Have cats? Have a baby?

[Freedom]

I'm looking for anyone who owns / owned cats and had a baby in the home too. See this post in Cat - General!

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=127119

It's someone who posted on craigslist. Ones 2 handsome brother cats and now has a baby in the home. Tinks they need to rehome the cats Please help explain this is not a necessity!

[sirrahbed]

I currently have two grandbabies who are at our house every week and have been since they were born. Of our five cats, only one (Lizzie) will come even close...here she is with Annika from this past week. Lizzie LOVES babies and has taken it upon herself to be one of the babysitters. She *always* stays around the babies but never too close...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p6df1483acfb59595ee71eb60634b167f/e9884658.jpg
Annika loves the kitties and gets so excited to see them. Our big orange Dylan likes the babies as well, but prefers to sit from a nearby perch to watch them, The other three stay mostly far away ;)

At her house, Annika and Misha's family also have cats - Her mommy saw this sweet sight a few weeks ago and got the picture http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11/chrangharris/100_4204.jpg

That picture is also in this thread: Who says babies and cats don't mix? (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=125050)

The kitty belonging to my youngest daughter had been previously been given up because of a new baby. Since then, she has had her first child who is now almost two. Boomer sits right next to him and lets Tyler pet him - but also knows to move away if Tyler forgets to be gentle. They will be having baby #2 very soon and I know Boomer will also remain part of the family.

I love seeing babies and pets together. I may not be the norm, but I also let the cats hop in the baby crib if they wanted to. I do not believe there is any danger whatsoever. My three children were all raised around cats and other animals and now all three have grown to be animals lovers as well. All three families post here: chrangharris, sirrahved and sirrahsim. All the grandbabies will grow up with their pets, including multiple cats :D They are learning how to love and care for kitties and hopefully will carry on the tradition of keeping pets.

Bill - if you happen to read this thread I hope you will be encouraged to keep your kitties. They can be such a positive part of the family. Some folks do such things as install a screen door on the nursery just to be safe and that is something you can consider. In all likelihood, your cats will steer clear far from your baby - unless one or both of them take a special liking and chooses watch them. I always felt that my babies and grandbabies are actually protected by our kitties.

Anyone else have some good stories or pictures with kitties and their babies? :)

[sirrahved]

Testamonial: I'm still alive. My family has had cats from the second I was conceived. Only damaging effect was turning me into an animal fanatic.

[luckies4me]

I loved having the cats around Dylan when he was a baby, and I would never dream of giving up a cat just because I was having a baby. Houdini was Dylan's little protector. She would watch over him at all times, and if he cried she would come get us and glare at us until we picked him up. Our cats too slept in the crib with Dylan all the time, and he's none worse for wear, except being a cat crazy kid. :p

[chrangharris]

Thanks sirrahbed for posting! Just had to add my two cents in! The above pictures are of my baby. We have always had cats and have NEVER NEVER had a problem. Both of my girls adores cats! My oldest is learning how to be gentle and approach animals. We are also teaching how to not approach strange animals! :D The cats have learned to leave when they do not want to be bothered and we teach the girls to respect that! :D

[Cataholic]

Cats? Around a baby?

I couldn't imagine rehoming any of my pets because of my son. Jones has been around cats since the day he came home. Of my remaining 5, 2 are perfectly fine around him, 2 are more timid, but, will come lay on him when he sleeps, and one, well, one...she doesn't come out for ANYONE!!

Really, I think people looking to rehome their pets in situations like this are simply looking for the easy way out. This time, it just makes them feel 'better' to say it is cause of their newborn.

[JenBKR]

I don't have a baby *yet* but I have already been told by a few people that I should get rid of my pets (Roscoe included...). I really don't know why people think that you have to do that when you have kids (especially cats). I don't clean the litter box now, just to be on the safe side, but come on, I am not about to get rid of any of my pets. They are my kids too, and I believe that they will be great with the baby. Maybe it's an old wives tale or something that you should get rid of pets? I don't know...anyway, I even asked my doctor about it and she said it's perfectly safe (although she did prefer that hubby clean the litter box...and I told him that he had to clean up Roscoe's waste from the yard too :p ).

[catnapper]

We have 5 cats and one baby. All get along beautifully.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/kasdesign/gotcha.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/kasdesign/Cameron/My4Boys.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/kasdesign/Cameron/WithEveryone-Christmas.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/kasdesign/Cameron/PuffandCam.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/kasdesign/Cameron/CatPile3.jpg

Cameron's only 11 months old (in 2 days!) and is just great with the cats and they tolerate a ton of stuff from him.

[luckies4me]

Those pictures are just too darn cute!!! :D

[BitsyNaceyDog]

We have 5 cats, 6 dogs, and a 4 week old baby in the house. All the pets are great with the baby (Nathan). We had a home birth and Nathan met one of the cats (Sundae) when he was only minutes old. The rest of the cats came around within the next few days. Cats are such wonderful pets and I'd never deprive my child the joy of having cats.