Pets/Children

[ahcigar1]

Another topic on another forum got me thinking and thought would be great to see what everyone else thought.

Do you think it is safe to have pets with children/baby? Attended of course. Or would you get rid of your pet before baby arrives? What are your thoughts?

 

[Nibblenic]

I think you have to wait and see tbh.

Like I had two cats, one I thought would have a problem with us having a baby the other I didnt even thinkwould notice. It was the latter that went for my toddler and acted out as soon as she came home. Peeing all over the place etc.

I think its slight different with dogs. I think they can do much more damage in attack than a cat can or a hamster lol.

So I think my answer is you never know till the baby arrives. I think you have to act on the first sign of trouble hough and not wait for it to go wrong as it were

 

[zzypeg]

I have a dog ( and MIL has a dog) both of wonderful temperements. My LO loves my dog and will play with him with toys. My dog is so good, he will only play gentle and will never take the toy unless she holds it out to him, then he takes it very gently..he is part spaniel and always uses his "soft mouth" when with her. Although I trust both dogs 100% I would never leave them unattended with her. I think it is good for children to be raised with pets, it teaches them to be loving and kind to animals and also about looking after things and caring for them. My dog is a bit of a dweeb and he actually runs away from her if she touches him but MIL's dog just sits and lets her pet him..he is very old now and loves a quiet life. He is huge but The most loving and gentle dog I have ever met. He is protective of LO . here is a picture of them together... xxxx

 

[coccyx]

Why would you get rid of them?? used as an excuse by a lot of people

 

[special_kala]

Are microwaves safe around babies?
Cars?
Slides?
Paddling pools?

Of course they are when used responsible....the same works for animals.

 

[ahcigar1]

Why would you get rid of them?? used as an excuse by a lot of people

There are many people who believe that in no way is any animal safe around children, and was just wondering what your alls views were on the matter. Me I consider my animals as a part of the family and wouldn't dump one of them just because a baby is on the way.

 

[xolily]

i think it's perfectly safe aslong as they're supervised. my dog was fine with laila, he shyed away abit as she got more boisterous. in the end i rehomed him because i couldn't deal with the cleanliness issues.

 

[KittyVentura]

We don't currently have a pet (Prince Eric - My hamster - died when I was pregnant ) but I think pets and children go very well together so long as they are supervised and the animal's temperament is assessed. I don't think you can ever relax where babies and pets are concerned. Once you start to feel that "My dog would 110% never hurt anyone" etc... that's when you tread dangerous waters. So log as you remember that your dog is a primal animal and can behave out of character and be vigilant then your chiild should be safe.

We're getting our Weimaraner once the next baby is a toddler. I'm going to call her Bella, to spite my bitch ex best friend, who told me I could never call a child bella because that's what she wants to call her child (she's not even maternal or planning children). She is actually a massive c*nt and was found to have shared some vile and nasty conversations about me.

Tangeeeent!

 

[sjminimac]

We don't currently have a pet (Prince Eric - My hamster - died when I was pregnant ) but I think pets and children go very well together so long as they are supervised and the animal's temperament is assessed. I don't think you can ever relax where babies and pets are concerned. Once you start to feel that "My dog would 110% never hurt anyone" etc... that's when you tread dangerous waters. So log as you remember that your dog is a primal animal and can behave out of character and be vigilant then your chiild should be safe.

We're getting our Weimaraner once the next baby is a toddler. I'm going to call her Bella, to spite my bitch ex best friend, who told me I could never call a child bella because that's what she wants to call her child (she's not even maternal or planning children). She is actually a massive c*nt and was found to have shared some vile and nasty conversations about me.

Tangeeeent!

Woah. Massive tangent. I'm going to name my next poop Bella

 

[sjminimac]

i have a cat called princess leia. She was my baby for 7 years, then i had my real baby and the unthinkable happened - leia is now right at the bottom of the pecking order! She's a softy, she's a house cat who doesn't know she's a cat because she thinks she's a person. She's such a house cat that she doesn't even understand grass (she will now walk on it but looks like she's walking on the moon, big stalky steps. Tres funny). Having said all of that, she's an animal. She's territorial and massively confused by this baby thing that crawls after her every time he sees her. Therefore she's a potential danger and we've never yet left her alone with charlie and don't intend to either. I love my pussycat, but if she lifted a claw to charlie she'd be gone (adopted out, nothing sinister) x

 

[sarahsexy57]

I have a kitten at the moment I would like to keep him as we both love him to bits but we have heard stories about cats sitting on babys faces... I don't know how true this is but hey!!! x

 

[peanut56]

It's perfectly safe as long as you don't leave them unattended. I wouldn't judge someone for re-homing an animal if the animal was aggressive towards the new baby or something like that, but I'll be honest, it kind of bothers me when people re-home animals before the baby is even born "just in case", iykwim. But it's their own business I guess.

 

[KittyVentura]

We don't currently have a pet (Prince Eric - My hamster - died when I was pregnant ) but I think pets and children go very well together so long as they are supervised and the animal's temperament is assessed. I don't think you can ever relax where babies and pets are concerned. Once you start to feel that "My dog would 110% never hurt anyone" etc... that's when you tread dangerous waters. So log as you remember that your dog is a primal animal and can behave out of character and be vigilant then your chiild should be safe.

We're getting our Weimaraner once the next baby is a toddler. I'm going to call her Bella, to spite my bitch ex best friend, who told me I could never call a child bella because that's what she wants to call her child (she's not even maternal or planning children). She is actually a massive c*nt and was found to have shared some vile and nasty conversations about me.

Tangeeeent!

Woah. Massive tangent. I'm going to name my next poop Bella

Please do. You know who I mean and what was said. Take a picture of it and send her it in a message. Lol xxx

 

[robinator]

If your child began torturing your animal: pulling it's tail, ears, hitting it - would you get rid of your kid? Probably not. A cat will most likely scratch a kid at some point because it's had enough of whatever it perceives as abuse being heaped on it by the child; that's no reason to get rid of the animal. But if you've got one that exhibits aggressive behavior at the drop of a hat, that's another issue. However, each animal is unique and it's owners know it best and know what is the right thing to do in their situation.

 

[Cleo]

I think time is a factor too. Our first bunny was re-homed to us bc his original owners had a baby and just felt they weren't able to give the bun enough love and attention anymore. I think it was a good decision and they were only comfortable giving him up to us bc we were mature, responsible and they knew he'd be safe and cared for. And damn I loved that rabbit!! We have another bunny now, and had our first baby a year ago. I was always determined that our bun would not be neglected, but I have to admit, she has been quite a bit. My son just takes up so much of our time. Lately we've been a lot better with her though, lots of pets and run around time with us, so I'm feeling less guilty! I wouldn't give her up, but I completely understand why our first bun was given to us.

 

[bky]

I think it depends really. Before I had my baby I would have thought getting rid of pets because of the baby was likely to be an excuse, but now I'm more tempered.
For example: we brought our dogs with us from the US to New Zealand. Was hugely expensive, they had to be quarantined, has made renting a huge PITA etc etc. But we love our dogs. However, I now love them much less. Maybe that makes me horrible, but it is what it is. I also know now that if I became a single parent I would have to get rid of the dogs for their sake. They barely get the attention the deserve with two parents, if things changed it would be them that got the short end of the stick. I think that is a very valid reason for getting rid of a pet--knowing you won't be able to give it the attention it deserves. Circumstances can certainly change over the life of a pet. And you can't appeal to reason like you (eventually) can with a child. Pets don't get that things change, or how what you're doing is to feed them and so on.

We keep the dogs and baby mostly separate. One dog we were worried about is actually much more gentle with the baby than we expected, so that's a nice surprise. We always intended to have children even when we got the dogs, so they've both been habituated from puppyhood to being poked and prodded (ears pulled, eyes poked etc) so they aren't bothered when the baby does it (and handy for vet visits too).

 

[charlotte-xo]

I think having a pet can be a great experience for any child. I loved having dogs growing up, it teaches you to have respect for animals. Aslong as children are always supervised when near animals its fine.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I think it is great for kids to have pets.

We have 2 dogs and my kids know how to treat a dog and look after them. We also have 2 very large fish tanks (6foot long) and mine help OH do water changes etc.

I think its great for kids.

 

[LoraLoo]

We got our dog Oscar (he was rescue) when Amy was 5 months. Dog was just a pup- 16 weeks, so theyve grown up together and I could not ask for a better dog, he is fantastic with her (and the others) She torments him something rotton (I do tell her off!) but he is so laid back and patient with her, he just lets her get on with it. He's also very protective of us all, especially the children xxx

 

[tallybee]

Why would you get rid of them?? used as an excuse by a lot of people

I'm sure it is used as an excuse by some, but some animals get insanely jealous and I would personally not want the risk of a maimed baby