My Cat Scratched My Baby...I Need Advice

Angie80281

A declawed, nasty cat will still be a nasty cat. With teeth. And the surgery kind of sucks for the animal. So I'll repeat what others have said - cap the claws.

Or you could try kitten mittens. Look at how happy this feline is!

Oh how I wish I wasn't at work right now. I've got tears rolling down my cheeks from trying to supress my laughter.

Mia_RagazzaTosta

You failed both your son and your cat. It is your responsibility to make sure the cat always has access to a safe place. You should also be assuring that the cat's nails are properly clipped so they are not sharp enough to do any real damage. Declawing is absolutely not necessary if you are willing to take responsibility for proper care.

I'm sorry, but you misspelled "child" in your second sentence.

*snort

corn63

Silly MFP and your reposts.

melbot24

This is your fault. The animal was being an animal. Not the cat's fault that your child got in the way of their claws. It's yours.


Someone should give you away.

Oh my gosh! Okay, I need to get out of here...

jeleclekat

I honestly feel like these are all poor options. I understand how important it is to protect your child, but you also made a commitment to this cat when you took it into your home.

- Giving her away is probably the best option, but still a piss poor option. There are SO many cats in this world and there are so many cats that are euthanized because of their overpopulation. You are saying you are going to either kick your cat out of your house to another family, uprooting everything it knows, or the other option would inherently have to be giving it to a shelter where it most likely wouldn't be adopted and would be killed.

- Making her an outdoor cat is an easy way for your cat to become dog bait, road kill, etc. She was raised an indoor cat and for you to decide now to make her an outdoor cat is cruel. My last cat came to me as an outdoor cat. He got eaten by a neighbor's dog. I will never let a cat outside again.

- Declawing is cruel. It is removing a portion of the cat's finger (think your knuckle,) not just her claws. You could get those claw caps to cover her claws, but removing them entirely is an awful decision.

I actually laughed out loud when I read that if you got rid of her you'd get another kitten. My kitten is very well trained and very well behaved. The first few months of her life I had gashes all over my arms, face, and legs. In fact, I have a huge scar across my left arm. A new cat isn't going to be any more behaved than your other cat.

What you could do is be a great pet owner, keep your cat, let your child grow up and learn how to be a responsible pet owner, and don't let the cat and the baby close enough to each other for this to be a problem again.

I'm not trying to be rude and I'm sorry if it seems that I am be, but your commitment to your 6-year-old cat can't just be tossed away so easily. It sucks that your child was scratched, but keep them apart from each other and you won't have that issue.

:drinker:

LoniS

Try getting Feliway plug ins too for the house.

MeanSophieCat

Finding another home for your cat may not be as easy as you think. I'll share my story in case it helps you make a decision.

We had three cats. All were very mild mannered and, although we took careful steps to introduce our babies to them, we didn't have any concerns about them hurting the kids. Everything went great until my son got very mobile. When he first walked at 9 months it wasn't an issue but at 12 months when he could run and climb and go as fast as the cats could run away, we had one cat that started having trouble. He started refusing food and drink and due to lack of water was urinating blood. He was at the vet about every other week and we tried every suggestion the vet gave and every suggestion I've seen in this thread. After dropping 2lbs in 2 months (he only started out as a 9lbs cat) we had to put him in a room alone. We had started looking for a new home for him. We posted flyers and pet finder ads. We had a few calls but all of them were families with children under 5. I called every no-kill shelter in Michigan and some in Northern Ohio. They were either full or told me disdainfully that they didn't take "owner surrendered pets". I offered the shelters to pay up to $100 per month for the rest of his life for his upkeep. It did not make a difference. We finally found an older woman who wanted our cat. She kept him for three days and then called us to say, "If you don't pick him up I'm taking him to the Human Society." He wasn't cuddly enough for her after only knowing her three days. Despite appetite stimulants and pheramone dispensers and everything else you can think of our cat still barely ate or drank. After six months of this, our only option seemed to be the Humane Society - which I am deeply against.
Our grandparents built out a barn for our cat providing a heated water dispenser and heated cat bed. They live about two hours from our house so we went out every weekend to visit him and our grandparents played with him daily. There was a door so he could go outside if he wanted but didn't have to - we still provided food and a litter box. He lived in the barn for about three months. He started eating again and his coat was shiny. After that, he's been seen in one of our grandparents neighbors barns hanging out with other cats.
It still makes me sad that we couldn't give him the life he needed. Fortunately our other two cats are still adjusting well to the kids. My son is 2 and they are even starting to enjoy when he pets them. We've had lots of teachable moments.
Even though I love animals, I will not bring another animal into the house until my kids are elementary school aged. At that point, they can help choose and care for the animals.

SteveJWatson

I knew this thread'd go well........:bigsmile:

I have learned from this thread that some people keep cats indoors, which baffles me. If a cat isn't out killing mice - whats the point of one?

Also, as per any dog thread some people be CRAZY.

The world is full of risks and animals, domestic or otherwise are one of them. There is a MUCH greater risk that your chid will be injured or killed in a car accident than freak cat-blinding incident and yet we put them in the car every day.......

ZombieSlayer

Train the child to leave the cat alone.

MayaSPapaya

I also reccomend the claw caps. No one will get scratched, and since she is already 6, I don't reccomend declawing.
By the way, LOVE her name. Wicked is my favorite musical

inskydiamonds

declaw the cat. I am an animal lover and have rescued stray dogs and cats just in case ppl start flaming me.

I would do this.

Agreed.

I was circumcised.

I got over it.

Who knew your circumcision was akin to an amputation! Do you mean they castrated you? Because declawing a cat is so much more than the removal of a foreskin.

smantha32

When I got her home, her paws opened up and she bled everywhere, called the vet and they said it was normal, just apply pressure until it stops. Well now she refuses to run. She doesn't stretch out like a normal cat. She won't clean her paws, so I have to wipe them down gently with a wash cloth a few times a week. Her life sucks and it's my fault.

Hell no that's not normal. Your vet sucks and I'd find a new one.

labellecanuck

I haven't read all of the replies but I just want to chirp in along with the don't declaw your cat crowd.

GypsysBloodRose26

My cat has scratched my son on multiple occasions, never with the intent to hurt him, but merely as a byproduct of her swiping at him.

She's never been big on kids (namely loud, screechy kids like my kiddo), and we knew this when we had our son. But giving her away was never an option, and frankly, my son eventually needed to know that you need to respect the personal space of animals as well as people.

Unfortunately, he's going on 3, and has selective hearing, LOL.

So when we tell him, "Ben, leave Sabrina alone," and he doesn't, and continues to pester her, yeah, he gets a little scratch on the leg or hand or arm. He gets his feelings hurt more than anything, we clean it up and put an Angry Birds bandage on the scratch.

As time has gone on, though, he's learning more and more to just leave her alone. If it had been more of an issue, say, if she were scratching him out of pure evil malice, yeah, we'd take more drastic measures.

What it sounds like is your cat was scared and reacted because you guys didn't make sure his perceived "safety" was handled. That's more operator error than kitty's fault, in my opinion.

Take the time to really socialize your cat with baby, to show your baby that firstly, kitty needs their boundaries respected, and to show kitty that, despite the loud noises, baby is mostly harmless. Getting rid of a cat because of something like this is really unfair to the cat.

This.

It isn't the cats fault if you as the owner don't take the proper precautions for the cats safety. If he needs a safe place away from the kid, do it. It is your responsibility to protect both the kid and the cat. And, frankly, the kid has to learn to leave the cat alone.

c2hrist3a

Don't see what the problem is. Cat vs child? Child wins every time.


Had a similar situation with a cat many years ago. I took it for a ride. Had a dog that liked to dig around my gas pipe. Took her for a ride. Nobody in my family ever called me on it. They didn't want to go for a ride.

^^^^This! Kids take priority over animals. Cats are disgusting animals.

EPICUREASIAN

Declawing the cat does not teach your child to respect an animal's space. If your cat does not want to play, your kid needs to understand boundaries.

Getting a new cat does not guarantee that your child will be safe from the behavior you described. It may also create the impression that animals are disposable.

I commend you for wanting your children to be raised around animals, but placing the animals at a disadvantage will encourage behavioral issues and put your family at risk. Both animals and humans have to be taught how to co-exist in the same household peacefully.

Creating a safe retreat for your cat and teaching your kids not to treat pets as toys are two important issues you have to address. Some people may say that cats are "untrainable" but I feel that there are methods of discouraging destructive behavior without removing their natural ability to defend themselves.

FYI Interaction between animals and children should ALWAYS be supervised.

nconley83

this whole thread pisses me off.

This. It's really not rocket science. They have baby gates that have small doors for cats to go through. Put up said gate, so the cat can run away from the baby - whom I'm sure is too rough with the cat. Problem solved.

esphixiet

this whole thread pisses me off.
[/quote
Yep mee too. Don't get an animal if you're not willing to devote your life to it.

tamerkins2

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.

Are you kidding me?? "He deserved it."??? He is a 14 month old baby!! I assume you do not have children. And if you do, I feel badly for them. "Oh sorry, buddy, the cat scratched your eye and you had to wear an eyepatch? Sucks to be you, you deserved it." Good parenting.

ladymiseryali

You failed both your son and your cat. It is your responsibility to make sure the cat always has access to a safe place. You should also be assuring that the cat's nails are properly clipped so they are not sharp enough to do any real damage. Declawing is absolutely not necessary if you are willing to take responsibility for proper care.

I'm sorry, but you misspelled "child" in your second sentence.

Um, no. The child always has a safe place. The cat doesn't. The cat is not the aggressor. Neither is the kid, but see it from the cat's perspective here. You're just sitting somewhere, chilling and this larger organism starts bugging you. You have nowhere to go to escape this organism. They won't leave you be. You're trapped. What do you do? The cat reacted like a normal cat does when they feel trapped. Neither is at fault, but to punish the cat by ripping its claws out, putting it outdoors or abandoning it altogether is wrong.