Baby squeals in delight at the arrival of the family cat

A charming little video and a cat lover in the making, very definitely. This sweet baby squeals in delight at the arrival of the family cat to her cot and her mother lets their cat walk around the cot under supervision. I like that. Very controlled but beneficial to cat and baby, I'd say.

A lot of stuff has been written about cats and babies and whether cats are beneficial or detrimental to babies' health. In the old days they superstitiously believed that cats sucked the breath out of babies. They considered cats to be dangerous to babies. That was hundreds of years ago.

RELATED: Cat snuggles up to baby: beautiful and mutually beneficial (supported by science).

And then the early part of the 21st-century doctors thought that there were dangers in putting cats with babies because of transmission of disease and parasites et cetera but more recently, perhaps over the past 5-10 years, paediatricians believe that placing domestic cats near to babies and even in contact with them is beneficial to babies in terms of strengthening their immune system and desensitising them to allergies.

Baby squeals in delight at the arrival of the family cat

It is the latter which is the more powerful benefit. It helps to create a more robust child in general terms on my understanding. And so there are real health benefits to babies in having the family cat around.

RELATED: Quick Guide On Introducing Cat To Baby.

On a wider issue, if a baby has a great experience with a domestic cat it can only be good for cat welfare going forward. There will be one more adult in the world who is concerned about cat welfare and the world needs more of them.

This little child is going to be a cat lover and almost certainly an animal lover. She will do great things to improve animal welfare I believe!

How to introduce your cat to a new baby

Bringing your new baby into the home is a wonderful, thrilling time, but it’s also a time that can cause some stress with your pet children. Preparing both yourselves and your cat for the changes that are to come as you bring a new baby into the house is going to be essential.

Photo by Manja Vitolic on Unsplash

Before The Baby Comes Home

If possible, the best thing that you can do for your cat and your baby is to start the adjustment process long before there is a baby in the house. Cats and humans will often develop codependency, and this can lead to some stress whenever the routine changes at home. By doing certain things early on, you can ease this process.

Proper Handling

One of the most important things to do before you raise a child alongside a cat is to make sure you understand what type of handling your pet is comfortable with. As much as possible, teach your cat that you will be gentle with them, and they can learn to be gentle as well. This will be

key as you bring a baby home. Additionally, before you bring your new baby home to meet your cat, make sure you visit your vet to check your cat is dewormed, healthy and fully vaccinated, as well as up-to-date on their flea and tick medication.

Baby Sounds, Smells, and Toys

Start introducing the sounds, smells, and items that are going to become part of everyday life with your baby to your cat early on. By playing sounds that babies make, bringing in items that you will use on your baby like lotion, and other things, your cat will get an understanding that these sounds and smells are part of the home.

Set Up Quiet Places

Help your cat find parts of the house where they are going to be safe and still involved. Finding ways to make sure that your cat is still integrated into the family while having their own safe spaces and somewhere to hide and watch like a cat cave is a great way to ease the process. You’ll be getting more visitors once your baby arrives, and this can cause cats without safe spaces to act out.

After The Baby Comes Home

Once your baby is ready to come home and join your family, you’ll want to make sure that you go through the proper steps to introduce your cat and baby to one another.

A Quiet Introduction

Set up for the introduction in a room where your cat doesn’t eat or sleep so it is more neutral territory. Hold your baby, and give your cat a chance to sniff. As they calmly react, make sure to reward your cat as you usually do for good behavior.

Don’t force your cat to interact with your baby if they run away; just move on with your day. Provide more chances for a quiet introduction as they come up, and your cat will begin to accept the new arrival. 

Supervise The Pair

Even if your cat responds well to the baby right away, it’s important to supervise your baby and cat whenever your baby is playing on the floor. For example, you don’t want your baby to be disturbed by an investigative cat while they’re sleeping.

Clean Up

Just as it is important to make sure that you clean up after your cat properly so that hygiene is a priority, you also want to be sure that you don’t leave dirty nappies or other things around the home. These can lead to hygiene issues. Always use soap after cleaning up messes.

P.S. This is a guest post.

Could you recognise your cat's meow over the phone?

You might have heard of the story: a woman recognised the sound of her cat's meow over the phone when she called her veterinarian. I presume that the sounds were in the background while she was talking with veterinary staff who said that the sounds had come from a black rescue cat which had ended up at the veterinary clinic. The woman, Rachel Lawrence, hadn't seen Barnaby in eight months. She had given up seeing him again.

Rachel Lawrence's kids with Barnaby after the reunion. Photo: Rachel Lawrence (SWNS).

She had called her veterinarian because her current cat required veterinary treatment and she was checking on progress. She mulled over the meowing sound that she had heard and developed a conviction that her long lost cat had coincidentally ended up at the same veterinary clinic after he had been found.

In fact, she was confident that it was him. She asked the veterinarian in a subsequent telephone call if he was black and had a distinct white patch on his back foot. The veterinarian confirmed that this was true.

She went to the veterinary clinic to pick him up and it was him by all accounts. She said that she cried buckets. To use her words, "I was howling".

Barnaby has settled in just fine after his eight-month absence. He had changed which is to be expected. She said that he had "loads of scabs and missing fur patches". He had lost a considerable amount of weight which is also to be expected. But he's getting well quite quickly and returning to his old self.

The big question is the one I pose in the title: do you think that you could successfully recognise your cat's meow over the phone in a blind test? I'm not sure that I could. Of course, I know the sound of my cat intimately but the difference between the meow of one cat and another can be distinct but it can also be subtle. I guess success depends upon how distinct the sound of your cat is combined with a bit of luck.

It is probably fair to say that all good cat owners would recognise the sound of their cat in a blind test about 70% of the time at a rough guess. But you couldn't guarantee that you could do it accurately all the time.

I think I have to mention the human mother's innate ability to pick up the sound of their baby when they need help. And there's also a discussion about a baby's ability to recognise their mother's voice. The domestic cat is like a baby too many women and indeed men. People are very sensitive to cat sounds and cats have developed a cry which has undertones of the crying sound of a baby. This has been developed over thousands of years to elicit a response from their human caregiver. This modification has taken place both to the purr and the meow. All these are influencing factors on whether a woman or man can recognise the sound of their cat in a blind test.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Beautiful baby loves a cuddle from an equally beautiful Ragdoll kitten

Beautiful baby loves a cuddle from a beautiful Ragdoll kitten

Beauty is all around in this TikTok video. The baby's mother likes her Ragdolls to be close to her baby and they are great together. They make a charming video and the baby loves the cat next to her. The experts say that it is good for a baby to be in close contact with a cat. It helps to moderate the child's reaction to allergens and makes them more tolerant of allergens in the future. There is also the theory that humans lead lives that are too clean. It can lead to children losing their natural robustness. I love the smile on this happy child's face as the cat brushes against her cheek. She loves the feel of the cat's luxurious fur against her face. I think the child's name is Blossom.

@pearlsragdolls

I'm starting to think all the new kittens like Blossom more than me

♬ original sound - Pearl’s Ragdolls

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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