Anyone have a cat?

[shell1]

Hey Guys

Baby on the way and we are starting to plan the nursery and bed etc, we have an 11 yr old beautiful cat, she is great but loves to jump up on everything to check it out and see if she wants to sleep snuggle up there lol

we are very scared that she will jump into the baby's bed which could smother the little one, not sure what do do .

has anyone else had this problem? what did u do/ suggest?

[CrazyLady]

My friend put a long mosquito net around her son's cot for that exact reason. the cat tried to get in once, got tangled and hasn't tried since

[lauren22]

I was thinking the same thing my cat goes everywhere too so i will be watching this thread closley.

[maz]

My cat smoothered me to death when I was pg....and sussed out the babies room before hand..I just made sure that I kept telling him no and pushed his bum with my foot if he was in there.
Give her a 'bed' of her own in a cosey place that she loves.

We havent had any problems....he loves the kids and still goes in there to check things out but then comes out and goes back to sleep on my bed.

ETA - I forgot to mention 'SHrek" would sleep on a blanket snuggly under the bassinet as if he was guarding the precious bundle in it

[Arimeh]

We have two cats and have never had a problem with them jumping in the cot when the kids were little.

We didn't do anything in particular, when they were really really small, we had the bedroom door shut when they were in there sleeping, but the cats never went in there anyway. For a few months before DS was born we made sure that the door was shut at all times, so the cats sorta got the hint that it was a room that was off limits to them.

The only time our cats have been a problem was the other day when MIss M was taking a nap (she's 14 months old) and she was woken up when the male cat went into our room and jumped in her cot. However, we had the side down because it is next to our bed, so it was easy access. If the cot had the side on it, I very much doubt the cat would have gone in there.

[MrsB26]

unfortunatly my cat wasnt so lucky, she is an outside cat now as she was constantly jumping into the cot when i was pg with ds. Everytime she could, se would be in his room. I didnt want to have to keep the door shut all the time so much to her dismay she got the boot. We made her a lovely new bed in our (carpeted) garage. We use it as a games/boy room, not for cars. She is happy now but i wasnt going to take any risks.

[Eluned]

We've got two cats and they weren't really interested in the baby when he arrived. When we were setting up the nursery, we just let them have a bit of a sniff and then kept them out of there if they got too nosy. They've never jumped in the cot. We've had one of those nets around the cot too, but found they never tried to jump in. The only time they go in DS's room now is to sit on the window sill in the morning cause it gets the morning sun.

[LimeSlice]

Our cat was very interested in the bassinette and cot.
I had the bassinette in our room form about 3 months so she would get the boot, didnt take her long to figure it out.

When we got the cot up a couple of months before we had DD the cat tried it once, then got the boot again and she got the idea.
After charlotte was born she didnt want to go near her! lol too scared I think hehehe. Even now she barely speaks to Charlotte (is not very patient with kids, Miss Moneypenny! lol)

Anyway, we found that by having things up early and establishing that the cat was not allowed even in the nursery or in the bassinette, we were fine.

[mrsmac]

Our cat wasn't even faintly interested in DS when he was born and would do anything she could do avoid him!! She never ever went into the cot/bassinette and has only ever sniffed other babies when they have been on the floor in a capsule near her.

[shell1]

yeah i was thinking of using netting as well around the bed, to try and discourage our cat from jumping up.

I dont want to put her outside as she has always been a house cat, but we will have to be strict with her and try and get her into the habit so she knows she is not allowed to go into the nursery

I dont think she has ever been around a baby before who knows what she will think of it lol, when we got out puppy our cat would hiss at it and run away maybe she will be scared of the bub lol

[Astrid]

I found that whilst the cats were interested in the bassinet and cots whilst empty, they stayed away from them when there was a baby in there. I watched one of them one day jump up on the cot ready for a nap, only to see bubs in there, so she went elsewhere.

I did a heap of looking around on this awhile ago and could not find one article where a baby had actually be smothered by a cat.

[LimeSlice]

There was a woman in my mothers group who had this ace little cot enclosure thing lol sounds weird but it was on top of drawers, with wooden frame with netting around it and a shelf thing on top, as they had a cat...She explained to me with a laugh that as they had spent 15 years on IVF to get their bubs and weren't ever to have another they didn't want to take any chances with the cat.
Not sure f you can buy them or hubby built it but it was pretty cool

[Snowy Love]

We put a screen door at the top of our stairs so the cats can't get into our room or DS's room, but its only closed at night and cats never tried to get into the basinette or cot. It was useful to get them out of our bed (we part time co-sleep) as both cats liked to sleep in there - and they still come in if I'm in bed and the screen door isn't closed.

When we move to our new house we can't do that though so we'll have to close the door (and maybe put a baby monitor on our shopping list)

[HollyC]

The cat was put in the laundry before DD arrived. Just at night time. She got used to it quickly and sometimes she even puts herself to bed. During the day the cat would be outside if I wasn't there to supervise or baby would be behind a closed door.

The cat wasn't really interested in the baby though.

[Jen27]

Hi Shell, we have two inside cats. They love to checkout everything, infact, in the past 2 days I have found the male sleeping in the capsule and the pram! grrr. We bought a certain bassinet to discourage the cats, from going near it, and they can't get inside it as it has a canopy net on it. We have had it set up already, and the cats aren't interested in it.
The bassinet is here Valco Baby: ...because you care!
its a valco. Due to the shape of it, my cats can't even jump on it (I was just careful not to place it near the chest of draws, or anything they could jump on to get to it. but they leave it alone anyway)

As for the cot, you can get a 'cat canopy net'. its tougher and firmer than just a mosquito net, and stops cats or bugs getting in.
Seriously!! Kids!! Pty Ltd?::?Bedtime?::?Cot Canopy Net

Hope that helps

[danniellabella]

We never really had a problem with our cats. One of the cats used to love sleeping in the cot before DD was born and before she moved into the cot from the bassinette...as soon as DD started sleeping in the cot he never went in there. We used to put the cats outside at night (still do) but we also would keep DD's door shut.
Now DD is 19 months and sleeps in a big bed - if her door is open while she's asleep during the day we often find the cat snuggled up to her or at the foot of her bed, mind you, it's not often that DD's door is open when she's having a day sleep.

[NaeNae]

We have a cat who thinks the house is his

He hung around alot when I renovated the nursery, he decided one day that the snuggle bed (which was inside the cot) was a nice place for a snooze - then he discovered the comfy baby blanket I had put on the change table.

So I gave him the comfortable blanket, put the side up on the cot and have put up the mosquito net. Now his favorite place in the nursery is on the window sill.

I have been quite vigilant when I leave the back of the house open and whenever I catch moggy sniffing around the nursery door I just say "out" he back chats a bit then leaves without entering the nursery.

We will have to keep an eye on him of course but thats part and parcel of being a pet owner and a to be parent.

TBH I am more worried about cat running off and never coming back because he is not "the baby" anymore

Nae x

[Bec7]

When my cousin was preparing her nursery, she put blown up balloons in the cot to scare the cat away if it jumped into it - think it only ever did it the once.

She also then decided just in case to put a screen door in front of the wooden door as an extra preventative measure too.