My Cat Scratched My Baby...I Need Advice

I would likely get rid of the cat. But, this is why I/we are not getting a pet before we have kids. Little kids don't know how to treat animals and I've seen animals pushed aside after the baby came and not given the life they deserve

ETA: I have cats, who I like more than I like most people.

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.

no, you are forgetting what is hard wired into our brains after thousands of years of evolution.
I chase cat. I pull cat's tail. Fun! *baby giggles*
Cat no like. Cat scratches. OUCH. *lots of screaming and wailing*

I no chase cat anymore.

also hopefully reinforced by parents not allowing child to pester cat.

Perfect logic!!

Logic? Logic has no place on this thread.

You should either - stick corks on your cats claws or teach the 14 month old baby not to poke it. Or get rid of both because you are a bad person. Hahahahahaha

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.

I see 2 options.
1. Declaw the cat.
2. Get rid of the cat. (Or, get rid of the baby.)
I think the answer is clear.

It's a cat vs your CHILD. Get rid of it.

Not nice to refer to a CHILD as an IT.

Ah-ha. Touché.

I'd also like to reiterate the only real person (or creature) at fault here is the OP.

- The cat is not at fault. It is an animal. It was cornered and scared. It could not escape and was defending herself.

- The baby is not at fault. A 14-month-old is not capable of knowing how to treat an animal without the guidance of its parents.

- The OP is clearly at fault. She allowed her toddler to corner her cat. She allowed her toddler to be unsupervised with an animal that is known to be cranky and not like kids. She has not taught her child how to treat the animal and to leave it alone.

You can't blame an animal for acting like an animal, or a baby for acting like a baby. What you can blame is a parent who was negligent in caring for both her child and her cat.

It was an accident. Take it as a learning experience to teach your kid how to treat the cat.

I've been told that when I was a baby, I was "sharing" a cookie with the family dog. The dog, being a dog, tried to eat some cookie when it was "my turn" and bit me in the face. My mother apparently had a fit and Dad had to come home and convince her not to kill the dog (kind of him, because he didn't like dogs anyway). Instead, I got taken to the doctor and was taught to not share food with the dog. I also had to be taught to leave my grandparents' and my aunt and uncle's cats alone because they didn't like me, and they both scratched me at least once. (I've always loved kitties more than dogs.)

As an aside, I regularly have my kid take the dogs bowl/toy etc because they can do this - it is dominant behavour and it teaches the dog that the kid is above it in the pecking order. Obviously if it growls, we take it more slowly, but a kid should always be able to take things from the dog - also, to re-enforce the childs dominance, I et the child to make the dog sit etc and then give it a treat.

^This! My dog would love to share it's food with any human!

If a cat scratched my baby, I'd get rid of it. When my kids were babies, I had no animals in my house. Period. Can't trust critters.