The Cats
Our cats used to be our babies. Now we have our baby and our cats are our pets. I don't hate our cats, but they really have become, well, CATS to me. It's hard to give them the attention they used to get. Our time is spent parenting and they've lost the long evenings sitting on the couch watching television and getting lots of pets and cuddles.
M. recently told me that it takes a year for a child to adjust to a new sibling. I think that could apply to pets as well. As we approach a year with Mr. Bo Finner in our lives I have noticed a certain acceptance combined with a newfound sense of calm that has come over our girls. I guess they think the new pink kitten is okay after all. Even our Zoe Princess Kitty is starting to tolerate being around him a little bit more and Mischa has decided he might be good for getting pets from after all.
It's all part of our new normal.
There's a lot of guilt. I wish I could give the girls their old lives back and I wish they could be our babies again. And for the first time I understand why people give their animals away after having a child. Trust me, the thought has crossed my mind on more than one occasion that they might be happier in a different home.
I'm glad I stuck things out because I do still love having pets. Pets and a boy is nice.
posted by Sacha @ 9:06 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
We actually had a conversation about our cats last night - after we got our daughter tucked in and sleeping - we too get why people give away their animals when they have a baby. It is hard to give the cats the same attention they are accustomed too. I get annoyed because they get under our feet - but they get under our feet because they want some lovin'. It's hard. And I keep thinking they will be happier somewhere else. We are hanging in there with them. Because they are our kitties and we do love them. And our daughter *loves* them too, so much.
Anyway thanks for the post.
Finn LOVES the cats. He has his special CATS!!!! squeal. It's quite cute and I would hate to deprive him of that.
I too understand you completely. I wrote a post about this, actually, just last week or the week before. We have 3 cats and 2 dogs. Our small dog Molly is not happy with a baby. She is acting out and pooing and peeing in our living room. We are trying to find her a home with a nice senior citizen who has lots of time and love for her so that she can be the baby. That's what she wants. The other pets have adjusted well and Belle came from a family with kids so she's used to it. It is hard to find the time to devote to them like we used to. I feel guilty about that sometimes. But in the end, we love them, made a committment to them and could never part with them. They are so good for kids too--being raised with pets is good for the soul. I feel bad about Molly but I know that a new home will be the best thing for her as well as us.
We had three cats who were the centre of everything before we had our little girl. They didn't react too badly at first but after a while i think they realised Libby was staying! We atually re-homed our little one because she was miserable and was weeing everywhere which just wasn't hygienic. It was the best thing we've done as she is so happy in her new home and her new owner (who lives on her own and can lavish attention on her all the time) loves her to pieces. The older two cats now love our daughter and she loves them too. They cuddle up to her and sleep on her bed. It just depends on the cat but I don't think we should feel any guilt if they are happy (with us or elsewhere). They do have to take a back seat for a while but now our dauhter is three and we have our evenings back (yeah!!) they get more attention and cuddles again. The only thing is it won't be for long as baby number two is about to make an appearance!! Poor cats!
Nic
Oh, it is hard isn't it? We feel really bad that our poor cat Toohey is so "neglected" these days; she just doesn't get half the love that she used to.
Toby would of course love to show her his love for her, although maybe "love" isn't quite the right term here. Massive excitement and much chasing around the house - plus that special squeal! Poor Toohey is an OAP now, and deserves a calmer life. Instead she has to spend her time avoiding Toby and running away to hide from him.
We couldn't really re-home her though - for one thing we'd miss her, but she's also a bit of a psycho-cat, and I don't think many people would tolerate her behaviour (she lashes out easily, although strangely she knows not to with Toby, even when he does manage to grab her and tug at her fur).
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