Cat scared of baby. Advice?
We have had our cat for 5 years. She is the sweetest most non-aggressive and sometimes anxiety riddled thing ever and is terrified of the baby and anything that smells like baby.
We had a plan to bring her things that smelt like the baby before we all came home but we couldn't in the end. Only thing we did do was introduce her to and deter her from baby things in advance which she coped with fine.
We have a rule that at night the bedroom door stays closed with the cat out of it since baby arrival, unless one of us is awake/baby is supervised, and we did get her semi used to this beforehand even though she just yowled all night 😭.
The bedroom really used to be my cat's space and I feel bad but she does have other cosy parts of the house she likes.
Since we brought baby home she's been terrified of it, ducks down when walking past and runs and hides when baby cries :(. I have so much guilt as she used to have all my attention and now she gets a quick sporadic cuddle etc from me when I can. My partner has been compensating loads when I can't but I miss her so much. :(
Does anyone have any tips to get our cat more used to baby?
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I feel for you, we are in the exact same situation. How old is your baby? Our cat has just started approaching baby this week and is now a lot more comfortable. We still keep her out of our room at night but during the day she'll come and sit on my lap while baby is on the breast or sleeping in my arms which wouldn't have been possible only a few days ago. Our baby is 2 weeks and 4 days. I hope your cat gets used to the new family member! 🫂
she's only 9 days old 🥹 but we came home later as had to stay in hospital for 2 more days. So bless her, she was home alone most of the time and then a baby was thrown into her peaceful kitty life 🤣. I wish mine would come closer to me again but she won't if baby is near 😭. I just miss her ever so much so I really hope she gets used to her too.
I was the exact same, I used to cry about it because I missed my cat so much (We're extremely close) and felt sooooo guilty but three days ago my cat came closer without hissing and has been like that since! So with patience I'm sure it will be the same for you! 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
aww you give me hope thank you for sharing 😭❤️❤️
In the same boat except my cat isn’t really fussed by the baby herself but when she cries the cat runs away and will just sit on her own upstairs and it makes me so sad. My baby is 3 weeks old now and the cat has started coming to sit back in the living room now which is lovely but she will still not sit on my lap, even with the baby is in her swing :(. I think it takes cats longer to adapt to change and the crying is quite loud so I don’t blame them for shying away at the beginning! Just keep your head up and give your cat lots of fuss when you can xx
One of my cats got really stressed when we bought our twins home. Our cat is the same as yours. Sweetest most loving cat, who wouldn't harm anyone. Always slept at the end of our bed. So we couldn't lock him out. He would also meow all night or scratch at the door. He then started digging up our plant pot inside the house and trying to pee in them. He also started to pee in the shower and other places around the house. We had to take him to the vet. They confirm he was stressed and gave him some medication to take to help. We also bought the cat pherimone plug in. Since this he has been perfect again.
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I hope your cat starts to feel more relaxed. It's a big change for them and cats don't like change... but hopefully she will soon accept your baby ❤️
Keep giving your cat lots of cuddles and attention when you can. We've found this harder having time with twins.. but we make sure we pick our cats up for cuddles between babies and give them lap time at night while watching TV xx
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