Pets

reei

Registered User
hi ,

i have an eight year old cat and a two year old schnauzer at home. would they affect my pregnancy in the future, or the newborn baby?
what are the precautions to take? pls adv..
thanks.

:crib
 
there's no problem with dogs. but DO NOT change the cat litter. there is something in cat feces that could possibly affect the pregnancy.

we take care of dogs when people go on holidays, so throughout both of my pregnancies we had a minimum of 5 dogs around, sometimes up to 10 and they never caused a problem. it is also good to have pets around for young children as they will be less likely to develop allergies.
 
We have a cat and I've had no problems throughout the pregnancy. But of course, I didn't touch the cat litter. My hubby took over the job of the cat litter solely once I found out I was pregnant. And, whenever I played with the cat, I'd make sure that I'd wash my hands with soap. Used the disinfectant sort just for precautions.
 
We have two dogs and a baby and no problems so far! Our son loves our dogs and could spend hours chasing them around the house- am pretty sure they are the reason he started crawling early, he was desperate to be able to catch them!

A newborn and dogs is fine, our dogs basically ignored him!

However no matter how well behaved your pets are and no matter how well they respond to your baby, never leave baby and them together alone!
 
thanks

thank you for all your replies.

relieved to hear these.
but one thing i am curious, i have heard that cat's hair can cause asthma to young children.
have you heard of this? i am thinking of shaving my cat every month because she has long hair,, .
also under tremendous pressure from my in laws to give the pets away...
:blahblah
 
I've had a long hair cat for years and never heard of children developing allergies or asthma due to living with cats. Otherwise, no one would have pets. I think any child with these problems would have developed them anyway, regardless if they lived with cats (or dogs or any animal) and perhaps it was not discovered until they had exposure to the animal. I would not worry unless other people in your immediate family are allergic or have asthma. And I would not shave your cat "just in case" as this seems cruel and unfair to your kitty.
 
forget what the in-laws say. this is YOUR family. it is YOU that makes the decision. there is not a valid reason for you to give your pets away right now. if your child develops an allergy, then you can consider it.

when i was in the hospital, i even had nurses asking what i was going to do about the dogs. i said, "nothing, they are a part of the family too!"

now my 2 year old LOVES to help his daddy walk the dogs and take care of them. it is very good to have animals around. it helps to teach them responsibility.

good luck!
 
oh yes, the in-laws, parents and even friends all "advising" me to give my pets away.

my daughter's best friend is the cat. she even tries to tap it to sleep. and now that she is a bit older, she's showing more interest in the 2 lazy dogs that are forever hanging around her highchair come meal time.

practical suggestions would be:-

- make sure your dog doesn't pee/poo in the house
- get someone else to handle the cat litter
- clean your flat every day for stray hairs etc
- have a segragated safe play area for your baby where your pets are not allowed
- pets adapt easily to a new member of the household as long as you teach them the correct boundaries and behaviour
 
Our bubba hasn't got asthma. What's cat fur with us breathing in HK's pollution everyday! Louis (our cat) loves our bub and has been his guardian angel since he's been born. Louis rushes to him before we do. And now that our bub knows how to handle Louis, he constantly cuddles him.... fur and all... so I don't think it's necessary to shave the fur of the poor kitty.

Though, we do ensure that Louis' hair around the house is taken care of, our DH does an excellent job with one those "magic mops" and bub has an air purifier in his room. We don't have carpeting either in the entire household. Louis' also brushed regularly by my hubby. So we do take steps to prevent an excessive amount of cat fur floating about the house ... not coz of bub though... his primary owner, my hubby is allergic to cats! ;-)
 
thanks for all the info. i'll be keeping my pets,, unless some problem happens and doc adv to give them away.. for the time being, i think i'll be fine with one air purifier at home and get a smaller vacumn cleaner so that i can vacumn everyday..
 
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