Why do people still believe that cats are dangerous to babies?

[Noradin]

It's an old wives tale. I think the idea is that the cat could curl up with the baby and accidentally smother the kid. Always seemed pretty unlikely to me.

My wife and I are expecting our first and have 2 cats. What we HAVE been told by sane people is that cats like to sleep in cribs with babies because it's box like and the baby is warm. Issues can arise if your cat is a dick, like one of ours, and bites things that hurt or irritate it. We intend to oversee all interaction with the baby and the cats at least until they are 6 months old or so. Cats are touchy and introducing a new creature into their habitat, particularly one that doesn't know how to interact with the cat is a recipe for an angry cat and baby with claw marks.

Yes, and the size of human babies means that cats do not identify them as babies but as strange looking rivals.

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That is rather high considering the consequence

"Can cause" might have a one in a milion chance or something so we cannot realy make that judgement (nor can we disregard it, it might be a chance of one in one).

[Mad_Murdock]

Pretty sure it because we all know that cats are really just demons. Some of you don't want to admit it, but deep down you know.

[Hyve]

Cats tend to carry a lot of diseases and grime in their Claws & Teeth, and cats are far more likely to scratch / bite you and draw blood, injecting the infection directly into you. Especially in young children and babies this can be a big issue, and in rare cases fatal.

My girlfriend works with a Vet, and whenever they get bitten or scratched by a cat they're required to attend the doctors to ensure they're healthy and not at risk of any infection. It's a precaution many people don't take when it comes to cats.

Cats also tend to sit and or sleep in weird places compared to dogs or other pets. They have no issue sleeping across your face, on your chest or whatever. This is something I've experienced a lot personally and is well known by cat owners. A cat may be small, but they have enough weight to potentially suffocate your baby if they do end up sitting on them and laying across their face.

Dogs tend to be much more personal, much more likely to be a member of the family. You always check where you dog is, if they're in their bed or in your room, but cats, most people tend to just leave them to do their own thing, which makes keeping an eye on them a lot harder.

[Bushtuckrman]

1. Look at all these people who don't have kids, the first thing an obstetrician will tell you is, to watch out for cat scratches and that she can't change the litter box no more, and that you can't eat raw fish, bye bye sushi.

2. Is stupid but the logic behind it was that cats would sleep on a babies chest because they are warm and suffocate the baby.

Its why my first post was a salty post, I have a baby and I saw it first hand but yet childless millennials know more than me about child welfare apparently.

[Techno-Druid]

Its why my first post was a salty post, I have a baby and I saw it first hand but yet childless millennials know more than me about child welfare apparently.

I admit I don't have children, but I've had relatives move in for long periods of time that had children ranging from the age of infants to toddlers and neither cat I owned has ever harmed any of them.

My biggest girl, Bella, did eat a lot of my little cousin's food (she was like one year old at the time).

I guess it depends on the cat, but I find it strange that a baby wouldn't start squirming and start crying if it felt uncomfortable with the wait of a cat on it.

My cats are afraid of unusual or loud noises.

[Deleted]

Can you site some evidence where people actually people this? Never heard of a single case.

Just google it man It's a thing.

http://www.best-cat-art.com/cats-and-babies.html

Type in something like are cats dang... and see what comes up.

[Bushtuckrman]

I admit I don't have children, but I've had relatives move in for long periods of time that had children ranging from the age of infants to toddlers and neither cat I owned has ever harmed any of them.

My biggest girl, Bella, did eat a lot of my little cousin's food (she was like one year old at the time).

I guess it depends on the cat, but I find it strange that a baby wouldn't start squirming and start crying if it felt uncomfortable with the wait of a cat on it.

My cats are afraid of unusual or loud noises.

At the infant stage their cry can be pretty weak unless its an actual pain and if they are asleep at the time they won't wake up and scream from suffocating in my opinion. At least thats how it was for my son. One thing I notice is when you are born, you literally start at the bottom with everything. Just getting to the stage of eye opening and even the most basic hand movements is a feat that takes practice. Literally every movement starts at the very bottom. You have to hold their neck, be careful in the way you lay them down and make sure nothing can possibly block their airways because they just do not have the strength or ability to help themselves. To me its a slap in the face to the theory of evolution because you wonder how on earth we can survive when we start so helpless for such a long time.

All animals are different tbh. Of my 2 cats, the one I had to get rid of was a ragdoll and they are known to do it because that is their nature. My other cat has no problem with my son. Now that my son crawls around and stands a lot he likes to try and pet and poke the other cat I still have but he is so timid that he takes the punishment without even getting a claw out. But then that cat never clawed people no matter how badly my wife pissed him off back when we were first together

[Reeve]

I've never heard of cats being dangerous to babies.

[Spiffums]

please explain point 2 i need to hear that

Old wives tale about a cat getting in a baby's face and stealing it's breath.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Why do people believe all dogs are a danger to babies?

Why do people believe dogs are herbivores?

Why do people believe cats aren't loyal?

Why do people believe that animals don't have feelings and are just packages of instincts?

Answer: Because people in general are massive retards content with being ignorant yet speaking about the very topics that they're ignorant about.

[Bushtuckrman]

Why do people believe all dogs are a danger to babies?

Why do people believe dogs are herbivores?

Why do people believe cats aren't loyal?

Why do people believe that animals don't have feelings and are just packages of instincts?

Answer: Because people in general are massive retards content with being ignorant yet speaking about the very topics that they're ignorant about.

There are people who believe dogs are herbivores????

When it comes to danger to babies, you can never trust an animal 100%. Simple as that. It's your choice if you do but I won't even if my dog doesn't show anything but affection to my baby I still do not trust my dog nor anyone else's unsupervised.

Cat's are loyal if you feed them.

Animals have instincts, some have social pack instincts which is how we can domesticate them. Fucking hell Sweden are you even trying?

[Techno-Druid]

There are people who believe dogs are herbivores????

When it comes to danger to babies, you can never trust an animal 100%. Simple as that. It's your choice if you do but I won't even if my dog doesn't show anything but affection to my baby I still do not trust my dog nor anyone else's unsupervised.

Cat's are loyal if you feed them.

Animals have instincts, some have social pack instincts which is how we can domesticate them. Fucking hell Sweden are you even trying?

All animals have instincts (including us and anyone who doesn't see it is very ignorant). Mammals and birds aren't solely strictly driven by instinct.

A domesticated animals simply has to be bred to trust humans, we've domesticated both cats and foxes (Siberian Domesticated Fox) which are generally solitary or social under certain conditions.

If food is plentiful, then sometimes cats will form feral colonies with two females and one tom.

If food is less plentiful, cats will go it solitary in a wild environment.

It's interesting to see domestic animals change their behavior to adapt to wild environments.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Animals have instincts, some have social pack instincts which is how we can domesticate them. Fucking hell Sweden are you even trying?

Animals having instincts is not the same as them having ONLY instincts, I hope you know. Humans too have instincts.

And we've domesticated animals without "social pack instincts" (lol). I'm not inclined to "try" when someone is willfully ignorant about how animals function. The old "cats and dogs are loyal as long as you feed them" is pretty damned moronic when so many cats and dogs stay with humans through sparse food supply and studies show that animals do have emotional attachment to their owners and other animals. Sorry, the time of "humans are superior because we have FEELINGS!" is fast moving into the history books under "we didn't know better, now we do!"...

[Independent voter]

Cats suck breath.

[Sevarin]

Same general reason that some people avoid black cats.* Old tales stick with people, and they will just avoid the situation altogether rather than actually research into what is real or not.


* - Black cats are still the hardest for shelters to find homes for

that just sad. i adopted a 4 month old bombay kitten a few weeks ago. shes effing adorable, if not a bit of a soul crusher with her mews.

of my 3 cats, 2 have been bombays, and they have both been incredibly social and loving. my luck has always been pretty horrible, and since getting them, it hasnt come even remotely close to getting worse.


as for infants with cats.... i would never leave a cat and an infant in the same room unattended. 2 of the 3 have loved sleeping on people. i dont think that would be a very good combo with an infant. not because of the whole sucking out oxygen.... thats just moronic. but rather for the accidental suffocation. as rare as it might be, i wouldnt risk it.

then again, i tend to be incredibly over protective.

[Techno-Druid]

Toxoplasmosis is more of a precaution aimed at pregnant women. Doctors will tell you to not change the litter box if you're pregnant. It is a valid concern.

Suffocation can happen to an infant if the cat lies on the baby's chest or on/near the face. Newborn infants can't really turn their heads or move something off their bodies. They're basically dependent on the parent placing them in a safe position at night, which is why they warn of having stuffed animals in the crib or extra loose blankets. A baby that can roll over, move out the way, push stuff off of them, etc, don't really need to be worried about. Infants do and that's why they say cats can be a danger.

My daughter has a cat, and I've come into her room at night and had to remove the cat from bed because she lies on my daughters chest or near her face. Cats like to cuddle at night and be near a warm body.

How old is your daughter?

[Utinil]

I have a cat that was given to me because a pseudo relative (don't ask) had a baby and this cat really would have been a danger to it. The cat is a very gentle lover who would never cause harm intentionally. The problem is the cat used to love to curl up on your neck in the middle of the night. If he did this to a newborn I could see it suffocating the child. He wouldn't "suck breath from the child" but considering the cat was as big as the child (premature) it isn't unreasonable to imagine a possible accident.

[Justpassing]

Well cats ARE assholes. I wouldn't trust an asshole of a creature around my baby tbf.

[unbound]

that just sad. i adopted a 4 month old bombay kitten a few weeks ago. shes effing adorable, if not a bit of a soul crusher with her mews.

of my 3 cats, 2 have been bombays, and they have both been incredibly social and loving. my luck has always been pretty horrible, and since getting them, it hasnt come even remotely close to getting worse.

I have the same experience. 2 black cats from rescue organizations. The mixed bombay is in charge of the house, but we've never had any issues...she is very social and interactive. The mixed maine coon is an extremely peaceful cat albeit a bit shy most of the time.

[Bathory]

You have a chance of getting it if you're exposed to cat feces infected with toxoplasmosis gondii, but this shouldn't be an issue if you have a baby because 1) you should be cleaning your cat's litterbox daily and 2) shouldn't have your cat's litterbox anywhere near your infant.

Yes, humans "should" do a lot of things, but they don't.


Either way, I think it's extremely stupid to leave your baby/infant with ANY animal.