Cat worries about our newborn baby?

[brianz]

My wife and I have a 2 month old human baby girl and a pair of 2-year old cat sisters. When the baby has one of her fussy episodes, which amounts to about 10 minutes of crying and screaming, our cat Ursa will invariably enter the room with a look of urgency and concern on her face. She goes up to my wife, the primary caregiver for the baby, and will start giving her light bites on the leg. She will also stretch tall and paw at her upper legs and meow to get her attention. It really feels like Ursa is trying to tell my wife "There's something wrong with the baby! Take care of her! What's wrong with you?" Whenever she comes in the room during a fussy episode, we say that DCFS got called in to take our baby away - Dept of Children and Family Services. What's interesting is that when I'm the one consoling the fussy baby, Ursa still alerts my wife to the problem, tellng her "your dumb husband isn't helping!"

Anybody else ever see or hear of a cat acting like the nanny like this?

 

[mews2much]

My Manx was like taht and would sleep in my Sisters Crib and guard her. The other Cat attacked my Sister when she was almost 5. My Manx jumped on Whiskers and pulled her off but my sister had been clawed 40-50 times already. This was 20 years ago though.

 

[darlili]

I have read that a human baby's cry will often trigger reactions in cats - almost as though it's a feline baby that's attracting too much attention in the wild, and the cat will urgently try to get the episode to stop.

I wonder if the baby's scent is stronger on your wife, and that's why Ursa focuses on mom. Or maybe Ursa just figures women of any species can manage a crying baby faster!

 

[kat89447]

Cats are funny and very protective. I have always thought it was because a babies cry sounds similar to a kitten. My cat Nikka (since passed on) would get very upset if my daughter cried and look at me like I was a bad mommy. lol Now I have another cat, Meco, if my daughter is laughing too hard or cries because she stubs her toes, comes running to get me. Meco will literally jump on me and head butt me and meow till I go and check it out. (my daughter is 10). My grandson (5mos old, product of an older stepson) spent the night the other day and cried and Meco came running to tell me all about it. No need for baby monitors in this house. Meco is the only one, out of 6 cats, that does this so maybe she has a mommy instinct that is strong. She is also very close to my daughter and normally sleeps with her. Either reason my daughter thinks it's funny to fake cry just to get her running to the rescue. Just think, you have an extra set of eyes and ears to alert you and don't be surprised if as the baby gets older she becomes your cats human.

 

[krazy kat2]

When my granddaughter was an infant, she had a cat nanny. Cotton would go to her parents if she cried, and bite their toes until he was satisfied someone was going to see to her. She is 3 now, and he still loves her. He will give her headbutts and sleep by her feet. She has her own kitty, Toodles, now, but Cotton, the big male, still watches over her. She is so good with them, no tail pulling or rough play. We let them see her when we first brought her home so they would not be curious as to just exactly this new thing was, and have nevr had a problem with any of them.

 

[brianz]

Thanks for sharing, this is really interesting. I had no idea that cats have this instinct. It's really cute to see Ursa concerned for the baby. I'd love to hear more anecdotes from others.

 

[mbjerkness]

When my daughter cries, I get from both dogs and the cats. Last week when my daughter broke her wrist, I could hardly move to tend to her, I had everyone under my feet, I have always wondered ,if they are concerned or just want me to make her quiet.

 

[trillcat]

I can't say about cats, but I had a dog save my life as a baby. I was choking in my crib on milk that had curdled in my stomach and got lodged in my throat when I tried to spit it up. The family dog, Misty, woke up my parents pawing at them, barking, running back and forth toword the nusery till they got up. My mom said I was turning blue when she found me.
No crying there from me, no air, but the dog knew something was very, very wrong.
I have no memory of this, and the dog ended up not liking me so much (she was a dad only dog, didn't really ike othe
r people) But good doggie on that day!

 

[Embers726]

My 2 year old male is always in the room my 13 week old is in. Every time he cries the cat cries as if to let us know "hey he needs you" my Embers will sit at my feet till the baby has calmed down. He's like his furry guardian angel