Advice with cats and infant

[Tlifter]

I will start with a general layout of the house and sorry for the length. I really appreciate the help. My wife is due very soon and we have 2 cats. Our house has 4 floors. Their litter boxes are on the 1st and tree and food on 2nd. The master bedroom and nursery are on the 3rd and a rec room on the 4th. None of the rooms are large and all of them have lots of places to jump and climb except the 1st floor for a cat. The 2nd floor is where the kitchen is. I want to keep the cats on the first floor for the first month he is born, but then I want them limited to the 1st, 2nd, and 4th (yes, I know that does not seem to make sense). I’m fine with 3rd except one of them is good at sneaking into rooms. I just don’t want them too close to him when he is so young and my wife is worried about germs around food. Maybe I’m dumb, but germs are not a concern to me since they are indoor only and they love being on me. Can anyone suggest a product, gate, etc. to help separate them from him or just some good ideas? My wife is talking about keeping them on the 1st floor which is only a small office, garage, and front door or sending them away to a friend’s for a little while, but I really don’t want that and I know at least one of them would hate it. He would miss me. Haha. When we have gone on trips we have been told he just sits in his carrier, but when I arrive he comes out. Thank you.

 

[rubysmama]

Would I possibly be correct in thinking that your wife's family did not have cats when she was a child? I say that, because I really can't imagine her being so worried about the cats being around your baby, if she'd grown up with cats. Naturally you don't want them sleeping in the baby's crib, but I don't think you have to worry too much about germs, especially since your cats are indoor only. I grew up with an indoor/outdoor cat, and to the best of my knowledge, there was never any issue.

Here's a TCS article on Cats And Babies: All Your Questions Answered! – TheCatSite Articles that might be helpful.

I'm also going to tag Lari who has an 8 month old daughter, and 2 cats, as she might be able to lessen some of your worries about cats and babies.

About gates, there's pics in the article How To Successfully Introduce Cats: The Ultimate Guide – TheCatSite Articles of stacking baby gates at doors, that might work for you.

Congrats on your soon to be parent-hood. I am sure you, your wife, your baby, and 2 cats, will be one big happy loving family.

 

[nurseangel]

I agree with rubysmama . Even if you have to limit space for a while, and I'm not trying to be scary, when Speck was a kitten I woke up with something furry covering my face. I knew immediately who it was and set him gently aside. Since a baby isn't capable of doing that, I would never take a chance with any pets. We keep our cats contained (two don't get along) by a screened door in our home. I joke that we are the only people redneck enough to have two screen doors in their house. It's ugly, but it works. I hope you can get it worked out with cat space and baby space. I did not have luck with a gate after my cat was shot. One of her front legs had to be amputated and she was over the gate like it was nothing.

And congratulations on your new baby! Watching a baby being born is the most incredible experience ever.

 

[Lari]

Hi! As rubysmama said, I have an 8 month old and two cats and my house seems a lot smaller! Only two floors and a basement the cats don't usually go in.

We tend to keep the door to the nursery closed, but tbh, we haven't moved her into her own room yet, just moved the crib to ours and the bigger reason we keep the nursery shut is we're using it to house the plant that one cat likes to chew and throw up. We never shut them out of our bedroom.

My biggest fear was a cat sitting on her head in the bassinet (I used the arm's reach co sleeper, so it was very easy to get into), so we got the Owlet monitor for piece of mind.

Ideally, my husband or someone would have brought something home from the hospital that had been rubbed on J to give to the cats, but Covid protocol back in December didn't allow for that. Not sure what the rules are now. We did let the cats sniff J and look at her in the car seat right away. We didn't want to start out with them feeling like the baby was something forbidden or that they were being pushed out/replaced. One cat, Sparkle, took it really hard regardless and basically avoided me and J at least for the first month. Lelia, who got more attached to me during my pregnancy started snuggling near us after a couple weeks.

I'm not sure you want them to associate LO with a loss of freedom. If you don't want them in your bedroom after the baby's born, I'd start not letting them in now, before he's here. Make positive associations so they don't hate too much when he starts trying to chase them around like mine currently does. We have a couple babygates. Lelia jumps over them, Sparkle won't. I'm trying to think if there's anything else.

This is already a novel, but non cat related, my husband actually watched our daughter being born next to the midwife and really appreciates that he got that experience!

If you or your wife have any questions, just let me know! I'm not the expert guru on cats and babies or anything, but I'm in the trenches as well, and sometimes that's all you need.

 

[ArtNJ]

In recent years its been proven that people exposed to pets when young have less asthma and allergies. Oddly enough, its being in too clean of a home without any allergens at all that causes a lot of problems. A very surprising result, don't think its penetrated too deaply into non-pet owner's awareness yet. Basically, keep the baby away from the litter box and your good.

 

[Tlifter]

Thank you everyone for all the help. I have been sharing this info with my wife. She’s liking it.

 

[KittyFriday]

My brother had a baby a couple of years ago and has a cat. My dad actually asked him if he planned to get rid of his cat for fear of the cat harming the baby - he said he did not, they still have the cat and haven't had any issues at all.

I have heard of people putting screen doors on nurseries so that pets are kept out but you can still hear the baby inside.

 

[Tlifter]

Hi! As rubysmama said, I have an 8 month old and two cats and my house seems a lot smaller! Only two floors and a basement the cats don't usually go in.

We tend to keep the door to the nursery closed, but tbh, we haven't moved her into her own room yet, just moved the crib to ours and the bigger reason we keep the nursery shut is we're using it to house the plant that one cat likes to chew and throw up. We never shut them out of our bedroom.

My biggest fear was a cat sitting on her head in the bassinet (I used the arm's reach co sleeper, so it was very easy to get into), so we got the Owlet monitor for piece of mind.

Ideally, my husband or someone would have brought something home from the hospital that had been rubbed on J to give to the cats, but Covid protocol back in December didn't allow for that. Not sure what the rules are now. We did let the cats sniff J and look at her in the car seat right away. We didn't want to start out with them feeling like the baby was something forbidden or that they were being pushed out/replaced. One cat, Sparkle, took it really hard regardless and basically avoided me and J at least for the first month. Lelia, who got more attached to me during my pregnancy started snuggling near us after a couple weeks.

I'm not sure you want them to associate LO with a loss of freedom. If you don't want them in your bedroom after the baby's born, I'd start not letting them in now, before he's here. Make positive associations so they don't hate too much when he starts trying to chase them around like mine currently does. We have a couple babygates. Lelia jumps over them, Sparkle won't. I'm trying to think if there's anything else.

This is already a novel, but non cat related, my husband actually watched our daughter being born next to the midwife and really appreciates that he got that experience!

If you or your wife have any questions, just let me know! I'm not the expert guru on cats and babies or anything, but I'm in the trenches as well, and sometimes that's all you need.

Thank you. We don’t allow them in our room. My wife doesn’t like them on the bed because they get fur all over the bed. The nursery is the same room as our younger cat lived for the first week or 2 as we were trying to slowly introduce them, but that was around 1.5 years ago.

 

[Lari]

Thank you. We don’t allow them in our room. My wife doesn’t like them on the bed because they get fur all over the bed. The nursery is the same room as our younger cat lived for the first week or 2 as we were trying to slowly introduce them, but that was around 1.5 years ago.

That's good that they're already not allowed in. I think it's important to try and make as few negative associations with the baby as possible.

 

[tarasgirl06]

I was conceived, born and raised around/with cat(s) and I am the healthiest person I know. My parents did not separate us or do anything special that I know of except to educate ME from when I was very small in respecting and protecting our cat(s) and when my mom saw me one time ignorantly pull our beloved cat's tail, she taught me one of the best life lessons I've ever learned. She came over to me, pulled my hair hard enough that it hurt, and when I objected, she said, "See? That's how he feels when you pull his tail!" I never did it again. Learning by example is the best way to teach kids. And adoption for life was my family's credo, as it certainly is mine. Nothing on this earth will ever cause me to abandon or betray my cats! And I would never send them away -- that would be absolutely unfair to them. They have done nothing!
Other posters' suggestions on gates etc. are hopefully helpful.

 

[Father of furbabies]

Before my son was born, I installed a wooden screen door in his room's doorway as a temporary method to keep our cat out but allow us to hear him in his crib and allow the air to flow through the house properly. We took it down a while later after our son got older. Just something to think about.

Just remember that the cats and other animals are part of your family. They are going to be curious about their new brother or sister so they will want to smell him and such. You could use the door method to allow you to have him out on his rooms floor so the cats can see him without letting them to close to him (similar to socializing new cats to other cats through a screen) until you or the wife is comfortable enough with the cats for them to be nearer to him.

Just try to think about it from their perspective.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Before my son was born, I installed a wooden screen door in his room's doorway as a temporary method to keep our cat out but allow us to hear him in his crib and allow the air to flow through the house properly. We took it down a while later after our son got older. Just something to think about.

Just remember that the cats and other animals are part of your family. They are going to be curious about their new brother or sister so they will want to smell him and such. You could use the door method to allow you to have him out on his rooms floor so the cats can see him without letting them to close to him (similar to socializing new cats to other cats through a screen) until you or the wife is comfortable enough with the cats for them to be nearer to him.

Just try to think about it from their perspective.

Wonderful suggestion and thoughts, Father of furbabies and I thank you for sharing it!

 

[neely]

We had two cats when our first child was born and since my husband and I are both cat lovers the only precaution we took was closing the door to the baby's bedroom when she was in it without us. We set up the room before she was born and let the cats sniff and explore. We wanted them to get accustomed to the new sights and smells. Once she was born if I was in the rocking chair in her room nursing or rocking her to sleep I would leave the door open. It never presented a problem. If she was on the floor in her bouncer chair or swing I supervised but never kept them away.

I think exposing the cats to the baby as Lari mentioned above is the best solution for two reasons: 1) both the cats and baby grow up together and learn to accept one another and, 2) the cats do not resent the baby thereby eliminating potential problems with the litter box, eating habits, etc. Please keep in mind that since you said the cats are attached to you it would be more detrimental for you to sequester them to the 1st floor or as your wife suggested send them to a friend's house for awhile. Cats are very territorial and used to their routine so finding a harmonious solution that works for everyone in your household without jeopardizing the cats environment would be best for all.

Congrats on the upcoming birth of your son. It's a very special and joyous moment in your lives. I hope you will keep us updated on the cats after he is born and maybe take a pic or two to share with us.