Cats and Children

Can cats and children mix. From my childhood I would say YES, very loudly, but before you get a cat you need to make sure that all your family wants one. Your kids need to realize that a cat is not like a toy doll or stuffed animal, something to be hugged and played with when they want and then just thrown down when they’re fed up. Cats are animals and they are alive, breath and have needs which need to be met.

Just remember though that it will end up being your responsibility to look after the cat not your kids. Older children will be able to take much more care of your cat but younger children are unlikely to have the skills or cat owning stamina they will need to care for a cat or kitten fully. Emptying the little tray is one chore children may do once or twice but they quickly tire of it.

One major point is that you may have the most laid back cat ever but DO NOT ever leave it alone with a baby or a toddler. You know that cats love somewhere warm and comfy to sleep and where better than a crib or a cot. Your cat doesn’t know any better and your baby cannot push a cat off its face. Cats and babies can be a very dangerous mixture so please be aware of the dangers.

We always kept a full sized net over the cot which my mother bought when she visited Australia once although these are available in the US as well. Tigger never bothered but it is never safe to take chances. I think he thought that babies are just machines which make screaming noises and he kept well away but you must make sure that you minimize all dangers.

Toddlers are a problem as well, as we all know how they like to pull things, put things in their mouths, bite things and hit things. Well to them a cat is just a thing and your cat will react with its defensive mechanism which starts with its claws and these are sharp especially with delicate skin. Cats will scratch toddlers, not out of spite but out of defense.

Another thing is cats are not really clean. They may spend ages grooming themselves but they stick their noses everywhere (and in everything) and remember they also lick their own bottoms to clean themselves. Fortunately, I have learned to wash my hands after touching my cat but in any case my immune system is well developed whereas a babies isn’t and a toddlers is at a very early stage of development. Just think of the diseases your ‘clean’ cat can pass on to a toddler.

Make sure that your cat has its own place away from toddlers and children when it wants quiet, and it will want peace and quiet just as you sometimes do. Just think how many times you want peace and quiet away from a baby. Cats are the same as well.

You need to introduce your children to playing with a cat or a kitten in a gentle way at first. A toy mouse an a piece of string is a great idea as it keeps a distance between your child and the cat. Table tennis balls are great as well and as a youngster I spent hours playing with my cats with table tennis balls. Kittens especially love them but kittens and toddlers are maybe not a good mixture. Just as babies are delicate so are kittens and a toddler may not realize how enthusiastically it can give a hug and how powerful that hug can be. Older cats are better than kittens for toddlers. Tigger was always very wary with my children and it wasn’t until my eldest son was nearly 3 that Tigger would sit on his knee.

Having said that teaching children to live with cats can help to build a lifelong respect in your children for animals but just exercise a note of caution. You can also use your cat to teach children about life and how to be kind to animals and help the anmial world. One of the ways you can do this is to help them understand about animal populations and other subjects such as neutering.