much for all of the great advice from other posters! I did end up changing his diet and there was a noticable difference when I took him off the wet food. He was much calmer! The first few days off of the wet food was like he was going through withdrawls....he was climbing the walls!! Its shocking how bad that food must have been for him!

I appreciate all the support and advice!

scrgirl

OldNotWIse wrote: »

scrgirl wrote: »

Just read an article that claims babies who are exposed to cats and dogs have better immune systems and experience less childhood illness than those not.
I have cat, indoor spoiled rotten, she is about to get the shock of her life when the baby comes in December! She will be getting a cat house and moving outdoors. I will still let her in under strict supervision around the baby of course. Hope you hold on to your pet the baby will love it when it's old enough to play with it.

Not sure if this is best for the cat. She is "indoor and spoilt rotten" and by your own admission will "get the shock of her life" when she is turfed out? Perhaps you should consider whats best for the cat and not keep her for selfish reasons or for the sake of keeping her so your baby has something to play with (incidentally cats dontlike babies pulling out of them) at a later date? Sorry but it seems a little unfair and completely pointless.

Possibly not best for cat but best for our family and the cat will continue to be loved and cared for. I think it's a better option than dumping her on a over stretched shelter. I Intend to start leaving her out soon while it's mild. She likes going out for an evening ramble as it is.

Glowing

scrgirl wrote: »

Possibly not best for cat but best for our family and the cat will continue to be loved and cared for. I think it's a better option than dumping her on a over stretched shelter. I Intend to start leaving her out soon while it's mild. She likes going out for an evening ramble as it is.

Going out for a ramble is very different to being locked out overnight in sub-zero temperatures fending off foxes and traffic. Why not rehome as the above poster did? I really don't think you are being fair to your cat at all, and you already admit its 'probably not best for the cat'? Imo its bordering on cruelty. And what happens if you have a second baby? cat get turfed out again? An indoor cat just won't have the 'life skills' to fend for herself at night especially... please please do the kind thing and rehome to a family who will have the cats best interests at heart.

Edit: leaving the cat out from now will not equip her to deal with a hard winter any better. It is well known that many feral cats perished in the cold winter we had 2 years ago, and these are effectively wild animals.

Rachineire

I can understand why scrgirl wants to try and work out a solution that works for her family before looking to rehome kitty. It can be very hard emotionally to decide to give away a pet, especially while pregnant while there are so many other changes happening. Im still quite sad and upset about rehoming kitty even though we were fortunate to find a good family. It was the right solution for our family though and I can't say that for anyone else!

scrgirl

Thanks Racherine. Hope uou are not missing your cat too much it must be very Hard. Glowing I appreciate your concern for my cat but we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Captain Commie

We were in a similar situation, we had fostered 2 kittens and then found out my OH was pregnant. We agonised for ages about what we were going to do, even though we had no long term commitment as the shelter were supposed to be finding them new homes.

In the end one of the kittens got adopted and we then had to force the shelter to take in the other kitten as we got an emergency call to come back to ireland.

The way I looked at it was, kittens/young cats need as much attention as a child does, and nothing will come before my child.

OldNotWIse

scrgirl wrote: »

Possibly not best for cat but best for our family and the cat will continue to be loved and cared for. I think it's a better option than dumping her on a over stretched shelter. I Intend to start leaving her out soon while it's mild. She likes going out for an evening ramble as it is.

It really annoys me when people "half" have animals tbh. If an animal is worth having, it's worth looking after.

Most shelters are full up, thats true, but they also have a no kill policy, and are to be commended for trying their best to place their animals in suitable homes. It may not be ideal to place the cat in a shelter, but if you consider the animals needs and not just the fact that you are attached to her and you think she will make a good tug toy for your child in a year or two, I think it is clear that she will be better off re-homed.

OldNotWIse

Captain Commie wrote: »

We were in a similar situation, we had fostered 2 kittens and then found out my OH was pregnant. We agonised for ages about what we were going to do, even though we had no long term commitment as the shelter were supposed to be finding them new homes.

In the end one of the kittens got adopted and we then had to force the shelter to take in the other kitten as we got an emergency call to come back to ireland.

The way I looked at it was, kittens/young cats need as much attention as a child does, and nothing will come before my child.

But at least you made the responsible decision, and knew that you would not be able to give the cat the attention she needed and deserved. I respect that far more than if you had traded her quality of life for the sake of not missing her.

Glowing

scrgirl wrote: »

Possibly not best for cat but best for our family

Scrgirl, I am just amazed that you don't see anything wrong with this. Don't get or keep a pet for selfish reasons, please!

Think what sort of life your cat will have outside in the rain and cold having been brought up as an indoor animal? I really can't believe someone would do this to their 'pet'.

scrgirl

Glowing wrote: »

scrgirl wrote: »

Possibly not best for cat but best for our family

Scrgirl, I am just amazed that you don't see anything wrong with this. Don't get or keep a pet for selfish reasons, please!

Think what sort of life your cat will have outside in the rain and cold having been brought up as an indoor animal? I really can't believe someone would do this to their 'pet'.

The family includes the cat. She is not being thrown out to Siberia, she is getting a cat house in a shed. Stop being hysterical.
This tread was about another lady's cat issue which is now resolved. I suggest we close this now. It's starting to feel like I'm being trolled. I won't be replying to anymore comments on this thread.

Rachineire

I quite agree actually. I started this thread looking for a bit of advice from other posters who may have had similar situations or have experience life with a newborn before and understand how the balancing act can work. I have gotten tons of great advice which I truly appreciate. I don't judge anyone else for how they decide to run thier households and I don't enjoy seeing others get bullied for thier decisions. The pregnancy section on boards is a place of support and advice so lets all get along and respect others for thier choices!

I have gotten the advice I needed and I have resolved my situation so I'll ask the mods to close off this thread. Thanks again for everyone who commented.

PCros

OldNotWIse wrote: »

It may not be ideal to place the cat in a shelter, but if you consider the animals needs and not just the fact that you are attached to her and you think she will make a good tug toy for your child in a year or two, I think it is clear that she will be better off re-homed.

In my opinion the first thing that should been done is give the animal a chance - not get rid of before a baby even arrives.

Its a bit silly to think a family cannot have a cat or a dog now just incase the baby starts to pull its tail in a year or so.

These are things that have to looked out for and for the child to be taught not to pull on animals etc.

If its a case of jealousy from the cat or dog that is leading to a child being attacked the yes the situation would have to be looked at.

January

Closed, requested by OP.