I am pregnant with my first child.

I have two cats (one half siamese, the other black shorthair) that have been our babies for almost 3 years now.

Everyone has been really harsh about us having cats now that I'm pregnant. Especially mine and my OH's mothers. Now my mum has owned cats in the past so I don't know where she is coming from. They keep telling us that we need to get rid of that cats before the baby is born. I think that is really wrong, to get rid of a loving member of your family just because there's going to be a new addition to it.

All I keep getting is -

1. That the cats are going to smother the baby and kill it. My response is, well what kind of mother leaves their baby long enough in a room alone with their cat for that to happen?

2. That because we allow our cats to jump on the window sills and sofas that it is unhygenic for the baby and that if we are to keep the cats, we will have to smack them or punish them every time they jump up on a surface?? I do not agree with this...that amounts to animal abuse, surely? Cats aren't dogs, of course they jump up on surfaces! I'm not going to deprive them of their sunshine time, watching birds out of the window!

3. That you can't have a litter tray in a house with a baby, even if you do clean the litter tray out every day. My mum seems to think that we should just get rid of the litter tray and then they'll not go in the house at all. Isn't that a bit urealistic? Our cats do go outside and I'm sure go out there, but I think it's asking for trouble not having anywhere for them to go while inside the house...they are mainly house cats by choice. One of them actually comes home to go in the litter tray and will then go back out again. May I add, when my mum had cats they used to have accidents over the house and she used to smack them over the nose for it...I've never punished my cats in that way and the only time the male ever sprays is when we move to a new house, he does it once and then we never have a problem.

4. That the cat hair when they are shedding (which you hoover up every day anyway) will cause the baby to have allergies.


What do you guys think?

Most people I know, have given their pets away a few months before or a few months after their baby has been born, but they are much loved members of our family and I really wouldn't want to get rid of them.

Personally I think the attitude of your mother & MIL is short-sighted, wrong & based on very silly old wives' tales. It also fails to take into account the very many positives that a child can get from being brought up with pets. Yes, you may have to make some minor adjustments to accommodate cats & a new baby sharing a house, but these would just be simple common sense things.

Firstly cat do not have any desire to smother a newborn baby ~ that's just silly! Some cats may be attracted to the warmth & comfort of a cot & try to get in it ~ but as you say, you'd never leave the baby & cats alone, so this wouldn't be a risk. If you are intending to have a room set aside as a nursery, it may be a good idea to get the cats used to the fact that this room is out of bounds now, before your baby is born.

Allowing cats to jump on window sills ~ how is a newborn baby going to be affected by this?! Yes you may need to increase hygiene if your cats get on work surfaces etc or make the work surfaces aversive to the cats, but punishing & hitting a cat won't help at all. The cats will just jump up when you're not there!

Of course you can have a litter tray in the house when you've got a baby. Once your baby starts to get mobile you may have to make sure that he/she can't go near the tray so it may be a good idea to start thinking now about where you want to put if you think you might need to change the location. Plus you should always be very careful yourself during your pregnancy when cleaning the tray because of the risk of toxoplasmosis ~ but that is just a sensible precaution.

The exposure to cats & cat hair at a very early age would probably have the effect of boosting your baby's immune system so preventing future allergies rather than causing them! Obviously you don't want cat hair all over your baby & you may need to hoover a bit more than usual, especially when your baby starts to crawl ~ but again, that's just common sense.

I agree with you that cats are much-loved family members, not objects to be discarded when they become inconvenient. And anyway, won't it be lovely to be able to teach your child about the pleasures & responsibilities of pet ownership in the future.

I wish you all the best with your pregnancy & I hope that everything goes well for you (& that you keep your cats despite any unwanted pressure from relatives!).