Thinking of Adopting a Kitten.

It's so weird , I was just posting an ad about my cat. I am moving and need someone to watch my cat for a little while. I have a 6 month old son who loves the cat. they get along great.
I'm just writing to you to see if you wanted to use this opportunity to watch my cat and see how it goes. You can see if you like having a cat or not.my cat is used to a baby already and he's an indoor/outdoor cat. he does not go to the bathroom inside.so you don't have to worry about cat feces carrying diseases or even emptying a litter box.
It's just a thought, contact me if this is something you'd like to try.I will pay for all his food.
Pee Wee is 2 y.o. playful and loving. he is an orange striped short hair cat.
good luck with whatever you do.
S.

Would it be mean to say get it declawed? No matter how hard you try there is no preventing anyone from getting scratched. Kittens are cute and all and chances are it will also keep you up all night crying. But just like anything else it will just be a phase. I must tell you though that I'm jealous! I absolutley adore cats but I am highly allergic. I used to have one (her name is Cuddlez) but my allergy to her got so unbearable I gave her to my MIL to keep for me. Now I get to visit her often and leave when the allergy comes on full force. Good luck, too bad we can't post pictures on here...I'd love to see a pic of your new kitten when you get it.

Cats are great, and the best part is that they take care of themselves. Get it small so that the cat can get use to the baby. The only thing is be careful in the future as the cat's poop can give you a disease, I believe is called toxoplasmosis so when handling the litter be careful and wash your hands very well also be careful in the future once you get pregnant again, Dr's recommend you not handling the litter while pregnant. Other than that cats are a fantastic pet, I had one for years, now I have a dog which I love dearly but can't help to wish I had a cat instead. Don't let the dog know I said that :o)

We were given a kitten when my son was 5 months old. I was a little nervous about the whole situation, but the two of them took to each other right away. Mr. Moos (the cat) was always at Joey's side, and the two of them would play together for hours. Now Joey is 2 1/2, and they are still best buds.
Mr. Moos sleeps at the foot of Joey's bed every night. He has scratched Joey a few times, but nothing serious...In my opinion Joey had is coming, anyway. :)
I think now would be a perfect age to get a kitten!

My suggestion would be get the kitten as young as you can. Like 8 weeks old. That way, it grows up with a baby pulling and poking and "petting". I got our cat when he was 8 weeks old, and he loves my daughter. My other cat that we had since before she was born wants nothing to do with her.

WE have 3 cats who were here before the baby and we were worried particularly about one of our cats. Shes not the nicest feline, to say the least. Anyway, we have been so pleasantly surprised. Our son loves the cats and we have told him to 'do nice' since day one and he has been great so far--and the cats do not scratch or bite him unless they are provoked, and even then the tolerance for our son is much higher than we anticipated. Declawing is cruel-like ripping out your toenails & fingernails...so I do not recommend that.
Maybe try and adopt an older cat who won't be so tempted to play--and whose claws are less sharp (kittens claws are like razors, while cats are not as bad). I would say a 2+ year old cat would be ideal. Good luck.

Hi C.
i like the idea of introducing a child to a pet while young. However i would think twice about a kitten. Kittens need a lot of care and may not understand that your daughter is not a toy. I would adopt an older cat, one who is good with children personally. before you adopt, make sure that youcan provide a place where your daughter cannot go but the cat has access to.This will help the cat feel better if they have a safe spot to go to when the play gets too much.

Do you have a vet in mind? If not, get some recomendations from friendsand visit to see how you like the office and staff. i would keep the litter pan in a basement if you have it so your child doesn't think it's a sand box.

Before you get the cat, take her to a friend who has a pet perhaps and teach her how to 'be nice.' My daughter has grown up with kitties and the worst she has ever done is hug too much. But she doesn't pull tails, whiskers etc and my cats know they have a part of the house that she can't get to

Having animals are great for kids. However, since your baby girl is still very young it may not be a good idea to get a little kitten. I recommend that you get an "older" cat - maybe a year old or so. Getting two may be even better, the cats will entertain themselves if you are gone all day. Also, some shelters will not adopt kittens out to households with very young children.

Precautions - of course you need to supervise your girl and cat especially in the early toddler stage when your girl will try to grab them. For the cat, make sure it has a place up high, that is out of reach of the little one, as a safe place to relax. If you get a high kitty-condo, make sure that it is anchored to the floor or wall and can't fall over onto cat or baby, like you would do a dresser or cabinet. Also, the litterbox should be accessible to the cat and not baby. A baby gate into the room would work, just keep a little space underneath or make sure that the cats can climb over.

Introduction - I don't think special intros are needed to your girl. She'll be delighted to see a cat hanging around. If you have other animals, then you may need to do special introductions. The shelter will help you with that if you ask them.

Other things we learned: When we got our cats, we exclusively played around a scrathing post so every time the cats grabbed the toy with the claws, they felt the post. Today they only use scratching posts (and carpet) for the claws, not our furniture. We also give the kitties a "pedicure" - clipping their claws and it is quick and easy to do. We got them used to it by grabbing the cats once a day, put them on their back and hold their front paws and pretend to clip them.

Last, make sure you teach your girl to use kitty toys to play with them, not the bare hands. One of our cats cannot distinguish between a hand and a toy and uses claws everytime she plays. Since your girl is so young you need to make sure that cat toys with strings don't have strings that are too long. That's all I can think about now - good luck with adopting...

N.
Sparta, NJ

Get the kitten!!!! :] I mean why wouldn't you, your daughter will be fine. We just got another kitten around x-mas time and my daughter was 9mths old. The kitten will stay away for the most part, plus they're alot faster then the baby. As for scratches...well that goes without saying, kittens scratch.:)
They usually won't scratch hard unless they're being hurt. Plus she'll learn after getting tapped a couple times. My daughter is great wiht our 2 cats, they learn from each other.

Hello,

I'm just wondering if you would have the time and energy to pay attention to a kitten with a little baby at home! The kids are always so rough with the cats for the first couple of years. We are lucky to have 1 cat out of the 3 that actually will allow our daughter to go anywhere near him. Then again though, we already had the fullgrown cats when she born so maybe you will have better luck. I would get the kitten declawed and a rabies shot and just be very careful to make sure it isn't a biter. Our cats were a bit attention starved during the first year or so of our daughters life (and whiny and annoying) but things are starting to get better now at last. Probably as long as you don't get three of them you will be okay. :-) (you have to think about how to keep the baby out of the kitten's food/water, litter box and the crib/baby's room too)

Good luck!
D.

We had two cats with our babies and there were no problems. If you adopt the kitten through a rescue organization like the Humane Society, they will be able to tell you if the cat will have problems with the baby. You might want to consider a cat that is a year or two old because they are generally a little more gentle than a kitten and might be gentler with the baby.

the only thing i can suggest with that is to not let the cat by her face they say it can take her breath away when they r young. other than that let them get used to eachother and they should be good friends.