Cat Sitting Dilemma

I had cats when my son was born and so did my parents who looked after him when I was at work. Cat net over pram and cot. No problem at all. One of the cats liked to sit beside his pram when in garden, as if guarding him. They were of course regularly given worm and flea treatments.

I agree with those who feel sorry for this poor unloved puss: better rehomed with someone who wants it rather than this carry on. Tell your DD to organise this or you'll do it for her.

Shelflife

This is absolutely unreasonable!! Tell your DD you can not do it . It is clear she does not want the cat so persuade her to re-home it. This is not your responsibility and your DD is pushing her luck . If she can't get to a rehoming shelter are you in a position to do that on her behalf. Cats and babies can be together, it just needs some planning. If she is unwilling to sort this , then you have no option but to take the advice you have been given and pot the cat in its carrier and return it to your DD. Although this cat deserves so much more , poor thing.

I couldn't have put it better Shelflife. We always had cats when we had small children - we had four children and had babies and toddlers for more than 10 years. We never had problems with the cats, even though we had had one for some years before the first baby arrived and expected her to be jealous.
Provided the cat is health checked and protected from fleas/ worms, there is no reason why your daughter should not take the cat back, particularly in view of your health issues.

If she wants to keep the cat long term, she could always board it at a local cattery, yes it will cost but that’s her responsibility at the end of the day

We had a dog when our eldest child born and later cats when the others were small. There is no reason why this poor cat shouldn’t be at home. I feel a bit reluctant to suggest you take him back home as I am not sure he would be cared for. Re homing sounds better to me. I hope your health hasn’t been compromised

You say you have to have the cat for 8 months. Why that amount of time?
Pet care is not your responsibility.
I too can't understand why you daughter doesn't want it at home.
Your grandson obviously doesn't care that much.
Put your foot down and take he/she back to your daughter.
There must be organised cat shelters around that will take the cat and rehome.

Poor cat - no one wants the cat 😿😢
Can you rehome the cat to a grateful family?

I'd really love a cat, but I live near a busy (with parents picking up their children) road.
If only I could find a cat that would just stay close to home.

As the original poster has not responded to any of the advice or comments in this thread we may never know what’s happened to kitty. I loathe people who take on a pet and refuse to care for them properly for the rest of the animals natural life. They make my blood boil.

Yes, its top of my pet hates (pardon the pun)
Or, in the top few of a big list, at least.

Take this poor cat to a rescue centre for rehoming to a lovely home. Neither of you deserve to own a cat, it’s disgraceful

You neither can nor should re-home someone else's cat!

Speak to your consultant, if he feels the cat is not a health hazard you will have a problem, but try to get him to say it could be or it is.

If this is the case, put cat in cat basket and return to daughter telling her that you are sorry for the short or lack of notice, but you consultant read you the riot act when he heard you had a cat!

If she and her son do not want the cat, then they either have it re-homed or put down. The cat is your daughter's responsiblity, not yours.

Be firm. If she sulks, she sulks. Your original mistake was agreeing to take care of a cat when you had no desire to do so. Nothing you can do about that now.

Will vets put down healthy animals that selfish humans discard as if they were inanimate objects?!?

greenlady102

as is said on Mumsnet, "No is a complete sentence"

As I used to say to one of my DC (but she was about 13/14 at the time!) "Just what part of NO don't you understand?"

Oh, I'm not implying that greenlady is selfish, by the way.

As GSM and many others have said, this guff about cats and babies not mixing is just that. Loads of families manage just fine with baby and cat.

Car rescues (and doggie ones) tend to be crowded these days, but it sounds like you should be talking to Cats Protection (biggest and generally best), or similar.

MissAdventure

Will vets put down healthy animals that selfish humans discard as if they were inanimate objects?!?

Yes they will. There might be some vets that refuse or perhaps may adopt the animal themselves. One of my relatives had a beautiful, healthy young labrador put to sleep because they hadn't "realised the responsibility". The vet didn't refuse and I've never spoken to that relative since.

I wouldn't speak to them, either.
What a pity though, poor dog.
I was thinking if I was a vet, I'd refuse, but then it wouldn't solve the problem for the poor dog to be stuck with an uncaring owner.

Not your cat. Not your problem. Send it back whence it came!
Why you stressing about this??!!

I sincerely hope that this poor cat gets the home it deserves-a loving one.
Too many people take on animals and then decide they don’t want them!!

I have an indoor cat.
In the past I’ve had the heartbreak of my cats being run over.
At least now I know my cat is safe and well looked after,

Poor puss. How cruel 😟 Reading this has made my blood boil. Why did you agree to take it in the first place? Your grandson sounds as spoilt as his mother. No one wants the poor little cat, so do the right thing and find him/her a good home with people who will care for him.

No-one wants the cat including the grandson whose cat it is.
Jane52, you can't cope with cat, it's not fair on you or the cat.

It really needs to be found a good home. Just tell them you are arranging for it to go to the Cats Rescue.

And if they argue, show them this thread.

Saying NO is easier than you have think. Stop being treated like a doormat. I always feel very empowered to hen I say no. Life is too short for this nonsense