My Cat Scratched My Baby...I Need Advice

fallonrhea

I've never had a problem with my cat scratching anyone (unless she's trying to get away when we try to put her in the tub or car of course), but my cat has a serious problem of scratching herself. She has serious allergy issues, so had a tendency to bite herself and scratch the crap out of her ears until they bleed

Needless to say, we got her those little rubber kitty claws nail caps. They're a pain to get her to hold still long enough for us to put them on her, but they work great and she doesn't seem to mind them once they're on. She doesn't seem to break her own skin anymore the way she used to, and we were able to avoid the painful declawing procedure. I personally can't consider declawing because I can imagine how traumatic that could be...I imagine it being like amputating the top part of my fingers! However, you need to do what you need to do to protect your child.

PS: The people who are calling you a bad parent have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. Just ignore them - you wouldn't be posting this otherwise. Same goes for the people who think you're horrible for considering you giving up your cat. Obviously you're looking for the best solution for both your child AND your pet. People have strange opinions.

TigressPat

Every single mention of "Train Your Cat" has me giggling. Just as effective as cat herding!

lol

great gif!

that said, just because you either don't have cats or haven't put any thought and/or effort into training them does not mean you should immediately disregard the idea.

butterfli7o

How about get rid of the Freaking Cat!!!!!! This is an insane post, I would not think twice if it came to the safety of my baby.

Im appalled at this, truley appalled.

:noway:

AsellusReborn

Some of the responses to this thread are ridiculous. Y'all need to grow up. Her being protective of her kid doesn't make her an evil pet owner, and her kid getting scratched doesn't make her negligent either. What planet do y'all live on? 14 mo is still a baby, babies need to be supervised around animals. It isn't possible to do it 100% because there will always be those moments (doorbell rings, starting dinner, or god forbid you have to pee) but for the most part supervision solves this....get rid of the cat? It's "dinner" "needs to go for a ride" or on the other hand "zomg ANIMAL ABUSER"....really, people? -facepalm-

Sambytheway82

Toss the cat.

What do you want to tell your child when they grow up without an eye? Declawing would have been mean to the cat?? Gee thanks mom.

I've always felt that people who own animals remind of abused spouses. "Oh it's not their fault, they're usually really sweet, the baby did something to set the cat off..."

Be a parent. Take care of your kid.

This

glovepuppet

oh, and there's a reason declawing is illegal in the uk.
it's barbaric!

vtmoon

I can't believe the amount of grief the OP is getting from some people... I'm starting to somewhat understand the meaning behind the term "crazy cat lady" cause I reading some of those replies and "crazy cat lady" is all that comes to mind.

the_journeyman

Maybe teach your son to leave the cat alone?

JM

odusgolp

Every single mention of "Train Your Cat" has me giggling. Just as effective as cat herding!

lol

great gif!

that said, just because you either don't have cats or haven't put any thought and/or effort into training them does not mean you should immediately disregard the idea.

BWAHAHAHA! You have me all figured out

UnoDrea3732

I would say if the cat is an indoor cat then you should probably just declaw her. But don't forget that she does have teeth too! lol. I only say this because my used to be daycare provider has a declawed cat and, when my daughter was in crawling state, she pulled the cat's tail and it reached back and bit her on her arm. BUT the cat now stays away and my daughter doesn't seem to remember.

Sometimes it just takes one incident for both (cat & baby) to learn eachothers boundries.

butterfli7o

I'm sorry you have to deal with this. :frown: I love cats. The lesser of the evils is declawing. I don't like it, but I'd do it if necessary. Or at the very least, cut his claws down. I hold the cat while hubby trims his claws.

BrettPGH

One half of an inch higher, and my son would be in the hospital right now, being fitted with an eye patch. His life would be ruined forever.

Dramatic much?

My cat scratched my eye a few years ago. She scratched my cornea. I had an eye patch for a day and got goop in my eye. Lol! That hardly ruined my life.

Pay attention to your kid and what's doing. He shouldn't be unsupervised, and clearly, if he was bothering the cat badly enough to get scratched, well, he deserved it or you just plain weren't paying attention.

See? Your infant child will only have scratched corneas and need to wear an eye patch! What on Earth are you whining about?

Especially since it's the kid's fault for bothering the cat. THE CAT IS NOT TO BE BOTHERED! If the cat is bothered the kid gets clawed! Your child was just asking to get hurt.




You people are ridiculous.

ladymiseryali

"If you do get her declawed, you may also want to rip out your child's fingernails so that they can't scratch themselves. It's only fair."

Seriously?
Gosh, cat people can be such weirdos.

Not really. Declawing a cat is like ripping the fingernails off of your own hand. Actually it's worse than that. Could you function with your fingers snipped off at the first knuckle? I would rather be weird than heartless by putting my cat through an inhumane and unnecessary procedure that leaves them defenseless.

If I were going around scratching toddlers in the face with my nails when they pissed me off, then maybe yeah, I could see it as a valid suggestion.

You're acting as if the cat is the aggressor here. She's not. The little boy was bugging her, she had no way to escape him and unfortunately she lashed out. You can't corner a cat and expect it not to defend itself. The less drastic solution would be to trim the nails. It's fairly simple and if you're quick enough, takes but a few minutes. I do it all the time. My oldest cat lets me do it with no issue. My youngest screams like a banshee, but since I've been trimming them, I haven't gotten a single scratch in a very long time.

Becoming_A_Butterfly

My options as I see them:

*Make her an outdoor cat. SHe has little to NO outdoor skills, and between her yowling outside the door to get back in, and joining the pack of wild cats that infests our apartment complex, this option seems pretty irresponsible. Plus, it wouldn't solve the problem; what if she just went and scratched somebody ELSE'S kid and blinded them? :noway:

This is NOT an option. She is 6 years old and has been indoors all that time, yet suddenly she is supposed to survive outside, navigate roads, cars, other animals, etc? You are right, it would be wildly irresponsible and cruel, and more likely a death sentence.

If we get rid of her, we will get a replacement baby kitten,

Please rethink this. There is no guarantee of an animal's personality, any more than there is with a person. Kittens are active and like to play, and a kitten is even less likely to leave a baby alone, simply because a kitten will want to play with anyone and anything.

The cat needs a safe place to which to retreat from the baby, something always available and not just when you remember to provide access.

I have used the claw tips from PetsMart before on one of my cats, and they need to be replaced as the claws grow, but they do work by making a rounded, soft tip to the claws instead of sharp.

MrsBobaFett

One half of an inch higher, and my son would be in the hospital right now, being fitted with an eye patch. His life would be ruined forever.

Dramatic much?

My cat scratched my eye a few years ago. She scratched my cornea. I had an eye patch for a day and got goop in my eye. Lol! That hardly ruined my life.

Pay attention to your kid and what's doing. He shouldn't be unsupervised, and clearly, if he was bothering the cat badly enough to get scratched, well, he deserved it or you just plain weren't paying attention.

Yes because a 14 month old child should know better..

lesliev523

One half of an inch higher, and my son would be in the hospital right now, being fitted with an eye patch. His life would be ruined forever.

Dramatic much?

My cat scratched my eye a few years ago. She scratched my cornea. I had an eye patch for a day and got goop in my eye. Lol! That hardly ruined my life.

Pay attention to your kid and what's doing. He shouldn't be unsupervised, and clearly, if he was bothering the cat badly enough to get scratched, well, he deserved it or you just plain weren't paying attention.

:drinker: This!!

19andneverthesame

There should be no tolerance when it comes to toddlers, declaw her, she need the attitude adjustment. Violence against humans is a one way ticket in my house.

runwmeNC

Between de-clawing and putting cat down.... de-claw

Did that to my inside cats when had young baby in house and Cat had a full happy life. Much better option then killing a beloved pet and you can't risk a toddler not provoking the cat again at some point and risk losing eyesight.

TigressPat

One half of an inch higher, and my son would be in the hospital right now, being fitted with an eye patch. His life would be ruined forever.

Dramatic much?

My cat scratched my eye a few years ago. She scratched my cornea. I had an eye patch for a day and got goop in my eye. Lol! That hardly ruined my life.

Pay attention to your kid and what's doing. He shouldn't be unsupervised, and clearly, if he was bothering the cat badly enough to get scratched, well, he deserved it or you just plain weren't paying attention.

exactly.
cat is not aggressive. It was cornered, and threatened.
it reacted defensively, not with malice, not with evil intent, not even with any true force or thought to hurt.
it simply said "leave me the f alone"
the kid probably stopped bothering it after the scratch. end of story, end of problem.
I bet it did not pursue the child or attack the child after the child desisted in pestering/harming it. And it won't. Ever.


if the kid has any brains, it will stop bothering it entirely. if not, the kid and cat can both be trained.

bgelliott

Yikes you guys are sensitive! I used to pester the cat ALL the time when I was really little and that little feline scratched the crap out of me. My mom would wash out the cut and tell me to stop pestering the cat. There was NONE of this freaking out involved. Give the cat a space or room it can be alone in if you are seriously concerned it is going to do serious damage but its not a wild tiger, its not going to prey on the kids so the real concern is kids being kids and running around pulling its tail and whacking it and all the other things that ANY normal kid would do when trying to play. A house cat is simply NOT going to kill a child or seriously maim it. A scratch, even near or on the eye, is not going to destroy your kid as long as its properly washed (kitty claws are nasty.) There are definitely ways to keep them both safe. Give the cat a space it can be alone, raise your kid to not pester animals. I know he's not old enough yet, but it seriously shouldn't be that hard to separate them. I'm massively perplexed by this entire thread.

:drinker:

:drinker: