My relatives suck, pet edition

[depechemodefan]

On my mom's side of the family, my relatives would not be PETA or Humane Society members. Part of it could be they grew up on a farm, where you don't make pets out of future dinners. I know they had pet dogs though.

For ex., ( 10 years ago) I get two kittens. Mom won't let me keep them inside. So I tried to keep them safe outside. Both are girls, so I take one to get her fixed. I have to go back to pick her up 6 hours latter. An uncle and his family are visiting at the time I'm going to pick up Buffy. They find out what I'm going to do, and mom and my uncle are saying, "why are you fixing a cat? That is foolish".

Last week I am walking with two of my aunts. We see a couple walking their dog; the dog's back legs are supported by a devise with wheels. One of my aunts crosses the street and asks what is wrong with the dog. The dog is paraplegic. The aunt with me (let's call her "A") says, "why didn't they euthanize the dog?"

Aunt A has a daughter who just had a baby. The daughter has a cat. Aunt A wants her daughter to give away the cat because cats steal baby's breath.

I have tons of stories, too sad to tell, but it's very disheartening to hear them sometimes.

[XCashier]

Aunt A has a daughter who just had a baby. The daughter has a cat. Aunt A wants her daughter to give away the cat because cats steal baby's breath.

That, of course, is utter hogwash, but people like your aunt won't admit to it.

When my son was newly born, my mom told me we should get rid of the cats due to sanitary reasons. I told her, "Nah, we'll just train the kiddo to use the catbox!" She was not amused.

[Kogarashi]

Last I checked, the closest the "cats steal babies' breath" myth got to truth was that cats do like sticking their noses near babies' mouths...because babies have milk-breath. Nothing more.

As for sanitary reasons...this is why generally pregnant ladies shouldn't be cleaning the litterbox, and why you supervise baby and put the box where baby can't get at it so they don't eat the clumps they find.

Overall, the family sounds clueless. I mean, I come from a farming family, and we still weren't that bad. The only reason Mom wouldn't let our cats in the house was because she was actually quite allergic, and that was the compromise: the cats could stay, but they had to stay outside. Since the cats were all basically descended from one stray who adopted us, the cats were just as fine with it as we were (except my favorite, who constantly snuck into the house to hang out on my bed).

And "why don't you just euthanize the dog?"...? Seriously?

[MoonCat]

Aunt A wants her daughter to give away the cat because cats steal baby's breath.

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!! Are you frickin' serious!?

Ok ok calm down MoonCat...


What year is this? 1620?

[NecessaryCatharsis]

Aunt A has a daughter who just had a baby. The daughter has a cat. Aunt A wants her daughter to give away the cat because cats steal baby's breath.

I've never heard that expression, but I think it's what the nurse that was making regular 'well baby' visits after my son was born was talking about. She warned me not to allow the cat and baby to be together unattended for several months, the cat would look for comfy warm spots to sleep, like on top of the baby, and the baby would not be strong enough to roll out from under the cat or push him off, so if would be possible for the cat to smother the baby. Made sense to me, the cat was about 12lbs and STRONG (he ripped the taps off the kitchen counter the only time I had to bath him, and could open the freezer door with one paw) while the baby started out a fragile 8lbs. The nurse was responsible for regular visits to our family for about 7 months (I had to go off my mental health medication for pregnancy, and it took a while to make sure I was stable again, they wanted to be sure my son was being properly cared for) and never suggested that we should get rid of our cat though! I just closed the door to whatever room my son was sleeping in if we were also sleeping, or when he was in his room in his crib and we weren't watching him.

It's really sad they don't understand the value to fix an outdoor cat though, no need to attract stray toms, have to deal with unwanted litters of kittens, or worry that a cat will have excess litters, or a litter when they are too young to do well with it.

[Aragarthiel]

Cats can actually do great with babies. My mom used to try to keep her cat away from me when I was a newborn, she was afraid the kitty might smother me. She walked in one day while I was napping and discovered Crackers tucked around my feet. Sweet kitty never came near my face while I was asleep, and slept with me until I was moving around too much to make it uncomfortable. She would also go walk all over my mom if I woke up in the middle of the night and wasn't picked up fast enough.

[wolfie]

Aunt A has a daughter who just had a baby. The daughter has a cat. Aunt A wants her daughter to give away the cat because cats steal baby's breath.

I've seen plaques for sale that said "Had to get rid of the kids - the cat was allergic".

When my son was newly born, my mom told me we should get rid of the cats due to sanitary reasons. I told her, "Nah, we'll just train the kiddo to use the catbox!" She was not amused.

Can't recall where, but I've read about a kid who, when being toilet trained, followed the cat's example and used the litter box.

[XCashier]

Cats can actually do great with babies.... Sweet kitty never came near my face while I was asleep, and slept with me until I was moving around too much to make it uncomfortable. She would also go walk all over my mom if I woke up in the middle of the night and wasn't picked up fast enough.

Female cats do have very good maternal instincts. I remember this lovely heroine from last year, who kept an abandoned baby warm until help came.

[EricKei]

I'd mostly heard of the breath thing as an old wives' tale, where the "warning" suggested that the people dispensing this eternal wisdom meant it literally -- i.e., they believed that the cat's sniffing at the baby's mouth/nose was actually sucking the child's breath and/or vital essence out of the child's body.

IRL: Yes, it's possible for a cat to choose a really unfortunate place to nap on top of a kid...which is why it probably is best to make sure that any co-mingling at naptime is supervised. Simple enough.

As for the euthanasia and fixing comments -- I'm sorry you had the misfortune to be around people who are pretty blatantly non-animal lovers...and, one would hope, NOT animal owners...The rationale behind the "why fix them" part is hopefully simple ignorance -- as, I can think of another explanation that takes me to a much darker place, that I'd rather not contemplate.

[Ironclad Alibi]

For those who live on farms cats are good to have around because they control the rodent population.

As for cats and babies, this video says it all.

[depechemodefan]

As for sanitary reasons...this is why generally pregnant ladies shouldn't be cleaning the litterbox, and why you supervise baby and put the box where baby can't get at it so they don't eat the clumps they find.

First, my aunt told me her daughter was pregnant and then I told her I hope the husband was cleaning the cat box. I don't think my aunt knew about Toxoplasmosis. That's when my aunt said she wanted her daughter to get rid of the cat.

the cat would look for comfy warm spots to sleep, like on top of the baby, and the baby would not be strong enough to roll out from under the cat or push him off, so if would be possible for the cat to smother the baby.

maybe that was my aunt's worry. I forgot if it was "heavy cat crushed baby" or "takes baby's breath away", though know my relatives, it's "takes baby's breath away."

I also didn't tell any of my relatives about the time one of my cats broke his leg and I spent $3,000 to fix it. My relatives will have a fit and start talking about the starving children of South America. Even one of my friends who loves his dog thought that was too much

This friend has a dog, he took good care of her, but then his mom abducted the dog, but she takes good care of her. Problem is the dog is now over 16 years old, with a bad leg (I see the dog sometimes dragging her hind leg), blind, yelps a lot when the mom holds her. I think it's time to put the dog to sleep, but I don't say anything, since he hadn't said what the vet thinks. But he is worried about her dying and the last week the mom was crying because she doesn't want to be away from the dog when the dog dies (say, if the mom is in another room and the dog dies). So yes, my friend worries about his dog and spends money on her but then thinks I spent too much on one of my cats My friend also hates that I tell the cats that I love them. Because God knows there is only a finite amount of love I can give

[Dreamstalker]

Cats can actually do great with babies.

When I was born, mom and dad had two cats--neighborhood strays that decided to stick around one day. One of them (very similar-looking to Murphy, named Livia) absolutely loved me. She would immediately alert my mom if I woke up or anything else happened and was always at my heels.

One day I was crawling around as usual and Livia was sitting on the floor with her tail straight out. I decide to grab her tail in both hands and bend it double. She reached out a paw and smacked me square in the face...no claws (mom was positive we'd have to go to the ER, but she simply cuffed me like a misbehaving kitten). I started screaming bloody murder but not because I was hurt, just scared (OMG mommy something hit me!) From mom telling it she wasn't acting aggressively, just 'hey you dumb kitten, don't do that'.

[Aragarthiel]

Female cats do have very good maternal instincts. I remember this lovely heroine from last year, who kept an abandoned baby warm until help came.

D'awww.

My current kitty isn't a huge fan of Little Ara, but hasn't scratched or hissed at her. And Little Ara tries so hard to be nice, she doesn't try to pull fur, ears, or tail, and loves laying her head down on our kitty (giving her a hug, essentially) when she's curled up on the couch sleeping.

[Seshat]

One day I was crawling around as usual and Livia was sitting on the floor with her tail straight out. I decide to grab her tail in both hands and bend it double. She reached out a paw and smacked me square in the face...no claws. From mom telling it she wasn't acting aggressively, just 'hey you dumb kitten, don't do that'.

Our ElderlyCat was also a no-claws cat. Not declawed, just that she knew claws hurt humans so she kept them retracted.

The only times she ever clawed us, she was sick and panicking. I kinda forgive her for that!

[EricKei]

DS - The one time my cat had kittens (a number of years, and cats, ago), that was how she disciplined her wee ones when they did something stupid ^_^ A simple, clawless whup upside the head!