My Cat Scratched My Baby...I Need Advice

AhlaWahda

My cat scratched my 14-month old toddler in the face last night, narrowly missing his EYE. She has never liked children, and we knew that, but last night the door to where she hides from our boy when he tries to play with her was closed. This can never happen again. 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.

My options as I see them:

*Give her away. I don't know of anyone who would want a cranky old brat cat that hates children, so that would probably mean a no-kill shelter for her. That would break my heart.

*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:

*Declawing her. I've always been sort of against this procedure, as I feel it's inhumane and usually unnecessary, and putting my six-year old adult cat through a painful and whoppingly traumatic surgery (that is usually only done on small babies) that could very well depress her and alter her personalty for the rest of her life, well, that also breaks my heart.

If we get rid of her, we will get a replacement baby kitten, that we will raise to be comfortable around small children. The cost of vaccinating spaying/neutering it will be probably more than what we'll be charged for declawing Elphaba. So cost isn't really a factor in our decision.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, and had to make this decision? What did you do? Your thoughts? (Please no douche or smart-alec comments, like "I'll taker her, my snake needs food" or "just get a dog". I have enough on my plate right now without dealing with internet jerks. I'm not in the mood. Serious advice, only please.) Thanks!

I think the only options you should consider is either giving the cat to someone who can take care of it, or put it down. I think declawing is animal cruelty and so is leaving her in the wild. Most indoor cats don't make it.

I think that many cat owners are treating their cats wrong when they play with them with their fingers or toes. I'm not saying you did it but I know that a lot of the people I know who have cats, play with them in a way that teaches the cats to scratch and bite their fingers and toes. It ruines the cats because sooner or later they'll hurt someone. My old classmates used to have deep, long scratch marks on their arms which they thought was completely normal, because they only "played" with the cat and of course the cat didn't mean anything bad by it! :huh:

Anyways. Good luck to you! :-)

xXxHBICxXx

I went through this about 2 years ago. We got this kitten for our son, he was 3 at the time and we all adored the cat and the cat was fine with all of us when he was a kitten but as soon as he turned 1 he started to hate our son. He would climb walls and furniture just to attack our kid and the thought of de-clawing him or giving him away was heartbreaking, but one night he scratched my son about an inch or two above his eye and I said NO MORE. My kid comes before any pet we will ever own, but I found the perfect solution for us, I gave him to my mom. My mom lives away from the city has a big yard and we see her every week the cat is now perfectly happy/nice to everyone because she allows him to come and go (inside and outside) when he pleases. I realize my situation was probably pretty rare in the fact that mom had the perfect place for him, I am usually against de-clawing cats but if you really want to keep your kitty, and you don't want anymore issues like this, that might be what you have to do.

BeeElMarvin

Do you have crabs in your house?

Yeah! Thanks for nuthin'!

UsedToBeHusky

And I have both! Would still put my kid before my cat!

Teaching the baby that he is not allowed to play with the kitty is NOT putting the cat before the kid!!!

SteveJWatson

Do you have crabs in your house?

No, so maybe I should keep all the dangerous things outside and never take the kid outside ever.

(I always thought cats were outdoor animals anyway, but thats just me).

HotCuppaJo

OP??

*crickets chirping*

TigressPat

And I have both! Would still put my kid before my cat!

Teaching the baby that he is not allowed to play with the kitty is NOT putting the cat before the kid!!!

*nods*
wait for the "you should not be allowed to breed comments to pour in"

BrettPGH

If your kid got nipped by a crab at the beach, would you stomp on it because it is a bad crab?

No I'd study crab behavioral psychology to try to understand why the crab did what it did and whether or not it felt like it's personal space was being violated. Then I'd look into possible medications I could put the crab on for it's anxiety issues.

I'm just kidding! It'd be dipped in butter before the sun set.

k8blujay2

This whole thread is making me laugh...

tamerkins2

Pain is an excellent teacher, and the universe is not a friendly place. Learning to be cautious is almost as important as having two eyes. Protect your children as you wish, but understand that you do neither them nor the world any favors if you rear an idiot who cannot find his or her *kitten* with both hands and expects the world to adjust to him or her, instead of knowing how to move smartly and successfully through the world. Also, 14 months is old enough to learn that one cannot just do whatever one wants, free from cause and effect.

*claps*

thank you! I've been saying that for 14 pages!
:laugh:

and apparently, I am no longer allowed to BREED now!
:sad:

The phrase "pain is an excellent teacher" is concerning to say the least. My children are very well behaved becasue I taught them to be, WITHOUT them getting hurt. A baby shouldn't be taught something through pain.

JewelSmith

while I love animals and I rescue (I have a rescued pitty currently), I feel that our first responsibility is to our human children's safety, then the animals.

Yes, to this..

UsedToBeHusky

And I have both! Would still put my kid before my cat!

Teaching the baby that he is not allowed to play with the kitty is NOT putting the cat before the kid!!!

*nods*
wait for the "you should not be allowed to breed comments to pour in"

Seriously... isn't it our responsibility to teach kids what they can and can't play with? This whole thread is infuriating!

rydn4h2o

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.

thirded. Every cat I've ever owned has been declawed & spayed. They were indoor cats.

Agreed. I've had indoor cats all my life and they've always been declawed and neutered.

metaphoria

If the cat stays, the toddler is in potential danger until he can understand that he has to treat the cat gently. I say the cat goes, then train the toddler by being gentle with stuffed animals, learned not to throw hard toys, playing with you and with other toddlers, etc. Once he can show you what gentle looks like, bring him to a friend who has child friendly animals and closely monitor interaction with them. When he can consistently approach any animal with caution and care, then reintroduce a pet into the house, making sure to train it to know that it's the bottom rung in the family hierarchy.

If your toddler doesn't get the hang of gentleness, don't get a pet. Children are primary, pets are secondary. You need to put your toddler's safety first, and having a cat around right now is not safe, because neither of them know how to interact with the other.

Mainebikerchick

And I have both! Would still put my kid before my cat!

Teaching the baby that he is not allowed to play with the kitty is NOT putting the cat before the kid!!!

Yup, that's true! Good point!

Bridget0927

Pain is an excellent teacher, and the universe is not a friendly place. Learning to be cautious is almost as important as having two eyes. Protect your children as you wish, but understand that you do neither them nor the world any favors if you rear an idiot who cannot find his or her *kitten* with both hands and expects the world to adjust to him or her, instead of knowing how to move smartly and successfully through the world. Also, 14 months is old enough to learn that one cannot just do whatever one wants, free from cause and effect.

14 months is NOT old enough to learn that one cannot just do whatever one wants, that is when they start to explore their boundaries and even if they do understand it, it doesn't necessarily mean they will have it down to a fine art. Remember, toddlers all develop differently and at different rates..

Agreed 14 mo is only 2 months after taking away the bottle...

parys1

Did I say they were equals? NO. The child got swiped because he cornered the cat. How is this not understood at all? I also DID NOT say it was the kid's fault. He's a toddler. They don't know any better. Don't flipping put words in my mouth.

Whether I reproduce or not is none of your goddamn business. Just because I actually understand feline behavior, doesn't mean I'll be a bad mother. I seriously wish this site allowed cursing because you really deserve a couple of expletives for what you wrote to me.

Oh it's understood. I just don't make excuses for people or pets who harm children.

Understanding feline behavior is about as useful as knowing how to play the recorder. Nobody really cares to hear it, but they'll smile politely at you if you insist.

You can feel free to curse at me, publicly or privately. It's not going to bother me much. I promise not to hit report, I'm not the type.

If/when you do have kids, you'll understand how silly this whole business is. The love for your child makes the love for a pet seem almost silly. I'm not saying you'll be a bad mother. Provided you get the message that no matter what is going on in the mind of your cats, the kid comes first. If the cat is harming the child, the cat has to go. Same for dogs, birds, people, etc.

Your responsibility as a parent is to your child. First, foremost, and last.

I have kids. I have a cat. Keep this in context. You are making it sound like the cat went on a crazed rampage after the child. If that were the case, I would be the first person to say put that cat down. This was a completely different situation. Choosing to share your life with an animal in your home involves inherent risks, that should be evaluated prior to ever getting one. Choosing to climb walls, involves risks, but one evaluates those risks, does what one can to alleviate them, then takes an educated risk. Does not guarantee a life free of accidents. Injury can still occur. Does that mean the parent who takes their child climbing, is a poor parent for introducing risk?

sunsnstatheart

Seriously, reading these posts make me understand why there is a phrase "Crazy cat lady". Wow.

Defending the cat because most of them don't have kids.. Meow!

I'd hate to be raised knowing I came second to a cat in my parents' pecking order.

here's the thing...

Training your child not to bother your cat is not putting the cat above the child, it's teaching the child necessary survival and social skills to survive in the world at large.

What?! Please don't ever have children. Putting a toddler in a house with a cat that scratches if touched is a recipe for a scratched toddler. Toddlers take quite a long time to learn not to touch or do dangerous things, and they rarely learn "the first time." Besides, you can just as easily teach children to survive in this world without an aggressive cat. Ditch the cat, OP.

you obviously didn't read the original post.
the cat doesn't scratch if touched.
the cat scratched ONCE and as a reaction to being chased, cornered, denied access to it's "safe" place, and pestered.
there's nothing wrong with the cat.
and there's nothing wrong with children being children and LEARNING from bad experiences as well as good ones.

what's wrong is the usual overreactive people such as yourself who think the only answer is the simplest and the laziest
"get rid of the cat" or "don't have children" for people who disagree with YOU.

I didn't read the original post? This is what the OP said: "My cat scratched my 14-month old toddler in the face last night, narrowly missing his EYE. She has never liked children, and we knew that, but last night the door to where she hides from our boy when he tries to play with her was closed. This can never happen again. 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. "

Call me overprotective all you want but I will always put my children before any pets, or above any other person that would cause them harm. It is impossible to monitor children constantly and if there is a cat who hates children living in the home, then that is a recipe for a problem. Perhaps, when you have children, you can speak to me intelligently about how to raise them, but honestly, I truly hope you never have children.

Mainebikerchick

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.

That would make perfect sense....In an insane world where house cats and human infants are equals.

And clearly the child does not always have a safe place as it was clawed by the cat.

"Well the cat felt annoyed, so it clawed the kid's face. It's the kid's fault."

I don't own any pets. I hope you never have children.

Agreed I think Sterilization needs to happen from some of these responses. Poor babies :-(

Really? So because I understand why the cat did what she did, I would make a bad mom? Wow.....and people think I and others who are able to decipher cat behavior are the bad ones? You're suggesting we shouldn't be allowed to reproduce. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

And people who have no kids shouldn't comment on a thread about kids! 'Nuff said!

I heart you :flowerforyou:

Why thank you!! :blushing:

tamerkins2

And I have both! Would still put my kid before my cat!

Teaching the baby that he is not allowed to play with the kitty is NOT putting the cat before the kid!!!

Right. But if kitty continues to scratch baby, then you have to make a decision about what's more important. Sounds like most people would choose to put the "feelings" of the kitty first (getting it declawed is cruel, getting rid of it is horrible, etc). If the kid is getting hurt because of the kitty, the kitty has to go.