My Cat Scratched My Baby...I Need Advice

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:

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!