My Cat Scratched My Baby...I Need Advice

You made a commitment to the cat when you brought it home. I understand that you want to keep your kid safe, but that means making sure the cat has an escape route or a "safe zone". In my opinion, getting rid of your cat isn't an option.

BUT, I'll tell you that I had a cat for 16 years that was the meanest thing that ever lived. He bit me all the time, we weren't allowed to pet him (my husband could sometimes, but never me), often I'd be asleep and would wake up to him biting me through the comforter so hard he broke skin because my leg accidentally touched where he was sleeping. A few times he went nuts and acted feral, attacking us and acting like he didn't know us. We had a vet visit after the first time and they couldn't find anything, the other times we had to have them do a house call to sedate him. No vet could explain it, but the closest thing we got to an answer was that there was just something wrong with his head.

Since we brought him home as a kitten, so tiny he fit into the palm of my hand, we committed to taking care of him. Getting rid of him was never an option.

When I had my son the cat learned to hide, my son learned to avoid the cat, once my son was bitten so hard it broke skin and we had to have a course of antibiotics, but for 4 years we made it work and my son learned not to bother the cat. When he was too young to understand this we used a baby gate with a cut out place in the bottom so the cat could go in and out of our bedroom (his safe zone) and my son couldn't get in there. He died last year of cancer, when he got sick we did everything we could for him because we chose to bring him home 16 years before and that was a commitment we made, in the end he could no longer eat or walk and we had to have him put down. It was really sad, and even though he was a beast, we miss him. I would never get another cat again because of this experience (not a kitten, at least), but when you make a commitment to an animal you don't have the right to throw them away just because you changed something in your life. We moved a lot, we sometimes had to pay more to keep him, we sometimes had to pass up beautiful apartments because they didn't allow cats, but getting rid of our cat was never an option. I volunteer at a shelter and the number of people who take on a pet and then dump it when they decide they want something else in life makes me sick. I met a dog yesterday who was the sweetest thing ever, 8 years old, his family had him since he was a puppy and he never did anything wrong. They dumped him at the shelter because they were moving and didn't want to bother with him, they were just "too busy" to have a dog anymore.

So, make it work.

I've not read through all the pages here so I'm unsure what has been said.

Declawing a cat is illegal where I live (in the UK) and with very good reason (in my opinion). It's inhumane and cruel (again, my opinion, we're all entitled to them). Cats use their claws to jump and climb and to hold their food (if you feed chunks of meat, suppose it doesn't apply to dry kibble-y stuff). They are like their fingers. Would you like it if somebody chopped your fingers off?

My two cats are both indoor cats, and I keep their claws regularly trimmed, as they seem to prefer walls and furniture to scratching posts!

It's really important to make sure your child is safe, but it isn't fair to punish your cat for her behaviour either. Make sure that they are supervised when together. Give your cat plenty of hiding places and things to do. Show her love - let her know she isn't second best to this little intruder to her family (that's how she might see it!). If she has a special place she likes to sleep, or a basket, pop one of your baby's blankets in there that smells of him.

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.

Declawing is sick.

You can file your cats claws down and have those soft paws put on. They are rubber claw caps. You will need to it once a month but it works and doesn't bother the cat.

I don't think it is fair to replace your cat with another kitten. You're just perpetuating the idea that pets are disposable if they do something you don't like or agree with. I understand the risk to your baby, but think of the emotional trauma it may have to your cat.

Consider this, the new kitten you get may in the end decide it does not like your baby either.

I would accept responsibility for the one you have, or find a loving home for it elsewhere.

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.