Our little bump (only 8 weeks to go now, eeek!) has two older brothers, and I thought it was about time to talk about them in my blog 🙂
They are my two not-so-little fur babies, Hendrix and Gilmour! (named after me and my husbands love of rock music).
Now these two are THE most spoilt cats in the world – we got them as kittens, promising ourselves that we would be strict by not letting them in the bedroom etc etc. That lasted about 2 days before the meowing outside the door was too much to bear – and now, three and a bit years later, they DEFINITELY own the house. Every room has a cat scratch post, or a cat tree from floor to ceiling, or something else cat related!
From when we got pregnant, we’ve been discussing how to help them “adjust” to their new lifestyle when their little brother joins us. I did a load of research, and have been preparing them – some bits have gone better than others!
Research tip no 1 – Buy things early so that the cats get used to different furniture and can scent mark it before baby arrives. Status: 7/10 – yes we bought things earlier (that was the reason, not my over excited-ness! (ahem). The boys took their time to investigate these new items, however they have now decided that bassinet, crib and pushchair are perfect sleeping places and EVERYTHING is ingrained in cat hair. I now need to work out how to get them more uncomfortable with the stuff!
Research tip no 2 – Get them used to not being with me for cuddles as I will have other things to do! Status: 1/10 – they are so cuddly! I think we even deserve minus marks for this one as before I got pregnant, each cat definitely had a preference – one for me, one for my husband. Now both come to me for cuddles as I’m the one who moves about less… ooops!
Research tip no 3 – Get them used to baby noises by playing baby sounds. Status: 5/10 – mainly because when I play baby sounds off youtube they are just not bothered. An ear twitches and then thats it. I think they might react slightly differently when there is a real screaming baby in the house… My husband gets more annoyed about the baby noises than the cats, and has shouted at me to turn that bl**dy racket off!
Research tip no 4 – Establish a routine that you can keep up when baby arrives. Status: 8/10 – more or less done! Play time is established, although the backlash is that when we’re the slightest bit late for play time one of the cats starts meowing REALLY loudly until we play with him – hey I’ve made a cat alarm clock!
Research tip no 5 – Wear baby lotion and other products that you’ll use when baby arrives to make them get used to the smell. Status: 0/10 – oops… well, still 8 weeks to go!
I’ve heard some horror stories about people having to get rid of their cats – mainly due to the cats weeing on beds and laundry or becoming really stressed out. I have my fingers crossed that we’ll be OK – I can’t imagine even considering having to get rid of my little fur men!
If anyone else has any tips please let me know! xxx
Be Realistic : Plan for a Miracle 
Awwwww I’m right there with you as I have a major furrbaby!! She was attached before, but now if she can’t see me she’ll roam the house meowing loudly until she finds me. She literally sits at my head when I take a bath! I’ve done everything you mentioned too. I also have a feliway diffuser in to calm her a little. She’s claimed the cot, pram, Moses basket and the bath/changing unit! And there’s nothing I can do to stop her, but I have a feeling when baby is here and crying in them she won’t be as inclined to jump into them lol when baby is here I’ll be giving OH a couple of worn clothes to bring in to give to her to kind of scent swap before we come inside/come home 🙂 xx
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Aww she sounds like a sweetie! My two also love to sit with me when I’m in the bath – one of them even tried to climb in and sit on my bump the other day whilst I was in there! Luckily I managed to convince him not to! The feliway is a good idea, will definitely get some!
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You have to enter that last shot for tummy rub Tuesday on my blog! 😮
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hehe I will!
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😀
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My cat has also got very familiar with the baby furniture. I’ve started to close the nursery door to minimize the fur. The only other strategy I’ve tried is inviting the neighbour kids in to play with him. This generally results in squealing and heavy hands. The cat tolerates them.
My big worry is that the cat’s meowing will wake up the baby. Find any strategies for that?
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Ah I haven’t seen anything for cat meowing… although it might be the baby that disturbs the cat rather than the other way around! Good plan to invite other kids round, I’ll see if my collegaue will bring her baby over 🙂
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oh dear – we have two small dogs who we baby and promised ourselves that as soon as we fell pregnant we’d start having them not sleep in our bedroom, to give them plenty of time to get used to it. If anything, we’ve gone the other way, they have both started getting really clingy to me since I got pregnant and now I wake up every night at 4am with them snuggling in with me (they usually sleep under the bed!!)
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aww what cuties! They are trying to look after you 🙂 I’ve been asking around and apparently lots of people still let their pets into their bedroom after baby arrives. We’ve now got a cat net for the bassinet thats going to be in our bedroom for the first 3-6 months so I think that will do unless we hit any issues in the first week!
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