The Cats Have To Go
We have been having some drama with our cat, Samuel, recently. It all began when he peed in our friend’s car seat. I even wrote about it here. Since then about once a week we would something else he peed on – a blanket, t-shirt, an empty plastic toy bin on floor. The last straw was when he peed in Annabelle’s toy basket in her toy corner. In an emotional response my husband threw him out the back door. I didn’t see him for at least two days.
On the third day we decided to take him to the vet and get him checked out and make sure that it wasn’t an infection or anything. I saw him on day four and brought him inside. About three hours later I was on the phone with the vet and I heard Annabelle scream like I have never heard her scream before. I immediately got off the phone and found that she was messing with the cats and Samuel scratched her. He scratched her inside her left ear and down her cheek. Samuel lost his second chance.
We took both Samuel and Elizabeth to the vet and they are both fine. We got them updated on their shots. The vet agreed that it was a behavioral problem. Last night I posted them on Craigslist. Hopefully I can find them a home without young children. If not, then our only other option is to find a no-kill shelter that will take them.
We never took the pets and a new baby class. Maybe I would have learned something. What I know is that our cat doesn’t like having a toddler in the house messing with him. With a second baby on the way we can’t take any chances. We have had our cats for 5 years and love them. They used to be my babies, until Annabelle came home. It was a tough decision to find them new homes, but in the end we have to do what is best for our family.
Have you ever had a problem with your pets and your children getting along? Have you had to find a new home for your pet when you brought your baby home?
UPDATE:
In the end Samuel scratched our daughter at least twice. We honestly couldn’t trust him with her and her safety is important to us. I feel that it would be impossible to keep them separate at all times. I don’t feel like Annabelle was doing much to entice the scratching. After two people were interested in looking at the cats, but never showed, we placed them back on Craigslist. A lady who only wanted Samuel came and adopted him. He has the most perfect home now. Her last cat just passed away last month. She lives by herself in a huge house and I know that Samuel is going to be spoiled beyond measure.
I did have hard time letting him go. I was very sad after he left, but I prayed about it. I feel like God told me that he sent the lady and that Samuel is fine now. In the end I realized that Samuel wasn’t acting like his usual laid back and loving self. Now I hope without a baby bugging him, he is more relaxed and happy.
We still have his sister, Elizabeth. My husband caved in and let me keep her. She isn’t pee’ing or scratching Annabelle. I think it is much easier to only care for one cat.
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Ooh, sad about losing the kitties. But they really do take a backseat once the kids are born, don’t they? We got a puppy about 4 months before we got pregnant with our oldest (part of it was definitely filling my “I want a baby” need), and we still have her. She’s definitely not a puppy anymore (over 50 lbs!) but she’s very sweet. I fretted for months before Lucy was born about whether or not to give her away for fear of accidental injuries (like what happened to Annabelle). Dave and I argued about it for awhile and we agreed that if the dog ever injured our babies, she would go immediately.
After all we’ve been through in the past few years, it’s amazing that we still have her. She is definitely bottom of the totem pole and we don’t pay very much attention to her outside of the typical feeding, letting her out, and hanging out with her in the evening. And even so, I feel stressed by her; sometimes it’s like having a third child.
The kids love her. Lucy, in particular, loves to bark out orders to the dog. She even said, “Chill, dog! Chill…” the other day. I can’t believe she heard me say that and remembered it enough to copy me. Too funny.
We had some issues with our cat, Charlie after Ewan was born. Let’s just say that he um, licked himself until he got fully aroused. He was OBSESSED with blankets and licking himself. Then he started waking us up at the crack and meowing in our faces and parading around the house meowing. If we didn’t respond then he would try to get into the kids’ rooms to meow them awake. It wasn’t as troublesome as peeing or scratching but it was annoying enough that he now lives at my mom’s house. He is much happier there. He was my baby until I had Ewan and I think he tried to find satisfaction by chronic “self-petting”. My mom gives him a lot of attention and I’m glad for him that he is much happier.
We are actually trying to figure out when to get a dog–but that is a whole otha’ can o’ worms. At least we know have a better idea what to expect. I think dogs adjust to kids a little easier than cats. Dogs are pack animals so when you add a new member to their pack they adjust. Cats just aren’t like that. They don’t like change.
I hope they find a good home
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I had the same problem! It was a cat that I’d had for a few years. Nothing new had changed in his environment – no new animals or children. He just randomly started peeing in the corners of rooms (carpet of course). It got so bad that as soon as you walked in the house you smelled cat pee. The house was going up for sale, and in order to have it saleable we had to rip up the carpet, treat the floor boards, and lay brand new carpet – a $5,000 expense I really didn’t need at the time – if ever! I had my other half take him to a shelter as well. It was hard, but he was destroying my house!
Amelia, that story about Charlie is HILARIOUS! We never got a pet for these reasons. I’m not really a huge fan anyway. I prefer to enjoy other people’s pets
My pets have a home for life, I made a commitment to each of them when they came to live with me. That is non negotiable. The kid came along later, and they had no say in that.
I’m not going to get rid of the kid because the rabbit doesn’t like him.
Amanda, I hope Annabelle is ok.
We’ve never had issues with our dog Espen. She’s a good family dog (lab). The older she becomes though, the more she prefers to hang out in a quiet, child-free room. We did experience an incident between Caleb and Espen several months ago though. Espen was completely provoked though while she was sleeping, so it was entirely Caleb’s fault.
I am having a problem with one cat right now. Are you cleaning the litter box frequently enough? Did you recently change litter? The problem I had which I plan to blog soon in detail, I’ll cut to the chase here…is I tried to change to a corn based litter that is ‘all natural’ and biodegradable with little dust and I guess one cat didn’t like it. One of them was peeing on my husband’s dress shirts in the special hamper for them that we transport to the dry cleaners. I also think that one cat does not like it if the litter box is not scooped every 48 hours or more frequently. I also have three boxes now in two rooms, for our two cats. One is female and it is the male having the territory issue. Sigh.
I have to agree with Lara, I make a commitment to my pets as well as my children. Animals shouldn’t be considered disposable.
UPDATE: In the end Samuel scratched our daughter at least twice. We honestly couldn’t trust him with her and her safety is important to us. I feel that it would be impossible to keep them separate at all times. I don’t feel like Annabelle was doing much to entice the scratching. After two people were interested in looking at the cats, but never showed, we placed them back on Craigslist. A lady who only wanted Samuel came and adopted him. He has the most perfect home now. Her last cat just passed away last month. She lives by herself in a huge house and I know that Samuel is going to be spoiled beyond measure.
I did have hard time letting him go. I was very sad after he left, but I prayed about it. I feel like God told me that he sent the lady and that Samuel is fine now. In the end I realized that Samuel wasn’t acting like his usual laid back and loving self. Now I hope without a baby bugging him, he is more relaxed and happy.
We still have his sister, Elizabeth. My husband caved in and let me keep her. She isn’t pee’ing or scratching Annabelle. I think it is much easier to only care for one cat.
I think that safety of the children is more important than pet commitment. If I had a dog or cat that was hurting (biting, scratching) my children then it would be gone. As parents it is our responsibility to protect our children–and if pets are harming them then they need to go. I don’t think that animals should be considered disposable either but safety of children (and pets) and sanity for the pets trumps any commitment of pet ownership.
I know that our cat wasn’t harming anyone when we gave him to my mom and maybe that was lazy pet owning–but he is so much happier now. I like to think that I was looking out for him as well as for our sleep deprived selves.
Seriously? Your husband threw your cat out for litterbox avoidance behavior? Are you going to throw your kid out for puking on things? When you get an animal you make a lifetime commitment to them – they’re not ‘property’ to be discared at an animal shelter when they become an ‘inconvenience’ to you. Hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats are killed each year in shelters b/c of irresponsible pet owners. People who treat animals as though their lives are disposable definitely do not need to be reproducing. Lara Nettle and Riley – your points are the only humane and compassionates ones on here.
@ Julie- I can understand your concern with people who treat animals badly which I can assure you they are not. Please also step back and look at the situation in their shoes. I am sorry to tell you this but ANY parent would react in the same manner as her husband did. Hello we defend our young. So if anyone or thing hurts our child we are going to react. I am guessing you have never had the unfortunate dealing of a pet who no longer fit in the family. These things do happen. They also are not irresponsible pet owners as they lovingly found a home for Samuel and did not just toss him into a shelter.
My mom got ride of her pit bull when I was 5 months old when she bit off a chunk of my face. I think in both case the parents are being very RESPONSIBLE!!!
Well said, Trina! And I have to add that just because someone finds another home for their PET, it does not mean that someone would treat their child that way! That is ludicrous.
Julie (and other pet commitment advocates), I am curious about what you would have done had you been Trina’s mom when the dog bit a chunk off of her face?
Would you really keep a dog that was had a history of biting your own child? I don’t mean that in a mocking or patronizing way at all, I am truly curious.
I’m probably adding more fuel to the fire by even responding but I would really like to know!