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Author Topic:   New baby
smizer
New Member

Posts: 3
From:Saint Louis, MO, USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-19-2003 09:31 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for smizer     Edit/Delete Message
My husband and I have three cats and we are due to have a baby at the end of November. I am quite nervous about this. Is there anything I can do to prepare them for this big step?

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Cat
Member

Posts: 141
From:Nova Scotia, Canada
Registered: May 2003

posted 08-19-2003 10:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Cat     Edit/Delete Message
Congrats on the upcoming arrival. I also had a baby a year ago and have two cats myself. It was a difficult transitation as they were my babies and received all my undivided attention. I looked for them to give them attention. Now, they have to come to me when they want attention. My cats went from attention all day to once a day at a specific time (i.e. Miko cuddles at night with me and Ash in the morning). Quite a drastic change.Took a while for them to adjust and get used to this routine.

Realistically, you will be busy and will want to take advantage of your baby free time to do other things. So start a routine now where you spend specific time with your cats (individually or together) and maintain it when the baby comes so that they aren't feeling abondoned. Also let your cats become part of the baby's life at their own will. Introduce them from the beginning - under supervision as some cats may get jealous.

Miko takes on a protective role with Josh when people are around - for whatever reason. But she doens't leave the area he's in when company's visiting. Ash is always in his room when he crys. However, they both move fast to get out of his reach when he makes a bee-line for them.

Bottom line, just make a conscious effort they get the love and attention they need whenever you can.

Good Luck

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Indy
Member

Posts: 31
From:Forida, US
Registered: May 2003

posted 08-19-2003 01:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Indy     Edit/Delete Message
Car,
That sound like excellent advice!!!

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smizer
New Member

Posts: 3
From:Saint Louis, MO, USA
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-19-2003 01:07 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for smizer     Edit/Delete Message
Thank you for the advice! I am crazy about my cats!!! And some people that I work with are telling me to get rid of them, I don't tell them to get rid of their kids and that would be what I would be doing.
My cousin bought a baby doll and carried it around like a baby, put it in the crib, and talked to it. What do you think about that???

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Cat
Member

Posts: 141
From:Nova Scotia, Canada
Registered: May 2003

posted 08-19-2003 05:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Cat     Edit/Delete Message
I know how you feel....my co-worker told me that I would come to ignore my cats as the baby would take up my time. He only said that becasue thats what happened to his cats. It was really difficult to share my tme with the baby, cats and the husband but it gets easier as the baby gets older and more independant. Give the doll a try and see what happens. However, I noticed the difference was the scent. Have any friends/family you can borrow baby clothes from that have a baby scent on?

Short story: when I came home from the hospital I came in first without Josh to see my kitties. They acted like they hadn't seen me in weeks. My husband came in with Josh wi\ho was sleeping and the moment he came in with the carrier they both stopped and acted suspicious. They had seen the carrier before but smelled the baby. They both came over and cautiously investigated. I was amazed that the door hadn't even closed and they could sense something out-of-the-ordinary. Great senses!

Best of luck.

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Greypaw
Member

Posts: 83
From:New Zealand
Registered: May 2003

posted 08-19-2003 10:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Greypaw     Edit/Delete Message
I'm so glad to hear such sensible well-thoughtout and positive experiances! There is so much dogma out there about cats and babies that I'm often exasperated and dismayed.

I really think that a good test on what people will be like as parents is to see how they are with pets, and if people get rid of their pets when they have a baby, what does that show? (And I think ignoring pets is just as bad).

Thank you for being so strong and caring, and of course sharing your thoughts with us. I haven't had any kids yet and often its hard to stand up to all the 'good' advice out there as they always say I don't know what I'm talking about. I know I'd never get rid of my cats thats for sure, I might as well chop my leg off :-)

Greypaw

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Brenye
New Member

Posts: 9
From:
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 08-21-2003 10:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Brenye     Edit/Delete Message
another good thing to do is to have your husband come home with a recieving blanket that smells like the new baby and have him keep it on him while he plays with the cats. It helps them to assosiate the new smell with good things as well as assosiate it with their "people". Another thing I did before I had my son was to break my cats of the habbit of jumping on my lap willy nilly, because I was sure they would get upset if all of a sudden they couldn't be on my lap all the time and the baby was there. What I did was get them used to only being aloud in laps when they were called (via patting my lap), that only works if all people in the house do it tho when my husband wasn't doing it they didn't quite get the picture. My three cats are just wonderful with the baby (who is almost 3 months now) one of them likes to sleep against his back (baby naps with his dad on the bed sleeping on his side) and another sleeps at his feet, its so cute to go in and see the 4 of them sleeping. One still gets a little jelious, but we think thats just because he keeps trying to jump in the baby swing and we won't let him.
Just make sure your cats know they are loved and don't yell at/freak out when ever they come near the baby, as long as you are watching you can keep them from doing harm and you can nurture a life long friendship.

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Isis
Member

Posts: 139
From:UK
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 08-22-2003 06:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Isis     Edit/Delete Message
Its definitely a fallacy that cats aren't good with babies. I don't think I have heard many stories about kitties mauling babies but I have often heard old wives tales!

Just get your cats into a routine and used to the baby, if you treat it like introducing another cat into the household I dont see their will be a problem!

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babypuff
New Member

Posts: 3
From:
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 08-28-2003 06:26 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for babypuff     Edit/Delete Message
HI! I'M BABYPUFF AND AS WELL AS YOU I'M EXSPECTING A BABY BUT IN THE BEGINING OF OCTOBER OF 2003 AND EVEN THOUGH I LOST ONE I STILL HAVE 2 FEMALE CATS(THE OTHER WAS A MALE).AS WITH YOU SOME PEOPLE ARE SUJESTING THAT MY HUSBAND AND I GET RID OF THEM AND I EVEN GET AQUESED OF LOVING MY CATS MORE THAN MY EXSPECTED BABY,WHICH I THINK THATS JUST PLANE WRONG BUT BESIDES THAT I WAS FEELING THE SAME WAY AND AFTER READING ALL THE GOOD ADVISE I THANK SMIZER FOR ASKING,AND I THANK THE REST OF YOU FOR YOUR SUJESTIONS.THANKS AGAIN BABYPUFF

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