Cat in the Cradle (in a BAD way)
 

Ok so here's the deal.

My youngest cat has gotten into a really really bad habit. He is about 1.5 years and recently he has started getting into my babies crib WHILE SHE IS SLEEPING IN IT. I wake up and he is in there with her, sleeping at her feet. I am terrified he is going to harm her some how with his claws or his weight (sleeping on her). He is as sweet as he can be and would not intentionally hurt her in another way.

When I see him in there I immediately remove him. We tried keeping the bedroom door closed one night but then all five cats scratched at the door the entire night and kept us awake. They have never been kept out of any room their whole life.

I need some suggestions, or perhaps someone has had this happen before also....

What can I do??

Sorry if this is a dumb suggestion, but could you get a cloth screen thing to go over the crib? Kinda like a mosquito netting thing?

much to the horror of people who believe the old wives tales about cats and babies....I just let them stay in the crib and Amanda was never the worse for wear. Keeping the door closed is really the only way you're going to keep them out of there

I keep my son's door closed. My cat eventually stopped trying to get in.

Maybe keep the door closed even when your daughter is not sleeping in there, so the cats can get used to it.

What about keeping the door closed and putting some sort of covering on the bottom of the door to keep their scratching from bothering you?

They are cats. Close the door. Ignore the scratching.

You can buy mesh tents that mount on top of standard Cribs that are designed just for this purpose. They have zippered sides for easy access. We bought one but ended up never using it.

Just Google "Crib Tent".

A preventative measure is to place sheets of tinfoil or strips of sticky tape in the crib when the baby isn't there. Apparently, Cats hate these types of textures and you can train a cat to avoid the area this way. You can also use this method to train cats away from indoor plants etc... It worked for us.

Tape fish-hooks all over the outside of the baby, then the cats will jump off her realy fast.

No?

Crib tent then. :thumbsup:

Worked for me, back when tinfoil 2.0 was in her basinet. Now that she is in a crib and in her own room, we keep the door closed whenever she is asleep. Try to move any jumping off points away from the crib as well.

Never bothered me to have them sleeping with my godchildren. They think they are protecting the baby.

If it bothers you, definately the crib tent. :)

I forgot to mention that the crib tent will not work in this situation. The baby is still in a Bassinet in our bedroom and they do not make the tents for the small bassinets.

Also keeping the door closed is not an option b/c they rip up the carpet in front of the door as well as scratch the door. These are cats that range in age from 11yr-1.5yr they are not used to be kept out!

well the only thing I can add was I had one that slept with me and like I said my daughter had one that slept with her....neither of us were ever harmed, I used to watch the one that slept with Manda, its like they knew it was a baby and didnt bother it, it was more of a "protective" thing...what I mean is they didnt (even as a kitten) try to play with her when she was moving around or anything...more often than not if she was active they werent in the crib

I can't verify the accuracy of this account even though I was there at the time. My mother caught a cat sleeping on my face when I was a newborn. I doubt the cat meant any harm, but I was blue when my mom came into the room. I should qualify that this cat was not a family pet, but had come in through the open window.

I would recommend caution and deterrence.

They do make them. There is a remote possibility that I have the package for the one I purchsed, so I will look for it to get you information.

Thank you tinfoil!! I have looked everywhere on the net and cannot find such a product!

I'll second fresnelly's suggestion to put foil inside the crib when the baby isn't there. If you crunch it up a little the the texture pricks their paws and they learn not to go in that area. For the immediate future, probably the only way you can completely keep them away is to shut the door. :( Have you tried googling to see if there is some sort of scent that bothers cats? I have no idea if there is one, but perhaps you could look into it, and as long as it doesn't bother humans too, that might be a solution. I hope you figure something out!

Yeah, if they are so insistant that a closed door is the end of the world, I would spray them with a water bottle everytime they scratched at the door. But I'm an asshole like that.

Baby poo, maybe?

I've found double-sided tape to be an excellent and trouble-free cat-deterrent.

Is it possible that your cat just likes the warmth and feel of the bassinet? Maybe some kind of blanket and basket just for him would give him what he wants.

One of my kitties does the same thing. Seems as though she's more interested in Aric's blanket than she is in Aric. I still kick her ass though when I find her there. I've found that since I put a blanket in my rocker that's in his room,she'll go there instead of his crib. Personally, I think she likes his room because the dogs don't go in there unless they go with me, so no cat hunts end up in the baby's room. I didn't train them to do that but hey, it works.

I'm not as concerned now about where miss Chupa hangs out because Aric will move if he's uncomfortable.

I'd try the foil or even doublesided tape along the ridge of the bassinet, where kitty's feet probably hit on its way in.

my mom used to put orange peels in the bushes around the house to keep the cats from using our bushes as litter boxes. apparently the cats don't like the citrus smell.

it seemed to work until the peels dried up.
try putting some orange peels in and around it.

Well if you can't shut the door, and the crib tents don't fit the bassinet, get a different crib/bassinet etc that does fit a crib tent. Eventually the baby will need one anyways and then you'll have a cat and kid friendly sleeping situation. And if you decide to have more kids, you'll be prepared in that sense.

My cats hated tinfoil as well so putting some tinfoil on the crib might work in my case.

Are you opposed to declawing them?

Mine are in-door cats so this was a good option for us.

Get a dog.

Thanks for all the helpful advice (except for the person above). I have yelled at my cat so many times for getting in the bassinet that he has stopped doing it when the baby is in there. Now they only get in there when she is not in there and leave hair all over *sigh*.

Oh come on... I was helpful...


Okay fine... I wasn't.

More helpful than my reply would have been.