Before Leo was born, I was anxious about a lot of different things. Would he be healthy? Would he love us? Would he enjoy seafood as much as we do? This list of anxiety included: The Cats.
As soon as Eric and I began dating, I explained to him that it was non-negotiable that we would one day have pets (in retrospect, I probably could have waited to talk about this until after our 2nd date). He explained, gently, that he was allergic. I explained, not so gently, that he would need to get over it. Approximately 0.3 seconds after moving into together, I suggested that we "look" at some cats and kittens but obviously we weren't going to make any commitments right away. After looking for 2 weeks, we were officially cat owners much to my happiness and Eric's beleaguered acceptance.
Now, as cats go, Shea and Lynah are pretty great. But, they each have their things. Shea generally dislikes people that aren't me and Eric and will hiss/swipe at them. Lynah loves everyone but becomes displeased when she feels like she isn't getting enough attention. She shows this displeasure by peeing on things. However, they are members of our family and barring any extreme complications, they and the baby were going to have to coexist.
Since I am a planner + a control freak + anal retentive (are those all the same thing?), I did a fair amount of reading about how to prepare cats for a baby. Here are the things that we did to get ready:
1. We played a CD of baby noises on the computer. This was probably the thing that we did that felt the silliest. I mean, really, playing sounds of a baby crying for 5 minutes is going to make your cats feel better about a baby screaming its head off for a total of three hours a day for the first 6 weeks?
2. After Leo was born, Eric brought home receiving blankets and other pieces of cloth that had Leo's scent on them. This made a lot of sense to us since the cats are big into sniffing everything and it's usually after sniffing others that Shea becomes SHEA: MURDERER OF SMALL BEINGS. Our hope was that if Shea sniffed the blankets and became familiar with Leo's scent, she would not be alarmed by real Leo. Eric left the blankets lying around the apartment and sent me pictures of Shea sniffing them to entertain me while I was still in the hospital.
3. We started using Feliway wall plug-ins about a month before Leo was born. These plug-ins are supposed to release some sort of calming pheromones that make cats less crazy. While Lynah's behavior has remained the same since using these, Shea's aggressiveness has reduced considerably.
4. We tried to schedule frequent playtime/cuddle time with the cats and continue to do so now that Leo is here. This matters much more for Lynah since she is such an attention whore, but obviously Shea benefits as well.
And one thing we do now that Leo is home...
5. CONSTANT monitoring of all cat and baby interactions. At the beginning, we wouldn't let the cats get within 5 feet of Leo. Then, we started to relax a bit and let them sniff him. Lately, however, Leo has taken quite the interest in the cats so we are back to ULTIMATE VIGILANCE.
So far, things seem to be going well. Leo has grabbed the cats' fur and we have yet to see them retaliate in any way. We aren't exactly looking forward to him being more mobile though, as we are sure that this will cause some problems.
 |
| We're sorry, our 23.5/7 sleep schedule does not allow for a baby. |
As soon as Eric and I began dating, I explained to him that it was non-negotiable that we would one day have pets (in retrospect, I probably could have waited to talk about this until after our 2nd date). He explained, gently, that he was allergic. I explained, not so gently, that he would need to get over it. Approximately 0.3 seconds after moving into together, I suggested that we "look" at some cats and kittens but obviously we weren't going to make any commitments right away. After looking for 2 weeks, we were officially cat owners much to my happiness and Eric's beleaguered acceptance.
 |
| Shea and Lynah as kittens. I named them after sports stadiums so Eric might like them more. |
Now, as cats go, Shea and Lynah are pretty great. But, they each have their things. Shea generally dislikes people that aren't me and Eric and will hiss/swipe at them. Lynah loves everyone but becomes displeased when she feels like she isn't getting enough attention. She shows this displeasure by peeing on things. However, they are members of our family and barring any extreme complications, they and the baby were going to have to coexist.
 |
| Lynah and Shea in their usual states of differing awareness. |
1. We played a CD of baby noises on the computer. This was probably the thing that we did that felt the silliest. I mean, really, playing sounds of a baby crying for 5 minutes is going to make your cats feel better about a baby screaming its head off for a total of three hours a day for the first 6 weeks?
2. After Leo was born, Eric brought home receiving blankets and other pieces of cloth that had Leo's scent on them. This made a lot of sense to us since the cats are big into sniffing everything and it's usually after sniffing others that Shea becomes SHEA: MURDERER OF SMALL BEINGS. Our hope was that if Shea sniffed the blankets and became familiar with Leo's scent, she would not be alarmed by real Leo. Eric left the blankets lying around the apartment and sent me pictures of Shea sniffing them to entertain me while I was still in the hospital.
3. We started using Feliway wall plug-ins about a month before Leo was born. These plug-ins are supposed to release some sort of calming pheromones that make cats less crazy. While Lynah's behavior has remained the same since using these, Shea's aggressiveness has reduced considerably.
4. We tried to schedule frequent playtime/cuddle time with the cats and continue to do so now that Leo is here. This matters much more for Lynah since she is such an attention whore, but obviously Shea benefits as well.
And one thing we do now that Leo is home...
5. CONSTANT monitoring of all cat and baby interactions. At the beginning, we wouldn't let the cats get within 5 feet of Leo. Then, we started to relax a bit and let them sniff him. Lately, however, Leo has taken quite the interest in the cats so we are back to ULTIMATE VIGILANCE.
So far, things seem to be going well. Leo has grabbed the cats' fur and we have yet to see them retaliate in any way. We aren't exactly looking forward to him being more mobile though, as we are sure that this will cause some problems.
 |
| This is fine as long as we each stay on our own side of the bed. Got it, kid? |
Comments
Post a Comment