cats & pregnancy

[minxie]

Hi there

My OH and I have decided that we'd like to try and conceive soon. Having mentioned the issue to my mother, she launched into a lecture about the number of cats I have (I have 5) and said that I would need to rehome most of them because of:

a) toxamosplasis
b) risk of athsma/eczema to baby
c) cats attacking the baby

To me and my OH...our cats are our babies too and I'm devastated at the thought of having to rehome them when they are loved and settled here. In fact, I don't think I could actually part with them. Is there anyone out there with a multiple cat household that is or has been pregnant to offer any words of advice or reassurance? I know that I should not go near the litter tray and wash my hands after stroking the cats.

One or two of the cats sleep on the bed with us...would it be advisable to keep them out of the bedroom?

They are mainly indoors cats...but go outside once in a while. Should I get them to a vet to test them for toxamosplasis? Is that necessary?

I am particularly concerned about eczema/asthma issues for the baby. If I successfully fall pregnant, I would feel so guilty if the baby suffers from these conditions because of the cats I have in the house.

To add insult to injury...I also have a hamster...with that being a rodent...there are no health risks there are there? I wont handle him during pregnancy.

Sorry if my questions sound silly...but with the lecture from my mum about my beloved pets, I am a bit worried.

Any advice is appreciated from pet & baby owners.

 

[Flame]

Hiya, i have 3 cats and am constantly being told to get rid of at least one of them, there is not much chance of you getting toxoplasmosis as long as you get someone else to change the cat litter trays or use gloves. Two of my cats sleep at the end of my bed and 1 sleeps in bed with us as it is impossible to try and keep them out of the room.

If your house is still clean and hygenic then there shouldnt be any problems, you can always buy net covers to put over cots and chairs and things to protect your baby from them.

Tell your mum if she is willing to keep the cats you get rid of then you will get rid of them, always works with my mum cause she doesnt wont them.

 

[Charm]

I have 2 cats and have had them for around 13 years.

I would never part with them ever and if anyone tried to hurt them I would kill them so I do understand how much like babies they are to you.

As you can see from my ticker I'm pregnant and I have had absolutely no problems at all.

I don't see why you should have to get rid just because you'll fall pregnant. Like you say, as long as you wash your hands and don't do the litter tray you'll be fine.
And when baby comes along try and keep a net over the cot to put them off trying to sneak in.

Mine don't sleep in my bedroom, I got the out of the habit when we moved 3 years ago. They have a lovely big bed to share at the top of the landing and are allowed into every room but the bedrooms and they're very happy with that.

Please try not to worry about other people's comments.

Charm X

 

[xSuzx]

Hi there

Can't really say much more then what flame and charm have said.

The risk of toxoplamosis is from cat poo not from handling the cats themselfs, which I will add you are more at risk of getting from doing your gardening due to other cats doing there business their and you not knowing it.

So as long as you follow good hygeine routine,wear gloves and wash your hands well after cleaning the litter tray and gardening you should be fine.

I have 3 cats and grow veggies and my own plants in my garden and have never caught toxoplasmosis in any of my 3 pregnancy's.

I would start learning to have deaf ears as it's good practice for when you are pregnant as you'll have loads of people telling you what you should and shouldn't be doing when your pregnant and eventually have your little one

good luck with ttc'ing
xsuzx

 

[Nicky_Jones]

We have 2 cats, and have done for the lsat 7 years. No problems so far. The biggest issue was Max kept trying to sit on my lap when I was very pregnant and there just wasn't enough room.

 

[Hypnorm]

As mentioned previously the risk is from litter trays, I dont think that you have anything to worry about just start getting them used to not being in you bedroom and out of the nursery.

I have worked as a veterinary nurse for 10yrs and in my time have changed a fair few litter trays - and i carried on during my pregnancy, i asked the doctor whether i should be tested and he said to be honest i've probably had toxoplasmosis and would be imune to it now.
He just advised sensible hygene.

Theres lots of babies with multi household cats - and i have never heard of a baby being attacked by a cat, i was scratched by a cat when i was about 16m but i tried to pick it up when it was asleep so it wasnt really the cats fault.

 

[Fiona]

I agree with what everyone else has said............

I also have 5 cats - they are outdoor cats so we don't have to deal with litter trays..............

and I also had people telling me to get rid of them, but I had a long conversation with my mw and she said that as long as I was careful with washing my hands etc they wouldn't be a problem.

our cats are like our babies - they all sleep on the bed so not quite sure what we will do once baby has arrived, but will deal with that when the time times.... certainly would never consider getting rid of them

 

[bagpuss]

Hey,I have nine cats,I had ten whilst I was pregnant,but lost my beautiful Peaches with Chronic Renal Failure.My cats are indoor cats,only three go outside,they were strays that turned up on the doorstep,but they only potter about in the garden,or sometimes go in the cat run with the others.
I have had no problems with any of my cats,obviously when I cleaned the litter tray or removed poo,I washed my hands afterwards,and I would also scald the tray every day for 5 minutes.Apparently it is poo that is 24 hours old and older that has the biggest risk of carrying toxoplasmosis,so cleanliness is vital - and my cats don't relish the thought of a dirty tray!
And as Hypnorm said,I reckon since I have had cats since I was born,and enjoyed being in the garden too,I have more than likely been exposed to toxoplasmosis donkeys years ago,therefore am immune!

I must admit my Mom and Nan kept going on about the cats jumping in while Finn was asleep,but I just brought a cot net to keep them quiet which I have never used,they leave him alone anyway.

As for other pets,I handled all of mine,cats,dogs,birds,rabbits tortoise,fish,the lot,just kept washing my hands etc.

 

[minxie]

Girls - thank you so much.

Im so grateful for your positive reassurance and advice

After reading your replies, I will make sure the cats are kept out of the nursery and bedroom and that tip about scaleding litter tray..I will pass that onto my OH. The cat net...I'll get one if its necessary later down the track.

The cats are staying. Now I need to concentrate on making baby...tomorrow is the big day (getting IUD removed!) However, does anyone have any ear plugs for the lectures ahead of me?

 

[cassi]

I have 4 cats, 3 of which we always kick out the room at night 1 of which sleeps on the end of the bed...none of them are bothered by Jakob andif we tried to kick smudge out he would scratch on the door all ngiht and jump up on the handle...

no problems so far i like to keep my house clean and tidy so its ok..i have ashtma and the cats never affect me

 

[pip]

When i first fell pregnant i was living at my mums house where she has 5 cats, me and DH then moved into our new house where we live with two cats. I've never had a problem in either places....i still cleaned litter trays, stroked my cats, never particularly worried about the risk of toxoplamosis as the house is always very clean and i handled any cat poo with precaution.
You will be fine with your cats. As for your mum..sorry but it really upsets me when people tell you to get rid of your cats because a baby is on the way. There is no reason to rehome them unless you really can not take care of them any more. The amount of cats that are rehomed just because people fall pregnant is quite alarming and very sad...please keep your cats.

As for cats attacking a baby...well i can only speak from experience but i know of no one whose baby has been attacked by the family cat....my cats are always in the same room as my baby and take no notice of him, if anything the cats are very wary of the baby and won't go near him. Call me a bad mother but i leave my baby alone with my cats no problem...with dogs it's a different story...i wouldn't do that.

Good luck trying to conceive

 

[Nicky_Jones]

When Ellie had colic and I was walking round the house trying to give her some relief (she was screaming lots). If I walked into a room where Max was he would look at Ellie, look at me as if to say "oh no, you haven't bought her in here have you I was sleeping" get up and go out the room. Poppy on the other hand didn't care and just ignored us as she has gone deaf, poor puss.

 

[Daggers]

Minxie, I have two cats as well, when I first came off the pill awhile back I did go to the doctor and ask to have blood test done to ensure I wasn't at risk of toxoplasmosis (sorry about the spelling! ), and I was fine so if you are worried just have the test done. In saying that while I was pregnant I rearly ever changed the cat litter and now I make sure to wash my hand throughly as I wouldn't want any of the cats pooh/ pee to affect Otis in anyway - just not worth it! Also we (well OH really) doesn't want the cats in the nursery either, however I do occasionaly leave the nursery door open so it doesn't get to stuffy and the other day found one of the cats lying in the cot!!!! OOOOPPPS!! Told OH but said it was my fault, hence now I make sure I do close the door - by the way Otis wasn't in the cot at the time!

 

[Daggers]

Minxie, I have two cats as well, when I first came off the pill awhile back I did go to the doctor and ask to have blood test done to ensure I wasn't at risk of toxoplasmosis (sorry about the spelling! ), and I was fine so if you are worried just have the test done. In saying that while I was pregnant I rearly ever changed the cat litter and now I make sure to wash my hand throughly as I wouldn't want any of the cats pooh/ pee to affect Otis in anyway - just not worth it! Also we (well OH really) doesn't want the cats in the nursery either, however I do occasionaly leave the nursery door open so it doesn't get to stuffy and the other day found one of the cats lying in the cot!!!! OOOOPPPS!! Told OH but said it was my fault, hence now I make sure I do close the door - by the way Otis wasn't in the cot at the time!
By the way good luck and hope to see your name in the first tri soon!!!!

 

[tuck]

I live in Greece and they are absolutly paranoid about cats and pregnancy, we only have 1 cat that comes into the house and he has been fully vaccinated (which is pretty unusual over here), the vet has assured my hubby that there is no risk so long as I'm careful and as said before am more at risk from badly washed veg and fruit, the tests over here routinely include toxomosplosis(?) and my test was negative.

 

[bagpuss]

I heard that a lot of European countries routinely test for toxoplasmosis,pretty shitty that we don't,it would put a lot of minds at rest;it's the same with the test for GBS too........

 

[Gemma & Jake]

I think you would have to be really careful if you keep the cats as when I take Jake to my mums her cat always trys to get in to his moses basket and car seat which is obviously dangerous because of the risk of the cat sitting on the baby's face. I think it would depend on how sensitive your baby is as to whether or not the cat hair would cause any reaction so you would probably have to wait and see with that one.

 

[pip]

Cats are nosey pets, they like to investigate. I can't see many cats sitting on a babies face and suffocationg it....that is generally an old wives tale.

i wouldn't let my cats sleep in Alfie's nurery...I let them check out the nursery and have a good old sniff around before my baby was due so they didn't feel like they were banished from that room as soon as Alfie came along.
As long as you make sure you still give your cats attention they will live in perfect harmony like they have done for centuries.

As most other have said...cats tend to stay out of a babies way.

 

[Bagpuss17]

This one always comes up.

It's irrational to think that you have to give up pets because you are having a baby. Makes me soooo cross when you hear families giving women ear ache about it.

I have 4 cats and there is no way I would have given my cats up because I was pregnant.

You have to be careful with the cat litter, get somebody else to do it or wear gloves. Preferrably get your other half to do it.

Our cats didn't react at all when Isaac came home from hospital. They've all been fine.

We let them have a good sniff around all the new things we bought for the baby in the run up to the birth so that they didn't get even more curious. We only let them into his room before he was born whilst we were in there. If you shut them out completely they are only going to get more curious.

They've never tried to get in his moses basket whilst the baby was in it, not at all.

You have to be responsible towards your pets and your baby. If they go near the moses basket, tell them no, they soon learn.


We've been relaxed about it and have had no problems. We don't let the cats sleep in Isaacs room when he's alone in there.

Bring something home from hospital with the babies scent on for them to have a good sniff at before you come home.

Our yougest cat is always giving Isaac head rubs, if that's not acceptance I don't know what is.

Isaac loves looking at the cats too.

Babies and cats can live in harmony, don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

I was worried so much that my cats would feel put out with the new baby but I wasted my time worrying. We still have lots of time for our cats, evenings they are on our laps curled up as usual.