Cat scratched baby

They're a temporary solution but look into nail caps for the cat? That'll at least give a little buffer as the cat continues to learn

@Sarah this. it's SO sad that people are jumping to "rehome the cat" because of a single accident. the cat is learning how to navigate their new world just like OP is. like I get that baby's safety is a priority but this is an excellent chance for both the cat and baby to learn together as baby grows.

Cut the cats nails 1-2 times a month. It was an accident. Cats have nails….

I don't want to scare you, but just make sure the cat doesn't sleep on baby. This can lead to suffocation. Having said that people manage having a cat and a baby.

@Sarah i do agree that it’s sad but i did mention that i needed to be talked off the ledge of making a rash decision. I also mentioned that she was my baby before i had my actual baby. I know that she’s learning too but as a first time mom google is the first resource I turn to when I’m concerned about what diseases he could get from her nails and how that could harm him. I didn’t ask for people to tell me that it’s horrible to wonder if my baby is safer without her.

@Mas we don’t let her in the babies room while he sleeps! She’s very cuddly and so it’s a real possibility

One of our cats was slow to adjusting to our babies. He scratched my daughter very badly when she was crawling towards and got too close to him, it happened so fast neither of us could've stopped it. She has permanent scars on her face from it. We looked into our options and decided that if he would not improve or got worse then we would return the cat to our families' home that he lived at before we moved. We worked hard to keep teaching our daughter to give him space and worked hard to get him more used to sharing a space with children. He's had slip ups, he's given not-so-gentle warning scratches to their legs if they got too close him. Our daughter is 2 now, we have a 9mo son, and our cat has improved a lot, he will let them walk by him without issue, he shares spaces with them, they can play next to him, he will even let them pet him sometimes. Took a lot of patience, forgiveness, and teaching/learning from all parties.

I wasn't necessarily talking about you, OP. I was really talking about all of the people who are voting to rehome the cat. I can understand why you would have in-the-moment feelings of rehoming her, because you're feeling the emotions of the moment. but for everyone who voted to rehome without even considering that there may be alternative solutions, those are the ones that just shouldn't get pets

I have 2 cats and struggled with them as well. And they were my baaaabies (still are but IYKYK). Luckily they both took to LO pretty well. But they still overwhelm and overstimulate me at times. It is absolutely normal and common for peoples feeling to change towards their pets pp and it's typically temporary. It's your mom brain (and hormones!) kicking into high gear to ensure your baby's safety. Biologically helpful, realistically not so much at times. You are the only one who knows what is best for your baby but you may feel more confident one way or another if you try other options first. Claw clips are great! My cats do not even notice them.

So my sister had to rehome her cat bc of this. He starting with "accidentally getting her" until one day he went up to her and the baby wasn't even messing with him, she was just playing with her toys not even near him. But he walked up to her and slashed her in the face. Got her eye and everything. They rehomed the cat to a family who doesn't want kids and he is thriving. Some animals just don't take well to kids. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I'd def watch out for signs of the cat randomly going up to baby and just scratching baby without cause. That is a big no no.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIQ6o3Sx-9o/?igsh=MXd2cnZlOGpieG1o

I trim my cats nails weekly because I don't want him to scratch my little one. If that's not an option for you then nail caps work great. The only concern is when they eventually fall off because they will...you need to make sure little one doesn't find them. My cat was 10 when baby was born. And it took him a full year before he settled with her. He'd run away from her. She was loud and unpredictable. She was new. Now? Baby is 2 and will snuggle up on him and he'll hella purr for her. Give it time.

I have 3 cats. All 3 of them have at some point scratched one of the babies. At no point has it ever been intentional. It’s normally been jumping up not realising they were there or thinking they had more space Accidents happen. I’ve scratched all the kids at some point with my nails, hubby doesn’t plan on rehoming me (although sometimes it would be nice for some peace 😂) if the cat started intentionally attacking then that’s different and a sign they’re in distress

Cat scratch fever is honestly rare, just make sure you keep up on the litterbox and clean all scratches that pop up and both you and baby will be perfectly fine. My kiddo grew up around cats and dogs and has gotten scratched just by learning the cats limits (yes I warned him multiple times beforehand)

If it’s just the one instance I wouldn’t get rid of her but if it keeps happening then of course I would rehome the cat. I’d just see how it goes. Lots of animals do great with kids and some do not. Google was horrible for me as a first time mom. Seems like a great resource but it gave me the worst ppd and ppa. And the info I would get from Google made my life so much harder in the end. All babies are sooooooooooo different and they don’t all fit with googles answers. It seriously was a living hell trying to go with Google for everything. I should have followed my instincts and baby’s cues. Just my experience

I'd re-home a dog that is any risk of biting (we did) but a cat? Will typically avoid children and even my 1yr old knows to not touch the cats unless it's VERY gently. Dogs get in your face more and I wouldn't have them around my babies but my babies and cats have had zero problems

@Mas people always say this but then let large dogs up in the babies face

@Katie it has to be a very deep scratch to cause infection. Working as a vet assistant and an accidental scratch from jumping up on couch are very different things

My cat tried to step on my baby so ik how you feel. She didn’t understand and it wasn’t out of aggression. But I just pushed her off and she understood and didn’t do it again. Cats understand what we say so you can explain it to your cat and tell her to be gentle. I agree with trimming your cats nails but be careful with the nail caps since sometimes they can get stuck on the cats nail and not come off. Or if they do come off and your baby gets older and tries to put them in his mouth

Your cat probably just wants to bond with your baby or play but does not understand that the baby is too small now. Because my cat saw that my baby was as big as her and thought it was okay to loaf on her. But when she was a newborn she saw how small and helpless she was and not active. And didn’t try to play with her and kept a distance

Also have scratch posts and areas your cat can scratch. It helps make my cats nails not sharp

If you know the cat didnt mean to and the cat hasnt had intentions of hurting your baby and maybe just wanted to cuddle with you theres no need to rehome it. Your cat has some changes it has to get used to just like you had changes you had to get used to. Accidents happen. Just need to let things go especially if its unintentional and shes never tried hurting your baby before.