BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Kids and Pets

Yes, the cats were spayed and neutered - no one in their right mind keeps an unspayed/unneutered cat in their house unless they are breeders. Cats are 'funny'. If something in their environment or routine is disrupted, they MAY object to those changes by peeing - they may not - whether or not they're fixed. My brother and his wife had a cat, a himalayan, as soon as they had their first baby, he peed on EVERYTHING, with a preferance to anything that 'crinkled', plastic bags and the such. He lived the rest of his years in a very large cage. They let him out only when they could watch him like a hawk, to be vetted, bathed, stuff like that.

As a VT, naturally I had been exposed, over the period of eight years, to thousands of woe-is-me stories such as this. They are quite the norm.

Fire

My cousin bought 2 kittens, they were so adorable and grew up quickly. One year later and my cousin had a baby, sure enough the cats were locked out of the house and after a few months the cats disappeared, without a care from my cousin. This drove me crazy, every Christmas I make sure I send her a card bought from a cat charity. Her total lack of responsibility is now shining through in the maniacal behaviour of her now 10 year old son.

royalgala: ahhh, my FAVorite apple heehee....yes, that is cruel and insensitive. I have heard and seen so many who claim that their animals are their 'babies', only to toss them to the winds when they have a child.
The unappreciation of the unconditional love and commitment a pet has to it's owners makes me shake my head in sadness.

It happens all the time...

Fire

Yep, it happened right on our street.
Our next door neighbours adopted a stray cat. Several months later, they were out working in the yard and they had their "new" cat with them (they let their cat roam outside - not a smart thing to do, but... whatever). Anyways, as they are working in the yard, one of our other neighbours walks by with their dog and baby, and says "oh, I see you adopted our cat!". Their baby had arrived and was allergic to the cat so they had tossed it out on the street. The cat had walked 5 houses down, and found a new home.
I'm sorry, but if I had a kid (which is NOT going to happen) AND if I decided to keep it and not give it up for adoption... and that child was allergic to my cat... then I would be getting that kid on allergy medicine. I would also make sure that we installed hardwood floors throughout the house to ensure that there was no carpeting to hold onto cat dander. My cat is a super loving and affectionate cat and no one on this planet could make me give him up.
Maybe people who get rid of their pets should not have had them in the first place. They certainly should think long and hard before they consider ever getting another pet.

I think you all make good points. i think the parents who just toss out the pets really dont care much for the pets. The people who I have seen who really love their pets remain committed to them after having kid. I know I would never get rid of my pets. if Ihad an allergic child I would try bathing, allergy medication, I would never rehome a pet unless there was NO other option and the kid was in serious severe distress. i think my baby is allergic is generally an excuse. Also, I think your right fire and ice that it is crazy to have uneutered/spayed cats, but oh there are many people who do it and see nothing wrong with it. It happens all the time. I have worked in shelter so I see lots of unneutered abused pets. I think I have a differnt pet ownership then many cause I have so many pets, 3 dogs, 3 cats. Although my dogs are very attatched to me and my husband and love spending time with us, they also keep eachother occupied, same with the cats. I am hoping this will help ease the transition if we have a kid. They are very used to sharing our affection, they dont get all the attention, and I think that is one of the issues people have when they bring in a new baby. Also they are used to change, with all the new animals that came into the house. If I had a problem wiht the cats, Id have to build an outdoor cattery. I would have to use baby gates with the dogs. My friend does that if she is not in the room or not watching closely she uses a baby gate to keep her two year old away from her Chow, or she puts the dog in another room. The dog is fine and still gets lots of attention. You cant leave kids alone with pets and they need to be seperated when unsupervised that is for hte safety of the dog and the kid. A friend at work told me about a person he knew whose baby was attacked by her two dobermans. Im sorry but why would you leave the baby unsupervised and why didnt you trian the dogs ahead of time. Im sure if I have a kid Ill be so nerotic about the dog/baby combo all overprepare and everthing will be fine. Im still very undecied about the kid though, dogs are the nonnegotiable with me.