There is something I would caution you about - but basically my advice is that no infant or young child should be left with any pet without supervision. There are many reasons for that - for the safety of both the child and the pet, until the child is old enough to understand how to act safely around animals.

Here is something that happens to me once in a while: when it is cold in my bedroom, one or the other of my cats will curl up right next to my nose. I see them do this with each other, too. They bury their nose in the fur of the other. This has two advantages: 1) it keeps the nose warm when inhaling cold air; and 2) the air they exhale helps warm the body as it is breathed out. When I have been lying on my stomach, and a cat has curled up really close to my face, it feels a bit suffocating. That feeling of suffocation has been enough to wake me up a few times. I know the cats do that because they love me and want to share warm with me. But if a cat curled up right next to the nose and mouth of a small infant who could not wake up and move away to get more air, it could be disasterous. I can just imagine a cat wanting to help care for their favorite human’s new baby by sharing warmth with the baby, but however loving the cat was, it might still turn out badly. So it is just best to be there when your pets are around your baby. Windi Lea

As far as the litterbox thing goes. The odds are VERY slim that you will have a problem (a mouse gets infected with a parasite, cat eats the mouse, cat has the parasite, parasite gets into the catbox) but it can cause very serious birth defects (neurological). So get somebody else to change the box (or wear a painters mask if you do it yourself) LX V

Note that cats who contract toxoplasmosis do not always show symptoms. To prevent getting infected with the disease, whenever you scoop or clean the litter box, wear disposable gloves and wash your hands immediately afterward. Even better, get a friend or adult member of the family to take over litter box maintenance while Mom is pregnant.

Eating raw or undercooked meat is the most common way that humans contract toxoplasmosis. If you eat meat, wash off all surfaces and utensils that touched raw meat, and don’t prepare meat and raw foods like salads on the same cutting board. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling raw meat.

If you garden, wear gloves when working in the soil. The toxoplasmosis parasite lives in the dirt, so also wash your hands well after gardening. Many people naturally acquire an immunity to toxoplasmosis, and will not pass it on to their unborn child. Your doctor can test to see if you are in this group.

Planning Ahead for the Introduction

Let’s look now at how we can get your cat to accept your new baby with open paws. From your cat’s point of view, a baby who shows up with no advance warning is a loud, threatening, and attention-stealing invader. It doesn’t have to be this way. Babies and cats can be buddies. The key to getting a cat to accept a major jolt to her routine is soften the blow and introduce the change gradually. In the case of a new baby, you want your cat to be as used to baby stuff as she can possibly be beforehand, so that when your baby comes home, kitty is not totally shocked by this very interesting human life form.

Get kitty used to baby sounds and smells. Long before the big day, wear the baby lotions and powders that you will be using. Let kitty sniff you, and help her develop positive assocations with the new scents by praising her and giving her a treat.

Get a recording of a baby crying - possibly from a neighbor or relative who has a baby. You can also tape babies crying in a pediatrician’s waiting room. Play the tape for kitty, starting with low volume and short length, and working up to full volume and duration. Again use positive attention and treat rewards.

If at all possible, invite a friend or family member with a baby to come over, with their baby, for a short visit, followed by a longer visit. Or two or three. During the visits, let kitty walk around, but it’s best to have baby sitting on a lap.

A baby seat or playpen might work well, also. Play with your cat as long as you don’t bother or scare the baby.

If you’re building or preparing a nursery, give kitty a chance to become used to the new setup one step at a time. Let her get her curiosity throughly out of the way. Remember to keep up your daily interactive play sessions. Make kitty feel like she’s a part of all this, not an outsider.

Set up the crib long in advance of baby’s homecoming. Make the crib uninviting (to a cat). Fill several soda cans with pennies and tape the openings of each can. Fill the crib with these soda cans. If this doesn’t deter kitty, you can buy netting that fits over the crib.

You can also block access to baby’s room by installing an interior screen door - this is actually quite effective.

Give kitty plenty of exposure to toys, mobiles, and other baby accoutrements. You want all these things to have lost their novelty for her weeks before baby comes home.

Keep your cat’s routine the same as much as possible. This won’t always be easy between the hubub of visitors and houseguests and preparing for a new baby, but the effort is well worth it. A predictable routine reduces cats’ stress and prevents a host of problems. Ask others to help make sure that your cat gets fed, brushed, and played with in the usual manner.

Don’t go overboard and give your cat extra, compensating attention prior to the baby’s arrival because it will be impossible to keep that up once you have a baby at home to take care of. But do enlist family members to help kitty feel like a valued member of the family. Let all the adults and kids in your household know how they can help keep both kitty and baby safe, happy, and on peaceful terms.

sorry for the long post, i hope this helps.

and congratulations! deco

As far as the cats and the new baby; they will be curious, but will not cause the new baby any harm. Just make sure that when you lay baby down for a nap, that you keep the kitties out of the room. They will want to snuggle up next to the baby for warmth and may block the babies nose and mouth. Newborns can’t turn their heads (obviously) to breath, so…

I have had cats all my life and during the time that I was pregnant and brought my daughter home. My kitties loved her and used to just sit and watch her. When she as older and moving around in her crib okay, they used to even go and sleep with her. Josie826

if you have already been exposed to it (as the majority of the population has been), it is already in your system and poses no threat whatsoever to the fetus. like chickenpox, it only causes problems if you’re exposed to it for the first time while pregnant. (there’s a test your OB can do to see if you have it in your system, but unless you have the test before getting pregnant, it doesn’t tell you when you were exposed. so if you’re already pregnant, it’s useless to get it done.) a great reference for most zoonotic diseases is really your vet - they’re up to date more than the average doctr on what the risks are of getting things from your animals.

sure the cats will be curious, but will probably pose very little problems - until the baby is crawling & able to chew on their tails anyway. they’re not likely to bother the baby - they try to stay away from little noisy creatures that make really funky smells. my cats (i had 6 when my daughter was born) were curious when i was holding her, but other than a sniff here & there, they just ignored her. my girl is now 3, and thanks to our kitties, she is great with animals & they all get along very well. i think they’ve helped teach her to be more empathetic to others & to be nice to all of god’s creatures, both 2-legged and 4.

enjoy your baby & rest assured that a loving home with animals is a great thing for a child to be safely born into. sleepycatz1972

Good luck! cookiemomster