Big changes are afoot...

[dragonchilde]

And I'm looking for advice.

My husband and I are now proud to announce that we are pregnant...okay, I am, but he's convinced he is too, so I let him believe what he wants. :)

Now, I know very well about the dangers of toxoplasmosis, so I don't need advice about not changing the litterbox, since the hubby already knows that he's got litterbox duty for the next nine months.

With three indoor cats, I am interested in what has worked for any of you guys in the past. I'm not worried about Mozart...he's so loving and sweet, he'll take to the baby right away. Tinkerbell will most likely avoid the baby completely. But I would like to know what I can do to get them ready as the time comes.

[Logan]

I only had one cat when my Helen was born, and we never really had a problem. Helen and Mimi were the greatest of friends from the very first day that we brought the baby home. To tell you the truth, I didn't do anything to get Mimi or Chuck (our Lab) ready for her arrival.......in hindsight, I probably should have! :o But luckily, we never had a problem.

My sister, on the other hand, had two indoor only cats when her first child was born. The older of the two went nuts and wet everything that smelled like Emily (the baby). I don't know how you get them used to baby smells, but if you can, it's probably a good idea. My sister also had to worry about the cats getting in the crib, which was never a problem for us, either, for some reason. They ended up putting up a wooden screen door (very inexpensive) on Emily's room so that her door could stay open, but the cats couldn't go in. It worked beautifully. I'm sure others will have better advice, and there is probably a lot of information on the internet if you can figure out where to look!

Good luck, and CONGRATULATIONS on your pregnancy! :) The one really good thing I have accomplished in my life was having a wonderful baby girl (14 years ago). :)

[sirrahbed]

http://www.gifpix.de/gifbilder/Babys/00000510.gif C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v170/sirrahbed/smilies/smile.gif

[catmandu]

First,of all,ignore,the Idiots,who tell,you,that a Cat,will smother a baby,either,on purpose,or by accident.Thats an old wives tales,spread by Cat Haters.And Cats,are not,that jealous,and almost never hurt Babies,even when,they are grabbed.Congatualtions,from Cat Mandu,and The Found Cats!

[sirrahbed]

Here is a search of discussions that have been here in the past:
cats and pregnant women (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33260&highlight=toxoplasmosis)
women out there... (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13836&highlight=toxoplasmosis)
Myth or Fact (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=61359&highlight=toxoplasmosis)
Cats and babies (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14939&highlight=toxoplasmosis)

I am sure there are some good sites that folks will point you to. My granddaughter is 7 months old. Her name is chrangharris and I hope she sees this and responds. My daughter, sirrahsim, is also pregnant with my second grandchild and she will likely have some advice as well. .:D

[Grace]

How to get them ready for baby smells

When you are in the hospital, take something that has been on or around the baby (shirt, blankie), have your husband take it home and let the cats smell it, play with it.

On the day you go home, when you walk into house, have someone else carry the baby inside. You walk in, gather up the cats, and love on them for a few minutes. This is what you would do if you were coming home to another child - and you are in a manner of speaking.

The screen door that Logan mentioned is a wonderful idea.

[AmberLee]

No advice, but wanted to say "Congratulations", too!

[christa]

I don't have any advice for you . . . but I'll be interested to see what people say . . . I've always wondered how ours would act when we do decide to start our family. ;)

BTW, CONGRATS!!!

[Sirrahsim]

Congratulations!! As you can see in my siggy, I am just over 29 weeks pregnant and have a cat of my own. So far we have started to get Boomer used to the idea that "his" room is no longer "his" room. We live in a two- bedroom apartment, so the room that Boomer used to use as his primary play room is going to be our nursery. I'm not too worried about Boomer harming our little boy. He's afraid of his own shadow and will probably be terrified of our crying, pooping, mommy-stealing bundle of joy
:D :D :D
In the meantime, we are getting him used to the changes by locking him out of the nursery at night as we will continue to do once we have the baby here with us. We're also keeping a spray bottle handy for when he decides to bed down in the crib. As well as that, I have some hand me downs that already have the baby smell on them that I'm leaving lying around that particular room. Good luck getting everything ready and CONGRATULATIONS!!!

[prechrswife]

Congratulations! I posted a similar thread a week or so ago (My husband and I are adopting.) and got some great advice. I hope everything goes well for you!:)

[catnapper]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

No advice here but I wanted to congratulate you!!

[Jayna78]

Congratulations! :) Can't provide any advice, but I will say this: there is NO way that we would ever not have our 4 kitties, even if we do decide to have a child one day. I hate to hear about families that give away their beloved kitties b/c of all those old wives' tales about cats and babies. Any time younger children have been around our cats, they've been great - they either go off and do their own thing, or they hang around in a nice way. :)

Congrats! Good luck - keep loving those kitties too! :)

[dragonchilde]

I would never get rid of my furbabies. :) I'm well aware that cats won't hurt the baby...I'm just more concerned for the kitties. :) I want the transition to be as pleasant and trauma-less as possible. My kitties mean the world to me, and they're just as much a part of this family as the baby will be.

We're very excited...and thanks for all the congratulations. :)

[QueenScoopalot]

I'd like to add my congratulations on your baby to be! Here's an interesting article that I bookmarked a while back. Too many people relinquish their cats when a baby comes into the home, though I'm not saying you will by any means!
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/parenting/08/27/kid.pet.allergies/index.html

Click on the link for video and more links and info.

Kids' best friends: Pets help prevent allergies

By Gina Greene
CNN

(CNN) -- Flying in the face of conventional wisdom, a new study shows that children who grow up with pets in the home have a reduced risk of developing common allergies.

"It was very strongly the opposite of what we expected to find," said lead researcher Dr. Dennis R. Ownby, who is chief of allergy and immunology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. "Allergists have been trained for generations that dogs and cats in the house were bad because they increased the risk of you becoming allergic to them; we know that before you become allergic to something you have to be repeatedly exposed to it."

But the study, released in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association -- which tracked a group of 474 babies from birth to about age 7 -- found differently. Researchers found that the 184 children in the group exposed to two or more dogs or cats in infancy were half as likely to develop common allergies than the 220 children who had no pets in the home.

The researchers found the group exposed to animals had fewer positive skin test to indoor allergens -- such as pet and dust mite allergens -- and also outdoor allergens like ragweed and grass.

Moreover, the kids exposed to cats and dogs were almost half as likely to have hyper-responsive and easily irritated airways -- a risk factor for asthma.

The research also suggests that more is better. For example, 15.5 percent of kids without pets were allergic to cats compared with almost 12 percent with one cat or dog. That number dropped to just under eight percent when two or more pets were in the home.

"This contributes to the mounting evidence that the things allergists have believed for years and parents have lived by are wrong," said Ownby, Indeed the body of evidence is growing. In fact, a recent study sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases found that low-to-moderate amounts of cat allergen triggered allergies in children while high amounts had a preventive effect against allergies -- and asthma as well.


So what is it about cats and dogs? Researchers think the secret may lie in endotoxins, the breakdown products of bacteria found in the animals' mouths. They're thought to force the body's immune system into developing a response pattern that's less likely to lead to allergic reactions.

"The bottom line," says Ownby, "is that maybe part of the reason we have so many children with allergies and asthma is we live too clean a life."