We've had our cat, Phoebe (after the Friend's character) for over three years now. We got her at the shelter not long after we got married (they called her Shimmer, which I still consider a great Fuel song, but a horrible pet name.)
Phoebe could probably be diagnosed as being feline bipolar, but she's family. So it was never a question of whether or not to keep her when our son was born. Obviously if problems had arisen that cat would have been on a Chinese menu faster than you can say Pu Pu Platter, but we weren't going to assume there would be a problem.
Several people cautioned us saying that cats would jump in the crib with newborns and "steal their breath." I'm not sure how that was to happen. But the implication was that the baby would be somehow endangered. After a little online research I, not surprisingly, found this to be an old wives tale.
Thus far there is not a lot of interaction between cat and kid. Our son is not even crawling yet so if Phoebe is the least bit uncomfortable, she just leaves. She's not at all confrontational anyway. But there have been times where she's licked his head or he's grabbed her fur. They acknowledge each other's existence in such ways.
Like children, every pet is different. So what happened in our case isn't necessarily what will happen in yours. But don't assume that your pets and you offspring can't coexist. There may be things that come up that force your hand (discontented animals, allergies, room, money, etc) but pets and babies have lived in harmony for eons. I see no reason for them to stop now.
2 comments:
From what I've heard, having cats/dogs/pets around when your baby is born makes them less likely to be allergic to them later in life.
I hope that's right. When I was very young I had a ton of allergy problems, but I grew out of them. My brother did the exact opposite.
What's my point? I have no idea. We were both raised the same way and got opposite results. I guess the moral is that I'm awesome.
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