we got a cat!

Meet Fox:

(Or Linsday, or Pearl, or Luzy, or Charlotte). We are on day 4.

I am here for any and all notes on this. I truly do not have any wisdoms to share other than 3 kids is sometimes too many kids and 3 kids plus cat makes for an even worse witching hour.

Our little kitty (who we think is two), showed up in our friend’s garage about a week ago. She’d been wandering about the neighborhood for a week beforehand. She’s not chipped, is litter box trained, and declawed. I am still very nervous we are hosting someone else’s cat, but no one has come for her, and we think she was dumped. Which makes me sad and want to love on her even more. So far she has about 6 different names, follows us everywhere, and mildly tolerates our toddler. The older two (6 and 8) are quite bemused by her. So it’s been an overall positive change to our family dynamic. 

This is very much a learning opportunity for me. I’ve never had an animal that hasn’t been committed to a cage. It just walks around our house, freely. The first night we got her, after we were folding laundry watching White Lotus, I look over to my husband to remark that, “this is our house and she’s just somewhere in it”. Very surreal experience after having small children and needing to know exactly where they are at all times. 

Bringing her home gave me such a flashback to that first car ride with our single newborn. It was like we had never been in a car before. I was terrified to sit up front and take my eyes off this tiny little new human. I now, as I did then, am constantly worried that I'm going to make a mistake with this cat.

We don’t know her experience with children, but she is very good with them so far. 

toddler + cat

Many of my clients and students are pet-parents and were willing to share some great advice. 

This doesn’t apply to us, but if you are worried about bringing a baby home to pet-siblings, it can be helpful to prepare the animals in advance. Many of my mommas sent someone home with the newborn hats, blankets, and linens from the hospital. This was given to the animal so they would recognize the new smells when the baby arrived home. One of my students prepared her dog by playing baby noises in her home before she delivered her daughter. So her dog wasn’t completely aghast when her newborn daughter arrived. I think having the pet adjust to the new (and very immobile yet loud) human is easier. Having a new kitty + toddler has been extremely overwhelming. 

We’ve been teaching Teagan (22 months) to pet gently, but keeping her away from the litter and food situation has been a challenge. She’s gone in her playpen a LOT since kitty came home. I realize her age is extremely tough, and things will get easier as she gets older. Months 17-24 is probably my list phase of parenting, anyway. Meanwhile on Day 2, I had my older daughter (6) take the cat to her room so I could prepare dinner and I didn’t even think to worry. The older kids love to take her into bed and I caught both of them reading to her.  I am excited for them to grow up with a pet. This is something I never had and I’ve always been a bit squeamish around animals because of this. There’s millions of studies on the physical and emotional benefits of children being raised with animals, so I’m happy we found this sweet kitty to join our family. 

If you have any advice or tips for raising toddlers and pets - please share below!