New Baby and Your Pets « Back to Group Discussions

[Sol_y_Paz]

I know from the spotlight threads a lot of us have pets we love and adore.  How are your pets adjusting to the new addition of the family? 

My cat is so much in love with DS and has adjusted wonderfully.  I really have to watch them together and put up a wall of baby gates when sleeping since she loves to snuggle up with him and that worries me while he is so small, I supervise all interactions.  DS seems to really love the cat too.  The cat also loves the baby toys and thinks they are cat toys.  Also really wants to scratch up the pack and play in particular, loves the netting on it. 

The dogs I have are high energy and require a lot.  They are a big reason I baby wear around the house, that and the fact DS loves to be on the move.   

[LilyTiger]

Our three dogs have adjusted really well.  Our female lab/shep mix loves to lick the baby's face and head and gets upset if the baby cries.  Our little guy seems interested, but not overly so.  And our big greyhound doesn't care at all.  I've been trying to take them for lots of walks with Piper in the sling so they don't feel like they're being abandoned with this big change.  I have noticed the biggest change is that my patience level has seriously dropped, particularly for our greyhound.  He's pretty neurotic and anxious and I just don't have the patience to deal with him right now.  I'm trying to control the feelings, since it's not his fault he's crazy and sometimes ridiculously annoying.  But overall, all the pups are doing great with their new baby "sister".  The only problem I foresee is that our lab mix eats stuffed animals like it's her job.  She's never met a stuffed animal that wasn't a dog toy (and therefore destroyable), so we'll have to start teaching her soon that she can't eat the toys on the floor.  Also, our little dog is yappy when people come over, but I don't see that changing any time soon.  Baby will just have to adapt to being woken up randomly.

[iixivboots]

Ugh I was going to start this thread, too.

We have three cats (we actually rehomed a foster cat a month or so we thought we were keeping, but there was so much intercat tension in the house, we'd had her for two years and it was just getting worse).

Our two female cats, MiMi and Tessa are fine around the baby. They're very calm and collected. Since their claws aren't trimmed, we are a little cautious but pretty chill. Our youngest cat, the boy, Zeke, is another story. HE was our baby for five years before this. He slept nestled under our chins. He's not taking it well.

Because of the stress in the first few weeks after the birth, we had the cats locked in a room in the house (a nice big room with a cat tower, bathroom with litterboxes, etc, not like in a tiny place) even still they've been stir crazy. For so long it was just not something we could deal with, we just fed them and that was it. Now we're trying to figure out what our lives will look like when everyone's living together.

We don't want the cats in the baby's room where I nurse, so we have to watch them when they're out.

Zeke is just unpredictable. He wants our attention so much and seems WAY stressed and skittish. I don't think he'd hurt the baby intentionally but in the past he's bolted across DH or I and scratched us up pretty bad and that was before he even had the added stress of the baby.

We're getting better about letting them out (and hearing them scratch at the door is crazy-making)

We might end up just with no cats in the bedroom for awhile, or continue to put them away at night (That way when we stumble into the baby's room at 3 a.m for a feeding we don't have to worry about keeping them out or accidentally locking one in there. To clarify, the baby sleeps in our room, but we nurse in the nursery.)

Poor little Zeke, he's so confused. I do miss snuggling with him and I just keep telling myself this is temporary until we figure things out.

In other news, there is often cat hair on my nipples (I think it comes from the boppy/burp cloths which often end up on the floor) when I'm trying to nurse. Poor kid.

Lily, I hear you on the lack of patience. That is me. I actually cried for an hour when I was pregnant because I was afraid I wouldn't love my cats anymore (especially Z). I think I had an inkling of how much things would have to change, and I've heard people say crap like "You won't care about your pets after you have a kid" Ugh.

[Ninetales]

My cats don't seem to give two hoots.  The big bitchy one had a real problem when Elsa was born, but once she was mobile all the food and litter boxes got moved to the basement, so she mostly just hangs out down there now.  She only comes up when things are quiet.  The little one is exactly the same as he was.  He never had a problem the first time, though.  He's not fazed by anything really.  He was fostered from birth in a house with dogs, cats, kids, about anything you could imagine. 

[Veritas Vitae]

My cats do not seem to fazed by the addition of Q to the family.  We did break them in a bit by having my sister and nieces here for a month beforehand, and I imagine the relative peace and quiet since Q's arrival and the little girls departure has been welcome.  Lulu is dealing with the change better than Boxxy.  Boxxy tends to be more high stress and she has been a bit skittish and mostly tries to avoid Q.  She'll still sleep on the bed with us, but only sometimes, and she always stays down at the bottom of the bed, away from Q.  Lulu is almost completely unphased by Q, except for when she cries, then Lulu will come over and check her out. 

I had a hard time before Q was born, feeling like I might love my cats less.  I don't think I love them less, but I definitely have less time for them.  The one thing that has changed is we're getting more 'gifts' brought into the house by the cats.  While I was typing this up, Boxxy came in with her almost daily cricket offering.  And the other day Lulu came in with a bird. 

Boots, I have cat hair issues too.  I often find cat hair on Quinn and my self, but I try to keep her blankets a little more separate.  It is a bit of a losing battle, since the cats often lay on the couch or bed. 

[CCoello]

It's been going well with our shepherd mix Trooper. He was a little skittish the first couple of days when the baby cried, but he's very used to it now. Trooper has always slept on our bed, and he still does - Armie sleeps in between DH and I, and Trooper curls up below Armie's feet. It feels safe, since Trooper is calm and has always been predictable. We hope they will play together well in time. Trooper LOVES to play with the toddler across the street, so as soon as Armie is a little more interactive/mobile I hope they will have a grand old time!

The only downside is that I really think (and this is hard to admit) that I love Trooper a bit less. When I was pregnant I loved him more - he was my baby and best friend - but now that I have a baby, I just don't have the time or the heart to give him the attention that I used to. DH still loves him (to be honest, DH has yet to really love the baby... he feels protective and affectionate, but I think it can take men some extra time to feel the deeper loving feelings towards babies, since they are mostly annoying in their early weeks).

[sallyrae17]

This is my second kiddo, but my dog (rat terrier mix - about 35 pounds) has done really well. I know he feels lonely and wants some attention, but he's super protective of my daughter - just like he was/is of my son. He just wants to lick her face whenever she's within reach. Other than that, I have no concerns whatsoever. He's an incredibly sweet dog. 

[pennywhistle]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vitae 
The one thing that has changed is we're getting more 'gifts' brought into the house by the cats.  While I was typing this up, Boxxy came in with her almost daily cricket offering.  And the other day Lulu came in with a bird. 

Woah - 2 days ago one of the cats brought a live blue jay into the house in her mouth...neither of the cats have ever caught ANYthing.  It was totally bizarre (luckily the kid slept through it)!

My cats are doing okay, although we've locked them out of both bedrooms in the apartment so that they can't sleep on the bed anymore and they don't have free reign of the extra bedroom (now baby room).  They definitely seem a little subdued, and I feel horribly guilty.  My husband insists they'll survive.

[Veritas Vitae]

Boxxy finally started taking an interest in Quinn.  She keeps trying to sleep closer to Q at night and was laying about 8" from Q when I woke up this morning.  The first night she begin moving closer to Q, she started sniffing, then head-butting (cat hugs) Q's head, and then licking her hair.  I stopped Boxxy when she tried to "love nip" Q's head.  The picture below is right before I started shooing Boxxy away from Quinn.

[Tizzy]

Our dog is currently at the barn most of the time so although he has shown an interest in the bundle of blankets I carry around, it hasn't really changed much for him.
It didn't even occur to me that my lovebird, Kefir, would feel displaced but apparently he's jealous. I was feeding Gilbert while on FB and Kefir made a beeline for me from across the room, hopped up and plucked a key off the laptop! LOL I shooed him away but he came right back, grabbed the key and flew away with it. What a turkey! So I've been trying to give him more attention and snuggles I just don't want him to accidentally nibble on the baby.