I have two cats at home. One is about 8 months and the other is a little over a year old. I'm feeling concerned about how it will be when there is a new baby in the house. The younger cat is very loving and constantly wants to be wherever we are, but the older cat is more of a loner and I'm lucky if I see her once a day.
Does anyone have experience with new babies and cats that they would care to share? Or new babies and pets in general. I'm just feeling a bit nervous about how things will be.
I think this is a great resource...
http://www.bestfriends.org/uploadedFiles/Content/Resources/petsandbabies.pdf
We have two cats. One who is about 8 or so (we got her from the humane society about 5 years ago so don't know her exact age) and our 12 year old. The younger one is SUPER affectionate. The older guy has attention for me and sometimes DH, but that is it. We haven't had any issues at all. DS and the younger one are so cute together. He loves to cuddle and hug her, and she puts up with it so nicely. The older one just steers clear if he wants to be left alone.
Do you have specific concerns, or just about the cats adjusting in general? When DS was very small I always kept a close eye if our younger cat was around because she is just so affectionate that I could have seen her laying on him! I always closed the door if he was napping or sleeping, and I made it very clear that she could NOT go in the crib from the time it was set up on. I also did/do try to make an effort to give the cats cuddles and attention. Our older guy has never been that cuddly anyway, but the younger one is very affectionate and needs her cuddles.
They have both done really well and just seemed to know how baby fit into the family. Even the older guy who can be a bit of a grump has put up with the occasional tackle, tail pull, etc. pretty well and never bit DS. We also don't let him abuse the cats. Oh, and if scratching is a concern, I highly recommend this product. Our old guy is de-clawed, but we use them on our younger cat (and did before DS came along, to keep her from scratching furniture and beating up the old cat). And Mindy looks so pretty with her pink, sparkly claws!
Okay so I'm going to be the bad guy here, but we had a semi-feral cat that we adopted many years ago (it was actually DH's cat that he brought into the marriage). She was literally found in the woods near his house as a kitten, abandoned by her mother.
She was always very unpredictable and semi-violent, even with two non-aggressive adults who just wanted to pat her gently. The final straw was when I was seven months pregnant with DD. I brought home some sacks of groceries and she was sniffing them. I offered her the back of my hand to see if she would let me pat her. She struck out and scratched me very deeply, with no provocation. We took her to the Humane Society the next day.
If she acted this way with two adults who understood her behavior and still cared for her, a baby was out of the question.
I guess my story is just to say that if you have concerns about your cat's temperament now (which it doesn't sound like you do), consider them carefully!
I called the Humane Society the next day because one of our friends said she would've taken the cat, and she had already been adopted by another family. So, that helped my broken heart a little.
My experience is that cats really love to snuggle up and nap behind warm, sleeping babies. 
In fact, you might be shocked at how quickly and instaneously a cat will be found sound asleep behind a baby that you just lay down like 5 seconds ago. lol (Which makes for good photos ;) )
We have two cats. One who is about 8 or so (we got her from the humane society about 5 years ago so don't know her exact age) and our 12 year old. The younger one is SUPER affectionate. The older guy has attention for me and sometimes DH, but that is it. We haven't had any issues at all. DS and the younger one are so cute together. He loves to cuddle and hug her, and she puts up with it so nicely. The older one just steers clear if he wants to be left alone.
Do you have specific concerns, or just about the cats adjusting in general? When DS was very small I always kept a close eye if our younger cat was around because she is just so affectionate that I could have seen her laying on him! I always closed the door if he was napping or sleeping, and I made it very clear that she could NOT go in the crib from the time it was set up on. I also did/do try to make an effort to give the cats cuddles and attention. Our older guy has never been that cuddly anyway, but the younger one is very affectionate and needs her cuddles.
They have both done really well and just seemed to know how baby fit into the family. Even the older guy who can be a bit of a grump has put up with the occasional tackle, tail pull, etc. pretty well and never bit DS. We also don't let him abuse the cats. Oh, and if scratching is a concern, I highly recommend this product. Our old guy is de-clawed, but we use them on our younger cat (and did before DS came along, to keep her from scratching furniture and beating up the old cat). And Mindy looks so pretty with her pink, sparkly claws!
Thanks for everyone's responses! The articles were helpful as well. As far as specific concerns, I suppose I just don't want my social cat to start to feel rejected or left out and then start acting out. It's good to know that the cat that doesn't like affection will probably just keep to herself. I just want us all to get along 
Pastormama - I'm sorry you had to get rid of your cat, I definitely think you had very good logic behind that choice. I'm glad someone adopted her.
Both times I've gotten pregnant, my cat knew almost instantaneously. She's a really laid back cat and kind of a loner...she likes to be near us, but not necessarily touching. She was very affectionate with me while I was pregnant with DS, but once we took him home from the hospital, she was totally indifferent to him. And since he was with me all the time, she became indifferent to me too. She still wants to be pet every so often and will come in to cuddle with us, but besides that, she just hangs out. She never tried to sleep with DS...but that's not really her thing anyway. Now that DS is two, she really tries to keep her distance. DS just thinks she's the funniest thing ever, and he tries to pet her, but she doesn't want to be bothered by it, so she just goes outside or to one of her hiding places where DS can't reach her to sleep for a while. He did try to ride her the other day though.....but she's really good with him...never claws, never hisses, never bites...I'm sure if he got her tail or something she would swat him, but she seems to "get it" enough that she probably wouldn't use her claws....but she's good about making sure that she's not in a position for that to happen. She's always been pretty good with us while playing, and has never intentionally acted out.
Thanks for this thread. I've been thinking about the same thing.
We have a seven-year-old male cat, with intact claws, who is very loving and, um, very large now (18 lbs). He likes to sit on our laps, sleep with us, etc, and occasionally he will get riled up and swipe at us with a paw (playing, but he has the claws...). He is afraid of children, and will run away when he hears young voices, but I've never really seen him with a baby around. I hope he just ignores or runs away from the baby. I don't think I'd be comfortable seeing the two cuddled up (given Uncle Winston's size!).
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I have two cats now, but only had the older male cat when DS was born. This cat is very social and loves to be around his "pack" (us and the dogs). When DS was born, he was very interested. To him, the best thing was that I was up all night with the baby, which suited his nocturnal self. He would sit on the armrest of the chair during nighttime nursing sessions. One time I he started sniffing DS' head intently and then gently started licking his head. It was actually quite adorable and DS didn't seem to care.
Now we have a second, female cat. She is super skiddish and runs away at sudden movements and noise. I have a feeling she will steer clear of the new baby! Although she is very, very curious by nature. She does bat at us with a paw if she gets agitated, but she never has her claws out.
I agree with the recommendation for Soft Claws (http://www.softclaws.com/) if you're worried about scratching. I've used them with my cat for a few years now and they've been great!
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