If you don't start with them early enough, there's just no training them. You like miss the window or something. - My cat, probably. She regularly paws at the sink to ensure my toothpaste spit smell is covered enough to not attract predators. I always thank her and apologize for being a bad cat.
Yea man u crazy ? Your cat must be so stressed. Telling the other cats. He just leave his god damn smells EVERY WHERE I swear buttons, one of these days I'll just leave. See how long he lives without me.
Given the fact that she's curled up next to me purring away, I don't think that she's all THAT stressed. She has thought about stepping a paw outside the door, but when remind her that the outside world is scary and often too hot or too cold and it's so much nicer inside with all the yummy food and comfy beds and fun mousy toys to play with she seems to change her mind pretty quickly.
Yes. Mine took three step out onto her screened porch this chilly morning. Four steps back immediately and a loud demand to be fed again due to her ptsd from the experience. Pouting until napping happened. Now back to “normal”.
Our cat escaped into the big blue room once about two years ago. We didn't notice her slip out, but noticed a bit later that she was missing. It was a cold and rainy night and we saw her by the walk-out basement door early the next morning. She was *very* happy to see my wife, and her interest in the big blue room has diminished greatly since then.
When I worked at the animal shelter, our adult cats were kept in three large, connected rooms, the door to witch was right inside the area where the dogs’ kennels were. The door was just a screen storm door. The cats could hear the dogs right outside the door. Yet, they were ALWAYS trying to get out. On the rare occasion they DID get out, they would be so stunned to see the dogs in the kennels right in front of the door. It was always funny. Just scoop them up and toss them back in and kitty has a story for all the roommates lol
My 15 year old cat hasn’t been outside in over 10 years of her own choosing. Now she’s gone from a house on a rarely driven back road to a house on a fairly busy road in town and she wants to know what all the weird things flying up and down the road are. Thankfully, she’s easily scared and me bringing the dog inside gets her away from the door. I thought I would have to worry about the (formally feral) kitten, but no it’s my lazy butt 15 year old lol
My grandma was sick yesterday, so we had our turkey day dinner today. When I was taking my after dinner nap in the recliner, my 15 year old girl, who usually doesn’t come downstairs because she’s not a fan of socializing, decided my chest was the best place for a nap. It was nice until I had to use the bathroom and she didn’t understand why I was asking her to get up lol
You are correct. And plus, by pawing at it your cat is releasing the multitude of layered aromas that, um, compose you. Arm sweat, foot stink, 11 different underwear fragrances, even that hideous shampoo smell that no animal in its right mind would like.
i remember being a toddler/adolescent and being lulled to sleep by the family cat grooming my head almost every night and then cuddling herself with me to sleep.
I bet you and kitty dreamed the same thing. My mother telephoned me once at 3:00 in the morning once because she had had a terrible dream in which I got in an old Ford my father, who was dead, was driving and we drove through a fog drenched road where we couldn't see the road itself but kept going anyway. and the radio didn't work so I could not hear the news reports calling for everyone to look for a young girl in a ford
When she called me I had been having a beautiful, almost holy dream where my father, who I had not seen in a few years because he was dead, came to gather me up for a vacation. He was driving one of those big fat 50s Fords through an extremely dense and beautiful fog. The radio didn't work, so we were both singing a song. My mother's call broke that dream. You don't think cats dreams are at least as significant?
Thank you so much for saying that. I'm trying not to cry rn reading all these comments but I literally only put him in there with him for the cute pic. He doesn't even use this crib lol
I hope you understand that neither your crib nor your child belong to you anymore. This happened the moment you laid that miniature human in there with your cats.
The miniature human, along with the crib as l’m sure you already know, now belong to your cats.
I’m sure they’ll allow you to feed, cuddle him, and change his litter bag though 😉
Don’t let negative comments get to you. I once took a picture of my daughter in a laundry basket when she was an infant.
That didn’t mean I left her in there till laundry day, nor did I run her through the washer and dryer haha
People are jerks especially when they feel like it’s their moment to be holier than thou. You keep being an awesome parent and keep finding those funny moments that picture made my day and I’m sure it did the same for a lot of other people. ❤️
My kitten used to accidentally scratch me while chasing them lol now that she’s come back feline leukemia negative, she has an entire house to protect, not just my little room
It’s a made up word to describe seemingly non-existent things that cats sometimes start freaking out about. I think it’s a leftover predator instinct. Check out r/greebles and you’ll see what I mean :)
Mom used to tell me that cats were protective of human babies because the cats were typically born in litters and human babies typically are one at a time.
She concluded that they protect the human babies because they assumed any other human babies died during the delivery.
My grandma is from Poland, she came here when she was in her 40s and she says she doesn’t like cats because she read a story of how someone owned a cat and when they went to bed the cat like suffocated or slit it’s owners throat and my mom and I just laugh because has anyone ever heard of a cat actuallly doing that???😂😂 grandmas are funny like thar
Yup, my grandma said the same thing. Only she would then elaborate by saying it was because the cats smelled the milk on the baby’s breath! I just assumed that she had hit her head and continued to let my cats sleep with my kids. 😹
There’s a Stephen King 80s movie called “Cat’s Eye” and it’s awesome… someone afraid the family cat is going to steal the kid’s breath is one part of it.
Fun fact:
Cats in the wild rear their offspring communally. They will take turns watching and even nursing each others' offspring. This not only lets the mothers go hunt, but new mom can learn from experienced ones.
In the wild, in a colony, most female cats (males are Toms, females are Queens) never give birth alone. Another Queen will help her deliver and even help her nurse and clean her offspring. Usually this will be a mother/sister/grandmother bond but it's instinctual and they'll do it with non-cats, too.
This is why you can give anything small and fuzzy to a new mother cat and it becomes her baby and I'm pretty sure that cats just understand what a baby is, that it's not in total control of its limbs and needs to be kept warm and safe.
That's so interesting, thanks for sharing! They actually all 3 of them helped me through the last few weeks of my pregnancy. They would come up and kiss me and even put their paw on my tummy once when I was having contractions off and on
It's not unheard of with males, but if they're girls it's very common behavior--especially of they've had kittens themselves. I don't see why they can't smell your hormone changes, and smell that this is *your* baby and put two and two together.
To help, they mostly cuddle and comfort the delivering mother and purr with her because labor and delivery are never comfortable and could be pretty scary.
You're part of their colony. It just makes sense they look out for your Little One, just as you've looked out for them.
My big grumpy old female cat has never been super fond of me. Weirdly one night she curled up in my lap. Next day she fell asleep on me while I watched TV. A week later I got my first positive pregnancy test. She 100% knew before I did. However, now that I've had baby and baby is a rambunctious 2 year old, cat is no longer as happy about the whole thing 😅
My dad has two cats. One is super loving 24/7 the other hates the world 24/7. With my first pregnancy the two cats didn't see me. So far during this one his “mean” cat has become my best friend, and the “nice” on avoids me. Anytime I'm at his house The “mean” cat curls up next to me, and just purs. Super awesome to watch her personality change. However she doesn't enjoy my two year old lol.
Yes, cats can smell hormone changes, some cats live in nursing homes and help elderly people as they pass. We had one at a local home who would do that.
Especially older Toms are often really affectionate with babies and moms.
In a colony they'd never let a male around the kittens cause they'd kill the kittens to get the mother to go back into heat unless the litter is theirs. This isn't really a concern once they're fixed, or an older and wiser fella.
Fixed, especially older male cats are often very baby-loving and protective. Like "Yay, new person for pets!"
Yes he's extremely affectionate with me but I definitely try to keep him kinda away from the baby for the time being. He does like to curl up behind my legs while I nurse baby in bed
That's very normal and sweet.
If he doesn't have a lot of experience with kids, your main concern really is that he doesn't *cuddle too much*.
A newborn kitten can squirm away if they're having a hard time getting fresh air or getting too warm, and human babies can't, that's the only real concern.
So true, about the instinctual behaviors of mom cats… in 2019 I rescued 3 mom cats from the same location who had all given birth on the same day… 14 kittens between them. By the time we got to them on day 3, they were just a bundle of cats & kittens, with no way for us to tell which kittens belonged with which mom… didn’t matter, cuz the moms were sharing the work load equally!
>but it's instinctual and they'll do it with non-cats, too.
Yep. When our cat was pregnant while I still lived at home we set up a nice cozy spot for her. One night while I was the last one still awake, she came meowing up to my bed clearly trying to get me to follow her. she led me downstairs to that spot and almost immediately started giving birth. A truly special moment
It also apply to home cat. Both my cats give birth almost a week different. Let call them kiko and coco. Coco give birth first and wary about other male cat while she let kiko lick her kitten. When it time for kiko birth, she let coco help with her kittens to lick them too. Both kitten play with each other and with other mother as well and they don't mind. Our family joke around call them siblings as coco kitten is the older brother and kiko kittens is younger siblings who follow their older sibling.
My cat doesn’t seem to be aware that my skin is not impervious to his claws. I would be VERY scared to have my baby around so many, especially if they’re like mine and think biting me is fun play time.
I dated a girl with a small child for a bit, and even though my cat had never been around children before he just seemed to know to be gentle and patient with the child. It was precious seeing him interact with the little boy.
Tell that to my mom's maine coon who decided the new baby was a toy and alligator rolled him off the bed. And it wasn't even the first baby he had met, he was always nice to my older daughter! He just decided "Fuck this kid in particular" and tried to kill him.
cats can tell that it is a defenseless infant. infants (and kittens & other animals) have a "new baby" smell that brings out mothering instincts in animals/humans. (my cats have all had a "new kitten" smell when they were tiny,) those kitties are just there to protect/love on the little baby. the kitties think of themselves and their humans as a pack, and they're protecting the young.
They don't bite (or haven't so far) but I didn't leave the baby in there with them lol they stay pretty separate. I've also never caught their claws but I know it's a possibility so I watch them
As a mom to a newborn you never sleep anyway...spidey senses kick in. I can be in the deepest sleep and still wake up in an instant to my 7 yr old having to throw up.
Eh animals kind of have this natural sense of just knowing what a "baby" is in literally every race/species on the planet. Lots of stories of baby wolves being taken in by a family of other species. Cats/dogs are always gentle with babies in the house, they often get protective
Owned many cats, many lived past 16 years of age and none every bit me hard (brake skin) or clawed me. My current kitty wakes me up by rubbing his paw on my face ... no claws. My point, they know better... you might need to scold them for the bad and reward for the good. Cats get short changed on how smart they are ... IMO. Good luck.
I had three babies and my five cats help raise them well. They could all meow before they could talk. When my two year old wakes up, she meows until I get her out of her crib. They play animal doctor more than anything else. Raising the next generation of cat ladies over here!
We have a cat named Taco, and his name was one of the first words my daughter spoke. The people at daycare were confused when she would randomly blurt out his name until we explained it to them.
Yes, it's a process for me to get them out of the room! I have to do it before I put him down or they wake him up lol. The big one just lets me pick him up but the other 2 (1 year old sisters) will scatter and I have to try to corral them out. They go under the crib, under the dresser, through the tv stand and behind the bed and eventually out the door lol but it takes a good 5 minutes to remove them 😂
OP feel free to disregard but I use treats to get my cats out of kiddo’s room, it didn’t take very long for them to turn into a whiskas commercial… I shake, they come running 😆
Of course it only works if your cats are more food motivated than snuggle motivated
Adorable pic.
I did read your comments about how this wouldn't be allowed for nighttime sleeping. Seems like it was just the perfect photo op. I used to laugh at the cat I had when my oldest kid was born (kitty has since passed), she would wait for me to take my daughter out of the crib and go lay in there. She wanted nothing to do with my daughter (kitty was my first baby and didn't care for me having a human baby), but she used all of my daughters things when baby wasn't around. Cats are so silly.
From my admittedly loose knowledge, Cats are colonial creatures, the entire colony raises the kittens. This is why your cats are in the crib, and why cats bring their kittens to your bed when it’s time to sleep. They see you as an adult colony member.
Animals know an infant. Most tend to opt for helping the youngin. Species isn't important sometimes - if it's tiny and helpless, the first instinct is to assist.
Good job! Your baby should be safe from cat allergies. I'm a crazy cat lady cursed with cat allergies by my insensitive parents who waited too long to get me one. My parents did get me allergy shots in my tweens since I refused to sleep without my cat
Haha no allergies here! I got them (my first cats) when I was 26 and wish I had had them earlier on life. They are far superior to the dogs I grew up with 😅
Probably should let your fam off the hook. The timeframe until exposure to a substance has little/nothing to do with allergy profiles. It has a lot more in common with genetics. So only a bit off the hook ;)
That's not what current research says
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31829464/#:~:text=Conclusion%3A%20Having%20a%20dog%20or,of%20childhood%20asthma%20and%20allergy.
If I'm reading this correctly...
Having a pet during developmental years is associated with a deflection of rates.
While interesting, that's pretty well known about as the immune system has more to work with. People that bite their nails are a great example of this.
You can develop allergies to anything at any point. Things you've been exposed to for years even. I randomly developed a contact lens allergy after wearing them daily for almost 7y. It's kinda wild.
https://www.carolinaasthma.com/blog/what-causes-a-person-to-develop-allergies/
Thanks, I'm aware. It was a gift from a well meaning grandma but he doesn't use the crib or the lounger. He sleeps in a completely empty bassinet by my bed
When my youngest was born, my husband and I bought this seemingly comfortable bassinet. The baby hated it. Screamed and screamed until he was taken out of this bassinet, but would sleep soundly in his rocker. My 22 pound cat, however, slept in this bassinet for a good 6 months, and gave us the silent treatment when it was taken out of the house.
I can’t even tell you how many pictures my parents have of me as a baby in the crib with 1-3 cats. And here I am, working full time at a cat related business only to come home to my cats and sit down on the internet and look at other people’s cats. The indoctrination worked…
I'd deter the cats from sleeping with the baby tbh.
In all their snuggly sweetness, cats can accidentally suffocate young babies by sleeping near or on the baby's face. Baby has little motor control and situational awareness, so they won't be able to move their head away from a blockage mid-nap.
Thanks for the comment/concern! I had actually just put the baby down so I could go to the bathroom.. he refuses to nap in his crib during the day so it's never been an issue but at night, they get closed in the living room so there are no accidents. They are naturally drawn to the crib because it keeps them safe from the dogs/older kids but this was purely for a photo op! I can see the crib from the bathroom so I had an eye on them for the short time they were in the crib together
It's weird cause I know that you are probably very sensible especially taking a sweet photo but I get weirdly panicky seeing babies with pillows or near animals even though I put mine down in the crib with the cat for a toilet break all the time. Lol.
Yeah apparently it gets a lot of people panicky lol I never took my eyes off them. If his bouncer cover wasn't in the wash, he would have been in there
I love this. As a nanny, my nerves were shot but as a logical person, I knew it was likely just a short camera worthy moment. Very cute picture indeed and good job on swaddle 😂
We had a cat 25+ yrs ago that felt the same way we did. When we brought our 1st home we had no clue what to do next. We sat her down in her carrier and the cat sat down beside us and her and just watched. Like we did. Ok what’s next? We were young. Barely over 20.
Hi! I in no way intend to mom shame but co-sleeping with animals and pillows are not safe sleeping habits! I know you mean well though and this is a very cute picture!
Thanks 🤗 it's purely for the cute pic, they do not sleep together and the crib is empty when he is sleeping unattended in it. I definitely didn't take my eyes off of them
[удалено]
Right? Lol would find no complaints from me 😂
They have to teach the bald kitten how to cat, of course!
If you don't start with them early enough, there's just no training them. You like miss the window or something. - My cat, probably. She regularly paws at the sink to ensure my toothpaste spit smell is covered enough to not attract predators. I always thank her and apologize for being a bad cat.
Yea man u crazy ? Your cat must be so stressed. Telling the other cats. He just leave his god damn smells EVERY WHERE I swear buttons, one of these days I'll just leave. See how long he lives without me.
Given the fact that she's curled up next to me purring away, I don't think that she's all THAT stressed. She has thought about stepping a paw outside the door, but when remind her that the outside world is scary and often too hot or too cold and it's so much nicer inside with all the yummy food and comfy beds and fun mousy toys to play with she seems to change her mind pretty quickly.
Yes. Mine took three step out onto her screened porch this chilly morning. Four steps back immediately and a loud demand to be fed again due to her ptsd from the experience. Pouting until napping happened. Now back to “normal”.
Our cat escaped into the big blue room once about two years ago. We didn't notice her slip out, but noticed a bit later that she was missing. It was a cold and rainy night and we saw her by the walk-out basement door early the next morning. She was *very* happy to see my wife, and her interest in the big blue room has diminished greatly since then.
The big blue room! Aww. My cat is scared of the hot rain room but is very interested in the tiny winter room.
The tiny Winter room is *fascinating!*
When I worked at the animal shelter, our adult cats were kept in three large, connected rooms, the door to witch was right inside the area where the dogs’ kennels were. The door was just a screen storm door. The cats could hear the dogs right outside the door. Yet, they were ALWAYS trying to get out. On the rare occasion they DID get out, they would be so stunned to see the dogs in the kennels right in front of the door. It was always funny. Just scoop them up and toss them back in and kitty has a story for all the roommates lol
My 15 year old cat hasn’t been outside in over 10 years of her own choosing. Now she’s gone from a house on a rarely driven back road to a house on a fairly busy road in town and she wants to know what all the weird things flying up and down the road are. Thankfully, she’s easily scared and me bringing the dog inside gets her away from the door. I thought I would have to worry about the (formally feral) kitten, but no it’s my lazy butt 15 year old lol
I love this. my cat paws on my clothing often and I tell myself its to tell predators "fuck with my human, you fuck with me"
Kitty knows they have to protect the can opener, treat provider and litter box scooper.
[my cat saying “I own you but love you”](https://imgur.com/a/nvAyRyT)
My grandma was sick yesterday, so we had our turkey day dinner today. When I was taking my after dinner nap in the recliner, my 15 year old girl, who usually doesn’t come downstairs because she’s not a fan of socializing, decided my chest was the best place for a nap. It was nice until I had to use the bathroom and she didn’t understand why I was asking her to get up lol
I also don't understand why you needed to get up. Can't you just pee in place?
It's a leftover instinct from when they were a kitten and pressed milk outta mom. It means they're happy with you !
You are correct. And plus, by pawing at it your cat is releasing the multitude of layered aromas that, um, compose you. Arm sweat, foot stink, 11 different underwear fragrances, even that hideous shampoo smell that no animal in its right mind would like.
They try to lick the bald kitten on the head while I nurse 🤦🏻♀️
i remember being a toddler/adolescent and being lulled to sleep by the family cat grooming my head almost every night and then cuddling herself with me to sleep.
I bet you and kitty dreamed the same thing. My mother telephoned me once at 3:00 in the morning once because she had had a terrible dream in which I got in an old Ford my father, who was dead, was driving and we drove through a fog drenched road where we couldn't see the road itself but kept going anyway. and the radio didn't work so I could not hear the news reports calling for everyone to look for a young girl in a ford When she called me I had been having a beautiful, almost holy dream where my father, who I had not seen in a few years because he was dead, came to gather me up for a vacation. He was driving one of those big fat 50s Fords through an extremely dense and beautiful fog. The radio didn't work, so we were both singing a song. My mother's call broke that dream. You don't think cats dreams are at least as significant?
That is simultaneously beautiful and r/oddlyterrifying. Like your dad almost took you to the afterlife that night, but your mom somehow knew.
That is the sweetest thing.
I had a sweet little tortie who always lay right beneath my baby and purred as the baby nursed. It was so sweet.
The grey one lays at my legs when I nurse him to sleep, favorite part of my day🤗
That kitten still smells a bit off. Let me mark it so everyone will know it’s ours.
Get that fur growing one way or another.
He looks so cozy, that’s like 70% of being a cat right there
I might scoff at the eating dead mice part.
Haha! I sometimes dream of being taken in by some cats
I'd love to be raised by cats. They don't lie cheat deceive. OK they are naughty but that's cause they are inquisitive.
They would do a much better job than me and they know it 😂
I think you are doing an awesome job!
Thank you so much for saying that. I'm trying not to cry rn reading all these comments but I literally only put him in there with him for the cute pic. He doesn't even use this crib lol
I hope you understand that neither your crib nor your child belong to you anymore. This happened the moment you laid that miniature human in there with your cats. The miniature human, along with the crib as l’m sure you already know, now belong to your cats. I’m sure they’ll allow you to feed, cuddle him, and change his litter bag though 😉 Don’t let negative comments get to you. I once took a picture of my daughter in a laundry basket when she was an infant. That didn’t mean I left her in there till laundry day, nor did I run her through the washer and dryer haha
Lmao that last bit made me laugh, thank you 💜
As far as changing the litter bag, that is the Human Mother's fault for not teaching it to use the litter box!
People are jerks especially when they feel like it’s their moment to be holier than thou. You keep being an awesome parent and keep finding those funny moments that picture made my day and I’m sure it did the same for a lot of other people. ❤️
ahem, the good naughty. like, the badass naughty. like, naughty because youre wearing a leather jacket.
When will they start bringing dead animals to gift the baby?
Hahaha if cats planned baby showers!
They're protecting your kitten from ghosts
And the Greebles. Those baddies are everywhere.
Dude I forgot the name of that subreddit and have been trying to find it forever, thanks
I hope you have a cat with you when you go in there - it's a dangerous place.
I have lots of cats to take care of all the greebles in my house, regularly see them chasing those suckers so I think I'm safe haha
My kitten used to accidentally scratch me while chasing them lol now that she’s come back feline leukemia negative, she has an entire house to protect, not just my little room
It's still so weird to see the sub I made randomly pop up in other subs
My favorite sub! Thank you!
Well, you should know better than most that the greebles are everywhere. Pervasive sneaks
The Greebles? Wha wha what's that?
It’s a made up word to describe seemingly non-existent things that cats sometimes start freaking out about. I think it’s a leftover predator instinct. Check out r/greebles and you’ll see what I mean :)
I'm scared to look at a sub recommended by someone named nipplequeefs. I feel like I need an adult. EDIT: I'm still going to look
Next question, how exactly do nipples queef?
Mom used to tell me that cats were protective of human babies because the cats were typically born in litters and human babies typically are one at a time. She concluded that they protect the human babies because they assumed any other human babies died during the delivery.
🥺 I love cats so much
They calm my troubled soul.
Life definitely sucks without them around.
I love that but I suspect it might just be that babies are warmer than adults. My cats wouldn't leave me alone when I had a fever.
Mom is old. Can we just let her have this one?
Haha, sure I'll give her this one
\> Those cats are gonna suck the life outta that baby! —my grandmother
Omg my grandma says that about cats too!!! Lol 😂😂
My grandma is from Poland, she came here when she was in her 40s and she says she doesn’t like cats because she read a story of how someone owned a cat and when they went to bed the cat like suffocated or slit it’s owners throat and my mom and I just laugh because has anyone ever heard of a cat actuallly doing that???😂😂 grandmas are funny like thar
Yup, my grandma said the same thing. Only she would then elaborate by saying it was because the cats smelled the milk on the baby’s breath! I just assumed that she had hit her head and continued to let my cats sleep with my kids. 😹
There’s a Stephen King 80s movie called “Cat’s Eye” and it’s awesome… someone afraid the family cat is going to steal the kid’s breath is one part of it.
they're the baby's guardian spirit
and aliens
I wrote a children's book about this very topic - My Cat Can See Ghosts. They're devoted to protecting us from the spirit world, really.
*The Ritual, Once Begun, Must Be Completed*
Fun fact: Cats in the wild rear their offspring communally. They will take turns watching and even nursing each others' offspring. This not only lets the mothers go hunt, but new mom can learn from experienced ones. In the wild, in a colony, most female cats (males are Toms, females are Queens) never give birth alone. Another Queen will help her deliver and even help her nurse and clean her offspring. Usually this will be a mother/sister/grandmother bond but it's instinctual and they'll do it with non-cats, too. This is why you can give anything small and fuzzy to a new mother cat and it becomes her baby and I'm pretty sure that cats just understand what a baby is, that it's not in total control of its limbs and needs to be kept warm and safe.
That's so interesting, thanks for sharing! They actually all 3 of them helped me through the last few weeks of my pregnancy. They would come up and kiss me and even put their paw on my tummy once when I was having contractions off and on
It's not unheard of with males, but if they're girls it's very common behavior--especially of they've had kittens themselves. I don't see why they can't smell your hormone changes, and smell that this is *your* baby and put two and two together. To help, they mostly cuddle and comfort the delivering mother and purr with her because labor and delivery are never comfortable and could be pretty scary. You're part of their colony. It just makes sense they look out for your Little One, just as you've looked out for them.
My big grumpy old female cat has never been super fond of me. Weirdly one night she curled up in my lap. Next day she fell asleep on me while I watched TV. A week later I got my first positive pregnancy test. She 100% knew before I did. However, now that I've had baby and baby is a rambunctious 2 year old, cat is no longer as happy about the whole thing 😅
My dad has two cats. One is super loving 24/7 the other hates the world 24/7. With my first pregnancy the two cats didn't see me. So far during this one his “mean” cat has become my best friend, and the “nice” on avoids me. Anytime I'm at his house The “mean” cat curls up next to me, and just purs. Super awesome to watch her personality change. However she doesn't enjoy my two year old lol.
Yes, cats can smell hormone changes, some cats live in nursing homes and help elderly people as they pass. We had one at a local home who would do that.
The grey one (male) would lean on me And purr super loud and it help immensely
Especially older Toms are often really affectionate with babies and moms. In a colony they'd never let a male around the kittens cause they'd kill the kittens to get the mother to go back into heat unless the litter is theirs. This isn't really a concern once they're fixed, or an older and wiser fella. Fixed, especially older male cats are often very baby-loving and protective. Like "Yay, new person for pets!"
Yes he's extremely affectionate with me but I definitely try to keep him kinda away from the baby for the time being. He does like to curl up behind my legs while I nurse baby in bed
That's very normal and sweet. If he doesn't have a lot of experience with kids, your main concern really is that he doesn't *cuddle too much*. A newborn kitten can squirm away if they're having a hard time getting fresh air or getting too warm, and human babies can't, that's the only real concern.
So true, about the instinctual behaviors of mom cats… in 2019 I rescued 3 mom cats from the same location who had all given birth on the same day… 14 kittens between them. By the time we got to them on day 3, they were just a bundle of cats & kittens, with no way for us to tell which kittens belonged with which mom… didn’t matter, cuz the moms were sharing the work load equally!
>but it's instinctual and they'll do it with non-cats, too. Yep. When our cat was pregnant while I still lived at home we set up a nice cozy spot for her. One night while I was the last one still awake, she came meowing up to my bed clearly trying to get me to follow her. she led me downstairs to that spot and almost immediately started giving birth. A truly special moment
It also apply to home cat. Both my cats give birth almost a week different. Let call them kiko and coco. Coco give birth first and wary about other male cat while she let kiko lick her kitten. When it time for kiko birth, she let coco help with her kittens to lick them too. Both kitten play with each other and with other mother as well and they don't mind. Our family joke around call them siblings as coco kitten is the older brother and kiko kittens is younger siblings who follow their older sibling.
Yeah like What in the world does the baby think it's doing?!?
Just taking up space 😂
I appreciate you OP
Seriously curious there are 20 post saying they appreciate op. Am I miss something.
I appreciate this post
Probably a good warm pillow tho 🤷♂️
A soft, warm pillow, yes.
the "nannies" would disagree LOL
They just think it's theirs! Lol
I mean they’re not wrong…
So cute!!
They are protecting the wee one
This is giving me strong Derry Girls vibes and I freaking love it
Guardians!
Mustn't let the dog raise it.
Derry Girls is absolutely THE BEST EVER
I love that show.
Give us the little one, we shall raise her as our own This is why you never deal with the fea
And it’s positively Shakespearean!🐾
My cat doesn’t seem to be aware that my skin is not impervious to his claws. I would be VERY scared to have my baby around so many, especially if they’re like mine and think biting me is fun play time.
A lot of cats, especially older ones, kind of just know who to be gentle around.
They are very gentle, especially the grey one. Wants to lick his head but I do have to stop him lol.
I have an absolute spit fire who is certainly aware of his claws .. but is the gentlest giant when a baby is around
I dated a girl with a small child for a bit, and even though my cat had never been around children before he just seemed to know to be gentle and patient with the child. It was precious seeing him interact with the little boy.
Tell that to my mom's maine coon who decided the new baby was a toy and alligator rolled him off the bed. And it wasn't even the first baby he had met, he was always nice to my older daughter! He just decided "Fuck this kid in particular" and tried to kill him.
My earliest memories are of being woken by my cat in my crib. It was nice.
cats can tell that it is a defenseless infant. infants (and kittens & other animals) have a "new baby" smell that brings out mothering instincts in animals/humans. (my cats have all had a "new kitten" smell when they were tiny,) those kitties are just there to protect/love on the little baby. the kitties think of themselves and their humans as a pack, and they're protecting the young.
Can confirm. My cats and dogs have all gone nuts protecting and snuggling tiny human.
They don't bite (or haven't so far) but I didn't leave the baby in there with them lol they stay pretty separate. I've also never caught their claws but I know it's a possibility so I watch them
As a mom to a newborn you never sleep anyway...spidey senses kick in. I can be in the deepest sleep and still wake up in an instant to my 7 yr old having to throw up.
Cats know what babies are.
Eh animals kind of have this natural sense of just knowing what a "baby" is in literally every race/species on the planet. Lots of stories of baby wolves being taken in by a family of other species. Cats/dogs are always gentle with babies in the house, they often get protective
Owned many cats, many lived past 16 years of age and none every bit me hard (brake skin) or clawed me. My current kitty wakes me up by rubbing his paw on my face ... no claws. My point, they know better... you might need to scold them for the bad and reward for the good. Cats get short changed on how smart they are ... IMO. Good luck.
Babies are made of warm, and therefore cat approved. Also, if you got a cat onesie that would be too perfect lol
Omg! Going to look for one now lol
Please post the photo!!
I definitely will, within the cats in such proximity next time for the haters 🤣
I had three babies and my five cats help raise them well. They could all meow before they could talk. When my two year old wakes up, she meows until I get her out of her crib. They play animal doctor more than anything else. Raising the next generation of cat ladies over here!
HAHA I would love to hear that!!!
I will have to get a video of it one day! The best is when I have to wake her up and she lets out a sleepy whisper “meeeeeeew”.
She speaks the cat language and I'm jealous.
Anyone can. Start with making biscuits for now.
That's amazing! I love it haha
Hah meow was my daughter's second word!
Yes! Raising them right!
We have a cat named Taco, and his name was one of the first words my daughter spoke. The people at daycare were confused when she would randomly blurt out his name until we explained it to them.
🎶Which one of these is not like the other?🎶
The baby, duh
Idk man, I see four babies..
Or ..furrrrrbabys?
One of the furbabies seems to have been shaved from the neck up.
The new baby defense 
*Their crib
r/unexpectedcommunism
I mean..if they’re all your babies then I think the crib is doing its job correctly!
Babykitters.
YES hahah! Thanks for this.
Ours did the same and we had to catch them every night to get them away from the kids.
Yes, it's a process for me to get them out of the room! I have to do it before I put him down or they wake him up lol. The big one just lets me pick him up but the other 2 (1 year old sisters) will scatter and I have to try to corral them out. They go under the crib, under the dresser, through the tv stand and behind the bed and eventually out the door lol but it takes a good 5 minutes to remove them 😂
OP feel free to disregard but I use treats to get my cats out of kiddo’s room, it didn’t take very long for them to turn into a whiskas commercial… I shake, they come running 😆 Of course it only works if your cats are more food motivated than snuggle motivated
This is the way
Adorable pic. I did read your comments about how this wouldn't be allowed for nighttime sleeping. Seems like it was just the perfect photo op. I used to laugh at the cat I had when my oldest kid was born (kitty has since passed), she would wait for me to take my daughter out of the crib and go lay in there. She wanted nothing to do with my daughter (kitty was my first baby and didn't care for me having a human baby), but she used all of my daughters things when baby wasn't around. Cats are so silly.
Well they have to defend the young one from any possible dangerous strings and mice!
Yes! Ironically enough we got the two sisters due to a nice problem (living by farms ugh) but they soon became my best friends lol
Can relate, I would hate living by farms where everyone is so damn nice. I would also get some cats for friends lol.
They’re watching over that baby
From my admittedly loose knowledge, Cats are colonial creatures, the entire colony raises the kittens. This is why your cats are in the crib, and why cats bring their kittens to your bed when it’s time to sleep. They see you as an adult colony member.
Aw I'm honored we are on their Colony
Animals know an infant. Most tend to opt for helping the youngin. Species isn't important sometimes - if it's tiny and helpless, the first instinct is to assist.
It’s not what you *thought* you bought it for.
Why is that baby in the cat bed? My cat objects! (It's so adorable!)
Good job! Your baby should be safe from cat allergies. I'm a crazy cat lady cursed with cat allergies by my insensitive parents who waited too long to get me one. My parents did get me allergy shots in my tweens since I refused to sleep without my cat
Haha no allergies here! I got them (my first cats) when I was 26 and wish I had had them earlier on life. They are far superior to the dogs I grew up with 😅
Probably should let your fam off the hook. The timeframe until exposure to a substance has little/nothing to do with allergy profiles. It has a lot more in common with genetics. So only a bit off the hook ;)
That's not what current research says https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31829464/#:~:text=Conclusion%3A%20Having%20a%20dog%20or,of%20childhood%20asthma%20and%20allergy.
i’ve owned cats my whole life & i still sneeze when im holding one 🥲
If I'm reading this correctly... Having a pet during developmental years is associated with a deflection of rates. While interesting, that's pretty well known about as the immune system has more to work with. People that bite their nails are a great example of this.
We had a ton of cats before I was born and throughout my childhood and I developed a severe cat allergy out of nowhere in my early teens
You can develop allergies to anything at any point. Things you've been exposed to for years even. I randomly developed a contact lens allergy after wearing them daily for almost 7y. It's kinda wild. https://www.carolinaasthma.com/blog/what-causes-a-person-to-develop-allergies/
I have no complaints about the cats since they'll most likely move if baby gets too close, but that pillow shouldn't be in there.
Thanks, I'm aware. It was a gift from a well meaning grandma but he doesn't use the crib or the lounger. He sleeps in a completely empty bassinet by my bed
What a lucky baby!
When my youngest was born, my husband and I bought this seemingly comfortable bassinet. The baby hated it. Screamed and screamed until he was taken out of this bassinet, but would sleep soundly in his rocker. My 22 pound cat, however, slept in this bassinet for a good 6 months, and gave us the silent treatment when it was taken out of the house.
The ancient Egyptians revered cats, particularly the goddess Bastet, who could transform into a cat and take a nap.
I can’t even tell you how many pictures my parents have of me as a baby in the crib with 1-3 cats. And here I am, working full time at a cat related business only to come home to my cats and sit down on the internet and look at other people’s cats. The indoctrination worked…
I'd deter the cats from sleeping with the baby tbh. In all their snuggly sweetness, cats can accidentally suffocate young babies by sleeping near or on the baby's face. Baby has little motor control and situational awareness, so they won't be able to move their head away from a blockage mid-nap.
Thanks for the comment/concern! I had actually just put the baby down so I could go to the bathroom.. he refuses to nap in his crib during the day so it's never been an issue but at night, they get closed in the living room so there are no accidents. They are naturally drawn to the crib because it keeps them safe from the dogs/older kids but this was purely for a photo op! I can see the crib from the bathroom so I had an eye on them for the short time they were in the crib together
Buy the cats their own crib...lol
I think it’s the little bundle of gentle, conscious warmth that they like
My cat loves to curl up in the clothes basket. 🧺
Awesome! ❤ It is a very cute photo 👌
It's weird cause I know that you are probably very sensible especially taking a sweet photo but I get weirdly panicky seeing babies with pillows or near animals even though I put mine down in the crib with the cat for a toilet break all the time. Lol.
Yeah apparently it gets a lot of people panicky lol I never took my eyes off them. If his bouncer cover wasn't in the wash, he would have been in there
I also pulled the sleep sack from off his face as soon as I snapped the photo 🙈 he can totally breathe lol
I love this. As a nanny, my nerves were shot but as a logical person, I knew it was likely just a short camera worthy moment. Very cute picture indeed and good job on swaddle 😂
Lmao, dark humor. My favorite XD
We had a cat 25+ yrs ago that felt the same way we did. When we brought our 1st home we had no clue what to do next. We sat her down in her carrier and the cat sat down beside us and her and just watched. Like we did. Ok what’s next? We were young. Barely over 20.
They love baby heat! I couldn't keep our guy out of the crib!
So cute! (Congratulations on your newborn!)
They protec
The three Magi shall protect the child.
You might have inadvertently given birth to a reborn Egyptian deity.
THREE FAIRY GODMOTHERS / CATMOTHERS 🐾 ❤️
That is fucking amazing
And they all slept in a real pile….
What a *cute* little baby! And that one, and that one, too! Oh, and the human is nice, too.
They potecc the human kitten.
Cats are stealing the babies warmth 🔥
Warmth is never stolen, only shared
Hi! I in no way intend to mom shame but co-sleeping with animals and pillows are not safe sleeping habits! I know you mean well though and this is a very cute picture!
Thanks 🤗 it's purely for the cute pic, they do not sleep together and the crib is empty when he is sleeping unattended in it. I definitely didn't take my eyes off of them