Can a Cat Since a Baby Is Coming
For v years, my Persian cat Keith has been my baby. Merely now I'yard having a existent homo baby, and Keith is not OK with it.
Countless times over the terminal six months I've woken up to a warm wetness radiating over my legs — simply to find the cat squatted over the doona, mid-wee. (There actually is no worse mode to start a morning time.)
I've tried locking Keith out of the bedroom at night; he'due south started pawing at the door and yowling at all hours. I've tried giving him more pats and cuddles; he's started turning his back and scrambling under the furniture.
And at present, with three months left until my due date, I'one thousand trying to work out how to resolve this stand-off before a tiny infant further complicates the dynamic. Or gets wee'd on.
I asked three cat experts how to assistance Keith dial down his feline fury and finish freaking out about my pregnancy.
Can cats really sense pregnancy?
It turns out Keith's behaviour isn't uncommon.
Fauna behaviourist Kate Mornement has worked with a number of new and expectant parents encountering similar woes and says, anecdotally, pets do seem to know when their humans are expecting.
"Cats and dogs probable perceive hormonal changes that occur with pregnancy due to their astonishing sense of smell," says Dr Mornement.
"Their acute sense of hearing also means they probably hear the baby's heartbeat in the later stages of pregnancy."
Veterinarian Richard Gowan, who works at a cat dispensary in Melbourne, tells me cats who "deed out" during their man'south pregnancy might simply exist reacting to subtle upheavals in the environment or the status quo.
"The cat doesn't literally intendance that there's a baby in the house — they care about the changes in their routine," says Dr Gowan.
The fact I've delegated all litter-changing to my husband (a recommendation many obstetricians make, due to the hazard of contracting toxoplasmosis from cat poo) and moved the kitty litter to an out-of-the-fashion area may have unsettled him, says Dr Gowan.
Even if a meaning adult female is suffering morning sickness, that is changing her routine and "that can besides be upsetting for the cat," adds Jacqui Ley, a registered specialist in veterinary behavioural medicine. (Hey, nobody said they were selfless animals.)
Have it deadening when making changes
Cats hate changes in routine, especially if they're highly strung or anxious (like Keith), says Dr Ley. If you're making changes to your household to prepare for the baby, making them slowly can lessen your cat's stress.
If you lot're moving your cat'south bed out of your bedroom in preparation for having the baby's bassinet in that room, moving it gradually from the original location to its last destination — merely a few inches a day — can also make the transition to a new sleep-spot easier.
You can also make the transition a chip easier by "making the new sleeping expanse a positive place and popping in a hot water bottle," suggests Dr Ley.
Considering making the nursery a cat-gratis zone?
Rather than completely disallowment your true cat from the room, consider allowing it into the room on a special shelf if you're in there supervising, suggests Dr Gowan. Or install a flyscreen security door or babe gate so the cat can still see in.
It's too a good idea to let the cat investigate the babe equipment as it comes in.
"Introducing the new routine, babe gates, baby piece of furniture and other items earlier baby arrives and creating a positive association with these things by pairing them with treats, pats and meals can help," adds Dr Mornement.
It's best to brand all these changes as early as you can so your pet has fourth dimension to arrange before infant arrives. Every bit Dr Ley points out: "At that place's nothing worse than a tantruming cat and a new baby and sleep deprivation."
Give your true cat some actress dear
If you're taking abroad your cat's familiar routines such as sharing a bed at night, it'due south important to create new, regular interactions with your feline friend to compensate.
"From a true cat'south perspective, at that place might be 30 interactions a day that yous take for granted, just he doesn't — from you lot putting food in his bowl and your sitting on the loo and patting him," says Dr Gowan.
"If you have one interaction abroad, you've got to add together others in."
That could be every bit simple as giving your cat a little chin scratch every time you walk past, or making more time for patting or grooming.
If your true cat'southward an anxious type, Dr Ley recommends building in a new, 15-minute interaction that happens at a particular bespeak of that day'due south routine. For instance, build in fourth dimension for playing after dinner.
"That helps the true cat predict that there will exist specific fourth dimension for him or her," says Dr Ley.
Rule out health issues (and cheque the kitty litter)
Behaviours that tin can indicate stress, such as weeing in strange places, tin can be symptoms of an underlying health condition such as cystitis.
If y'all've got a rogue urinator on your hands like I do with Keith, book a cheque-up at your vet and inquire for a full urine assay and be sure to check for crystals, float stones and infections, recommends Dr Gowan.
If your cat'south anxiety seems to be through the roof, anti-feet medication prescribed by your vet can help, Dr Ley adds.
Yous might even consider a natural calming solution, such as pheromone products in the grade of a room diffuser.
Bonus tip: If your true cat'due south started weeing in weird locations similar Keith, check that the kitty litter is being kept cleaned enough — ideally, once a day. If it's not, consider putting out an extra litter tray or two, Dr Ley suggests.
What if cipher's working?
"Information technology's fourth dimension to find a new abode for him. You won't accept time to deal with this once the baby comes!"
That's the advice I kept hearing from family unit and friends when Keith starting time started weeing on the bed.
Only if your cat isn't adjusting to your pregnancy or new babe, is re-homing really the answer?
Before going downward that path, it's a skilful idea to consider consulting an animal behaviourist, says Dr Mornement.
"This usually involves an in-home consultation to assess your pet, the habitation environment and routine to make up one's mind the most suitable course of activity to address the behaviour problems identified," she says.
If you've tried everything or your pet poses a danger to your baby or child, "rehoming is an important consideration", Dr Mornement adds.
The good news? Given plenty time and empathy, though, most cats volition come around — no-rehoming needed.
"Certainly the bulk of cats that I see, if owners tin can be flexible plenty with meeting the animals' needs, the cats can adjust," Dr Ley says.
"At that place's a lot we can practise to aid. Alter is difficult for everybody but information technology doesn't mean it'southward incommunicable."
So where did I land with Keith's pregnancy rage?
I've become more than sympathetic to his point of view since speaking to the experts: all the new baby gear, coupled with a new location for his kitty litter and now beingness banished from the bedroom at night, is a lot for an anxious cat to handle.
Inspired by this new perspective, I purchased a infant gate that Keith tin can see through. Now information technology'south installed at the entryway to our sleeping accommodation, so he can sentinel u.s. from the hallway at night. He no longer bangs on the door or meows when we're trying to slumber, so I'm taking that as a win.
I've likewise begun letting him into the bedchamber again during the day then he doesn't feel completely excluded from that part of the house.
I too researched toxoplasmosis (the cat poo illness) and realised that having Keith's litter box in its original location doesn't pose a danger to my pregnancy, as long as I launder my hands after any handling of the litter. So we've moved his kitty litter back to its original spot, and he's happily accepted its render.
Finally, to make up for robbing him of night-time snuggles, I've also been encouraging Keith to cuddle with me on the couch after dinner.
Afterwards giving me the cold shoulder the first few times I tried to get him up abreast me, terminal night — for the outset time in months — he jumped up on the couch of his own accord and accepted some ear scratches while I watched Television receiver. He fifty-fifty purred.
It feels similar maybe, but maybe, our relationship is on the mend.
The best role of all? I oasis't been wee'd on in weeks.
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Source: https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/im-pregnant-and-my-cat-is-furious/11095410
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