Introducing pets to a new baby « Back to Group Discussions

[typebug]

I have an 8 month old rescue kitten who has been attached to my side 24/7 since the day I took him on (5 weeks old, starved, found in a plastic bag in a market in Singapore). Anyway, he has lots of anxiety about strangers and new things. I give him homeopathic calming stuff when he's about to meet someone new. We're doing a home birth and I hadn't thought about what to do to prepare him for that nor am I sure how he'll react to a baby. He's a love bug and gets jealous of the phone even! I'm hoping because he's still so young he'll adapt. Any mommies have experience with a co-dependent cat adjusting to a new baby? 

[Adaline'sMama]

Are you planning on co sleeping? If so, you might want to train him not to be in your bed. If you arent you could go ahead and set up your crib and put a doll in it to try and keep him out of the crib and off the baby. Honestly, my animals always sensed that there was big, new, stuff going on and kinda made themselves scarce for a little bit. 

[etsdtm99]

is your cat scared of small animals or other cats? or just people? in my experience being young should help.. 

i had 2 cats in my house and 3 at my moms when i had my first.. my cats did pretty well..i think they knew something was up, and they didn't act surprised about the baby ..  one didn't care wasn't interested in us or the baby..the other a very lovey attached cat (he was about 18 months old) he was and still is amazing with the kids - best cat ever. i know this is different cause i wasn't around them full time, but they were 'my' cats from before i moved out..  so of the 3 at my mom's house..  2 ignored the new baby when we were there, but the 3rd one, very similar personality to my younger lovey cat, but he was older (like 8?) he freaked out about the baby and hissed at me and went after my legs as he would if i was holding a random cat .. we had to lock him up whenever we had my DD in the house until she started pulling up/walking once she was on 2 feet, he saw her as a person.. i think it might be worth it to get a doll to carry around for a while, and play some baby sounds on the computer/phone ..  the weird gurgly and fussy sounds really freaked out that one cat ..   i think you're right that he will adapt because he is so young but it can't hurt to both be aware of possible reactions and to try to prepare him for the sounds..  the other thing i ended up having to do with my cats was lock them in their own part of the house while we were sleeping ..  luckily we were able to give them the entire basement..  otherwise if we just closed us or baby in one room they would stand at the door and cry and scratch the door..  if i had known that was going to happen i would have locked them up at night before baby came so they wouldn't associate that with the baby..

[iamkateiam]

My dog has become VERY protective of me since I became pregnant.  He follows me around the house and sits as close to me as possible- usually ending up in my lap, which is sort of uncomfortable as his is a pit/lab mix.  I think he'll be fine when the baby comes.  I do worry more about our cats.  One of them is very chill and ignores people when they come over.  The other one is not very nice.  She hisses and swipes at my poor dog (who has at least 50lbs on her, but is terrified of her).  This is what we've done so far to try to get them ready for the baby: We cut a cat hole into the door to our basement so only the cats can get down there when the door is closed (we keep their food and litter boxes down there).  That way they have a safe/quite place to go when the baby comes.  We've also had the door to the nursery closed since we put the crib in there so they get used to not going in there.  We've been sleeping with the door to our room closed too so the animals can't get in there at night.  Hopefully those things help, we're just hoping for the best!

[loveandgarbage]

Your cat will figure things out. He will no longer be "the baby" and might get jealous, but he'll learn his new place pretty soon. Our cat was totally "the baby" and used to being showered with attention. We didn't do anything to prepare him for the new arrival. He could no longer sit on my lap whenever he wanted, sleep by my head, etc., but he dealt with it just fine. Animals sense when there's a new young around and make themselves scarce (most of the time at least).

[typebug]

Good suggestions! Thanks everyone.