Cat and small child in the house: to be or not to be?

When you get a kitten, you expect it to grow up to be a big, friendly and affectionate pet. In most cases, this happens until the cat is the only object of admiration, but as soon as newborn babies appear in the house, they may forget about the pets a little, which can cause a lot of dissatisfaction on the part of your pet, and even have a negative impact on its character .

This is due to the fact that small children, for small children, are often given more attention than for pets, and it is clear that the cat does not like this at all, since she is used to being in charge and does not want to share her owner with anyone.

In some cases, the owners themselves suspect their cat that it may pose some kind of danger to their newborn child and therefore independently try to separate two such seemingly incompatible concepts as a child and a cat. Very often, in this case, they may even try to throw the pet out into the street, but this should not be done, since under favorable circumstances you can configure the pet to the fact that a small child is the main person in your life and he has no choice but to accept this and to measure up to the second place of honor. In most cases, a cat and a newborn get along quite well, especially if everything is clearly explained to the animal, without at all infringing on it or alienating it from the new little bundle. Some cat breeds are generally considered excellent nannies who can not only look after the baby, but also, if necessary, calm him down when he cries.

How to properly prepare your pet for welcoming a baby

A newborn baby and a cat in the house must first get acquainted immediately after you bring the baby from the maternity hospital. This is due to the fact that the baby can scare the animal, which can lead to further inappropriate actions. Thus, in order to make this meeting as easy as possible and make sure that the child accepts his new nanny well, you need to adhere to the following simple rules for the first meeting:

• Initially, you need to let your pet into the room that you have prepared for the child. The animal must sniff all the children's things and become familiar with all the objects in the bedroom. However, it is worth considering that under no circumstances should a cat be allowed to jump into a child’s crib; this must be stopped from the very beginning. Suppression of such actions is necessary not so that the cat does not crush the baby, but because newborn children and cats cannot sleep in the same bed due to the simplest sanitary rules of personal hygiene. Under no circumstances should cat hair be on children's things and, even worse, on the skin and mouth of a newborn baby.
• Before the child appears in your apartment, ask one of your relatives to bring his personal belongings to your house and let the pet smell it. In this case, the cat will already know the smell of the baby and it will not be an unexpected surprise for her.
• Just like with the smell of things, your pet should initially be accustomed to all new smells that may appear with the child; they should not be a surprise for the pet. This is due to the fact that after hygienic treatment of the baby's skin, all foreign odors will remain on his skin, which can mask his personal smell, which is known to your pet. In this case, cats and children may simply not recognize each other.
• As for extraneous sounds, they can alert your pet, who is already accustomed to the monotonous familiar environment in your living space. Therefore, new sounds made by children can alert the pet and cause a lot of negative emotions in him. Thus, it is imperative to first prepare the cat for the arrival of the child; for this you need to shake all the toys that will be used in front of her. However, it is definitely worth considering that the pet’s access to the baby’s entertainment items must be as limited as possible, based on the same rules of personal hygiene and the separation of two simple concepts such as children and kittens.
• The pet should initially be helped to get used to the baby's crying. This can be easily achieved by ensuring that you do not deprive your pet of your attention when he requires it most. If the baby is crying, then you must calm him down, but you should not forget that you have a kitten; at this moment you need to talk to him animatedly. It is also worth petting the pet, which will relieve tension and help him and the child calm down.
• When bathing a newborn baby, the cat should be allowed to participate in bath procedures. She can sit next to you, but you also need to talk to her. Do not forget that cats are children and they require your attention and do not want to fade into the background when your child appears. Only by realizing this will you establish very close contact between cats and newborn children.

How does a cat affect a baby's development?

1. A pet helps to raise a child responsible and now we are not talking about walking or feeding the pet, cats are generally indifferent to the first. An animal is not a toy, and if you try to hit, pinch, or pull the tail, the cat will bite and scratch. By contacting an animal, the baby will learn to understand the consequences of his actions;

2. Cats give positive emotions. It’s hardly worth commenting on this thesis; it’s already been talked about and written about, quite a bit;

3. A cat, unlike dogs, will not scare a child;

4. Such animals teach the child to be not only responsible, but also affectionate. Remember how pleasant it is to hold a purring, affectionate and warm lump in your arms; these sensations awaken the best manifestations in us;

5. Cats make sounds: purr, meow. Spending time with an animal, the baby inevitably develops the ability to reproduce these sounds.

As the child grows up, you can add caring for your pet to the list of his daily responsibilities: pouring food into a bowl, pouring water, replacing the filler in the tray - it’s not at all difficult, while doing these actions, the child develops hard work and responsibility, which in itself It’s important enough that a cat will help raise a responsible child.

How to choose the cat breed most suitable for small children

When getting a cat, you should initially think about how it will get along with a newborn baby. Only correct calculation and proper behavior of the owner can make it so that in the future two kids will get along very well with each other and this will not cause any trouble to anyone.

“Thus, when purchasing a kitten, you need to think less about its preferences, and think about how its breed will affect the relationship with your future child.”

Choosing a cat is a very responsible process that must be done consciously. The most basic rule is the health of your cat, as this is necessary so that you do not have any problems with him in the future.

Thus, you need to pay attention to the following criteria for the correct choice of your future pet based on the fact that he will need to get along with the newborn baby:

1. The most ideal cat breeds are those that are not afraid of anything from infancy. If the baby behaves without fear and feels confident enough, then in the future he will adapt perfectly to all new circumstances.
2. When choosing a kitten, you need to watch how he plays with his brothers and sisters. If the kid you have chosen is the most cocky and active, then this will not be the best option for the establishment, since he will always try to be a leader, and for the child this will not be the best option.
3. Starting from two months of age, the baby should be interested in everything independently. The most ideal option is when the cat chooses its owner.
4. External indicators of a cat’s health are the most important thing that you need to pay special attention to. His coat should shine and glow with health, his teeth should be white, his ears should be clean. Only on this basis can we conclude that the animal is healthy and will be the best option for sharing a living space with your baby.

Cats and small children can be best friends if you approach the process of getting to know them and further relationships correctly and responsibly.

How do cats treat newborns?

Future parents often worry: how will the old-timer cat accept the child? The Internet knows many stories about cats' jealousy and vindictiveness, and this does not give parents peace of mind.

In practice, all cats are individual, and you can never say exactly how a particular cat will react to a particular baby. Of course, there are times when a pet begins to be jealous of its owners and gets offended, but most often cats ignore newborn children.

Cats' interest in children appears later, when the little one begins to crawl or walk and chases the cat. But even here, not every cat will succumb to provocations. Some pets categorically avoid children, others are affectionate and careful with them, and there are those who are not averse to letting out their claws.

Much in the relationship between a pet and a baby depends on the temperament of a particular cat, on the character of the baby, but most importantly, on the parents. They should not leave the child unattended, and besides, they are the ones who have to teach the baby how to handle the pet, and the pet how to handle the baby.

I am pregnant. Should I be afraid of toxoplasmosis?

Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that can seriously impair fetal development. The feces of cats with an active Toxoplasma infection contain this parasite. For a pregnant woman to become infected with toxoplasmosis from a cat, the following must happen:

• The cat must have an active infection. Cats can only become infected by eating raw meat and prey with this infection. An active infection may have no symptoms, but remember that it only lasts a few weeks and is then suppressed by the immune system.
• A pregnant woman's mouth should contain feces from a cat with an active infection.

This means that getting an infection from a cat is extremely unlikely if the cat lives indoors, does not go outside, and eats canned or dried cat food. To be completely safe, the US Food Safety Inspectorate suggests pregnant women follow one very simple rule: “Do not clean your cat's litter box yourself.” Remember that there are other ways to get toxoplasmosis (not from cats), as well as other infections that can harm your baby (and they have nothing to do with cats!).

Preparation

Cats are quite tolerant of newborn children if you prepare them in advance for the arrival of a new member of the community that lives in this house or apartment. To do this, you need to take the following preventive measures
:

• for a cat, one of the main stresses is noise, which is inevitably associated with the appearance of a newborn baby in the house, so you need to accustom the animal in advance to these loud sounds that a baby makes when inviting friends who have small children home;
• accustom your pet to the sounds of a rattle, give the opportunity to smell those substances and objects that will be associated with the child: powder, baby cream, lotion, shampoo, cats receive almost half of the information through smell;
• You need to talk with your pet about future changes, naming the name of the future child, if it has already been chosen.

For a pet, the appearance of a new family member, especially one of such small size, will always be a surprise to which he needs to get used to.

Cat to human age ratio

There are no significant developmental leaps in growing and adult animals. This makes it easier to correlate the age of a cat and a person.

In this table we have shown what one year of life of a cat or male cat is equal to at the stages of adolescence, youth, maturity and old age per human age.

Age ratio of kittens up to 12 months

Kittens grow up very quickly.
The most crucial moment occurs at the age of 1-3 months. The kitten adapts to the environment and switches from milk feeding to regular food. From the 4th month to a year, a more stable period. The baby grows, gains weight, discovers the world and puberty occurs. It is difficult to find a specific figure to estimate how many years one month of a kitten’s life will be. Our table allows you to most accurately convert the age of a kitten into human years, taking into account the physiology of development.

The results of the experiment showed that under the given conditions ~65% of cats had contact with their owners

Children showed similar results.

Study author Christine Vitale:

Like dogs, cats are socially flexible in their attachment to people. Most cats have a strong bond with their owner and see him as a source of security in their new environment.

Preparation

Cats are quite tolerant of newborn children if you prepare them in advance for the arrival of a new member of the community that lives in this house or apartment. To do this, you need to take the following preventive measures

:

• for a cat, one of the main stresses is noise, which is inevitably associated with the appearance of a newborn baby in the house, so you need to accustom the animal in advance to these loud sounds that a baby makes when inviting friends who have small children home;
• accustom your pet to the sounds of a rattle, give the opportunity to smell those substances and objects that will be associated with the child: powder, baby cream, lotion, shampoo, cats receive almost half of the information through smell;
• You need to talk with your pet about future changes, naming the name of the future child, if it has already been chosen.

For a pet, the appearance of a new family member, especially one of such small size, will always be a surprise to which he needs to get used to.