My Cat Scratched My Baby...I Need Advice
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I'd install a cat door to your cat's hidey hole. That way, closed or not, your cat has an escape route from the toddler. Also, keep in mind, you won't have a toddler forever. This too shall pass.
^^^^ This!0 -
Separate them as much as possible. Make sure that you know where the baby is so you can intervene. I have an 18 month old, so I know how hard this is … but he's going to be getting into stuff all the time now anyway (had to take my son away from playing in the toilet the other day!! :noway: ) so it's important to be alert.
If there's a room in the house where you can keep baby out of completely, make that the kitty's sanctuary. Our cat has one room that is hers (she doesn't like the dog, so she stays in there). Especially look out for areas where he can corner her. Most animals will try to get away first and only attack if they feel trapped.
Get a spray bottle and fill it with water. Spray her with a stream (not mist) and say "NO" if she gets aggressive near him, but try to not let it get to that point.
Hopefully he'll have learned his lesson and will leave kitty alone more. But be hyper vigilant anyway.0 -
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.
We all learn things through pain. That is possibly why we have nerve endings that can detect it - this is not the same as using pain as a learning tool.0 -
we always had tons of cats but my mother kept most of them far away from babies for fear of scratching or deciding to take a nap on babies face....if you keep it a mostly outdoor cat for say... even a few months, it might get the idea. And then it will still be able to defend itself once the kid is big enough to toss it around by the tail.... paybacks a *****.0
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Alright... now that my position has been established: TEACH YOUR KID TO LEAVE THE CAT ALONE!
I'm just going to leave this here because it just feels right. LOL!
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Keep his claws trimmed and get soft claws. Everything else would be inhumane. I spend many years, blood, sweat, tears and went broke rescuing animals. Your cat was there before the baby, make plans and fix the problem. Your cat deserves better.Cats can be very intolerant, maybe you should think about waiting to get another until your child is older and you are done having children.0
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Okay, I'm just popping in here, and I'm going to circumnavigate all of the drama that has pushed the original topic aside.
My suggestion is first trying SoftPaws. I have tried them on my cat who likes to scratch the carpet, and they work well. They seem very comfortable to her after the first couple of minutes, and they last a few weeks with heavy use. It's a more humane alternative to declawing; you just have to make sure to stay on top of it. Once you try those out for awhile - as well as taking the advice others have given you on creating a calmer space for both parties - if her behavior doesn't change or she continues to inflict other injuries on your child, I would suggest maybe finding her another loving home. Putting her in a shelter, even a "no-kill" one, is no guarantee she will ever be loved again... try finding her a home more directly first before resorting to a shelter environment.
That being said, if you do decide to remove her from your home, please do NOT replace her with another cat/kitten until your child is older. I feel like you will be perpetuating a cycle of frustration until you are able to train either your new pet or your child to "play nice"...which would defeat the entire purpose of getting rid of your current cat in the first place. Best to just be safe and wait until your little one is a little older before having another kitty. Just my two cents! Good luck, OP.0 -
While I don't typically agree with declawing, if you really wanted to keep the cat and ensure that your little one doesn't get hurt, I think I could make an exception in this case.
Claw clipping could "help" but it's not going to solve the problem, they can still scratch though the scratches won't be as bad with blunt claws. Also consider that your cat might not even let you do that, depending on it's personality. The same thing goes for those rubber tip thingies. Though they might be a great solution, kitteh might kill you in the process!
What a situation to be in...it's hard for me to even think of one solid suggestion for you. I have two cats and can't imagine what I would do in your predicament. However, I can safely say that baby's welfare needs to come first...so...I would go with the following suggestions (in this order:
Try to clip/tip, see how that works for you.
Give kitty a squirt from a water bottle when he's near the baby and say NO!...hopefully he'll associate the squirt with baby and keep his distance. Hell, I taught both of mine to give paw and that's much harder! :laugh:
Declaw or find a new good home if all else fails.
Good luck!
So the cat gets punished because a child runs after it and scares it? That seems ridiculous to punish the cat by squirting for defending itself. :huh:0 -
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?
At no point does a rock climbing wall decide for whatever reason it doesn't like my child's behavior and choose to attack.
Yes, having children and pets does involve risk. That's the whole point of the thread. At what point is it an acceptable risk.
The OP said her less than 2 year old child nearly lost an eye. So no, the pleasure of cat ownership does not equal my kid being blinded, in my eyes.
My two, functioning eyes. Because I hate cats.0 -
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.
I'm sorry... but if the cat was running away and trying to hide then it obviously wasn't the aggressor.0 -
I have had the same problem, when my daughter was still crawling.
I had a 3-legged cat that would bat at her constantly. I talked with my vet and he suggested I declaw.
I did. Never mind that my poor kitty had a urinary blockage and had to be put down 6 months later, but whatever, it worked and my daughter's eyeballs are still intact.
I have also done the caps on the claws. They did not stick. We would find them all over the house. Yes, I did it properly.
I now clip and file that cats claws.0 -
Seriously? It sounds like an animal being an animal. Perhaps if this cat is going to be around the baby then you need to get it declawed. Our cat has been declawed for years and he is just fine; but he is strictly an indoor cat, never goes outside.
Otherwise, talk to your vet or doctor for further information.0 -
If you have the time, I think the soft paw caps would be a great solution. You already know that declawing can be traumatic for cats so I would strongly recommend against that- many vets will not perform the procedure on an older cat without a thorough evaluation of the situation so that may be something the would consume your time as well.
As for getting rid of the cat and replacing her with a kitten- the only thing I would venture to say about that is that you may inadvertently be teaching your child that pets are disposable- I dont believe this is your intent or your thoughts at all but it can set a precedent even for a toddler.
Good luck hope you find a way to work with your child and your kitty!0 -
I have two cats and a dog, as well as a toddler... The toddler constantly wants to chase and pull on the pets. Any animal in their right mind is going to nip/scratch/what have you when they are being cornered or otherwise being agitated. The trick is to not let the toddler corner or otherwise make the pet feel threatened. Our dog is just a few months older than our toddler and because of the breed, he is extremely tolerant of the baby pulling his fur (though we have taught the baby to not do so), one of our cats is also pretty tolerant of the baby... but our tabby is not. He is an "older" cat (compared to the other two) and he was an "only" for most of his life... we keep the baby away from our tabby until our tabby is comfortable. If the cat did scratch the baby, we would figure out why it happened (as in was the cat cornered, was the tail being pulled, etc), then we would decide what to do next. It's not always totally the pets fault when they act upon their natural instincts. With that said, the toddler has only been scratched once and it was on the foot when a cat got scared and ran over it.0
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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.
so when your 14 month old child runs out into the street when you turn your head for a fraction of an instant or touches the stove, or a reaches for a knife or anything else that you overlooked for half a second (good parent though you might be) do you sit him down and have an hour long discussion about why he should not do that?0 -
I agree, because if the cat gets outside it cannot get up a tree when a dog chases it down. I've seen it happen, the poor cat was scared to death..If our cat ever did that, he would be dinner.0 -
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.
Did you really just equate a human child to a pet? Are you serious right now?
Yes, I did actually. They're both lifetime commitments. You are responsible for their lives and their well-being. They have no other choice but to depend on you.
Think of how much pain you'd be causing her. Declawing isn't going to solve the issue. It will only make the cat more aggressive and she'll learn to bite. I can assure you that cat bites are way more serious and bacteria prone than cat scratches.
Why did you decide to bring a child into your family when you knew that your cat had an issue with them? Why did you not put a cat door into the "safe zone" immediately after having the child?
If you do decide to get rid of her, please do not get another pet ever again. Clearly you are not fit to have one.
Part of me is hoping that you have another child and then one of them hits the other and then you come back and ask us which one to get rid of...
I hate people... I double hate people like this...0 -
Concider giving her away to an old lady. Declawing isn't bad if you do it to the front paws. Only downfall I saw when my cousin declawed her cat was the cat took to biting more often.0
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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! :-)
Did you just seriously tell her to put a perfectly healthy animal down if she can't find it a home because that's more HUMANE than declawing it? What planet do you live on? There are SO MANY more options than KILLING an animal just because someone had a baby. And her origianl post NEVER said she'd "leave it in the wild." She said she would make it outdoor cat. She lives at an apartment complex, not the woods. Seriously... I need a facepalm gif....0 -
While I don't typically agree with declawing, if you really wanted to keep the cat and ensure that your little one doesn't get hurt, I think I could make an exception in this case.
Claw clipping could "help" but it's not going to solve the problem, they can still scratch though the scratches won't be as bad with blunt claws. Also consider that your cat might not even let you do that, depending on it's personality. The same thing goes for those rubber tip thingies. Though they might be a great solution, kitteh might kill you in the process!
What a situation to be in...it's hard for me to even think of one solid suggestion for you. I have two cats and can't imagine what I would do in your predicament. However, I can safely say that baby's welfare needs to come first...so...I would go with the following suggestions (in this order:
Try to clip/tip, see how that works for you.
Give kitty a squirt from a water bottle when he's near the baby and say NO!...hopefully he'll associate the squirt with baby and keep his distance. Hell, I taught both of mine to give paw and that's much harder! :laugh:
Declaw or find a new good home if all else fails.
Good luck!
So the cat gets punished because a child runs after it and scares it? That seems ridiculous to punish the cat by squirting for defending itself. :huh:
It also seems ridiculous that a child could have a life changing encounter with the cranky cat, because of course it's just defending itself. But because the cat is just defending itself, I guess we could teach the toddler that eye patches are cool0 -
Alright... now that my position has been established: TEACH YOUR KID TO LEAVE THE CAT ALONE!
I'm just going to leave this here because it just feels right. LOL!
Can't believe this wasn't posted sooner. First thing that came to my mind lol. I just can't access it at work to post it.0 -
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.
I'm sorry... but if the cat was running away and trying to hide then it obviously wasn't the aggressor.
Nope, I still don't care who the aggressor was. Baby got hurt by the cat. Don't care why! The cat is the one that needs to go. My puppy learned to let my toddler climb on him, pull his ears and tail, without an agrressive response. Usually just a lick. It isn't that my baby is naughty, but because he is 20 months old and learning the world and testing his boundaries (and thinks the dog is fun to play with!). I live to protect my children, especially since they are at an age that they cannot protect themselves. As I've said, if my dog ever hurts one of the kids, it is him who leaves. No questions. My kids safety is #1 priority, not my dog's "feelings".0 -
OMG, that's freakin terrible!! :laugh:0 -
Soft paw nail things, and start teaching the kid how to behave around the cat.0
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I do hope OP finds a solution.
I am very happy that I will never have to deal with this situation. I'll take animals over children any day of the week.0 -
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.
you simply assume I don't have children because I didn't over react and say "put the cat down" when the cat batted at the child after being persecuted, provoked and prevented escape.
the child didn't lose an eye.
they child would never have lost an eye from a cat scratch. anyone who HAS kids knows these things happen. the cat is not TRYING to hurt or damage the child.
the cat was trying to teach the child what the mother had failed to.
LEAVE ME ALONE.0 -
Man some of you people are completely freaking crazy, that cat would have been gone instantly. My kids are more important than any animal ever will be.0
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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.
so when your 14 month old child runs out into the street when you turn your head for a fraction of an instant or touches the stove, or a reaches for a knife or anything else that you overlooked for half a second (good parent though you might be) do you sit him down and have an hour long discussion about why he should not do that?
Maybe I am misunderstanding the question. What is the option, let him get hit by a car, because then he will learn not to run in the street because it hurt so badly?0 -
between declawing or putting her down...
declaw....
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.
I'd go with this. My cat's declawed. Just make sure that your kitty's going to stay inside before you make this choice. It took a little adjusting, but given your other options I think it would take less adjusting than getting rid of the kitty.
EDIT- my cat was not declawed because of an issue with my daughter. She's taught respect and she knows to leave the grouchy animals alone or she's gonna get scratched. (this isn't meant as a judgment just a statement) Also it can be helpful to have spaces that your cat can get away from kids. When certain nieces n nephews of mine come over I'm quite willing to let my cat go hide in my room etc, cuz he's not a toy and some kids aren't taught that.0
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