aquadoula tub question

[interbang]

Hello.

We are setting up our aquadoula tub tonight, and I had a quick question for you all:

In your experience, if you have cats, would you set up the tub with everything but the disposable liner so the thick vinyl liner that actually holds the water was on ahead of time, or would you leave the vinyl liner off because of the risk of the cats puncturing it? It looks pretty strong to me, and I'd rather have it set up to that point, so there's less to do once labor really gets going. And we have the space, so that's not a problem either.

Our cats do claw at will (we aren't much with the training), but they don't seem to claw plastic as much as the couches or the carpet. Also, I do trim their claws about every two weeks.

Also, I think putting a towel on the bottom, so there's not as much traction, might be a semi-decent solution.

Thanks,

[2+twins]

We set ours up right away minus the liner, like you said. Our cats like to claw too, but we had it in a room that we were able to keep shut. I think your idea of putting towels down is good, but the cats may want to sleep on them!

[gottaknit]

Better safe than sorry. My cats just seem to know when I don't want them to do something, and then go out of their way to do it! Good luck with your waterbirth!

[zanelee]

We used an aqua doula last time, and our cats pretty much ignored the whole thing until there was water in it and it had the little thermometer floating in it. We have the funniest picture of one of our kitties standing up like a merecat watching it. I half expected her to pounce on it! I was in the tub at the time, and not looking forward to that experience!

[hunnybumm]

You could always get some foil or sticky paper or saran wrap and place it all around the pool. Cats don't like to stand on these things. They will usually jump on then and immediatly jump off and leave the thing alone. Then when it comes time to use it just remove the foil / wrap / paper.