Cat Sitting Dilemma

Summerlove

flappergirl

This seems to be the latest trend with young mothers. They cannot possibly have pets within half a mile of a newborn. I read a thread on mumsnet just the other day with women almost fainting at the very thought. One new mother even insisted that every visitor removed their shoes.

My newborn son came home to a small holding with goats, chickens, 2 dogs and 2 cats. It actually gets on my wick.

If your daughter does rehome the cat though OP, please ask her to do it responsibly through a registered shelter or charity. Please don't advertise it on Facebook to a good home. There are some nasty people out there.

Removing shoes is just good hygiene.

Removing loved furry family members is odd

It’s not just shoes and pets, some of them ban everybody, inc. close family, while they ‘bond with their little family’.
Beyond precious, IMO.

Might add that I grew up with ‘shoes on’, have continued the same, and AFAIK no crawling babies or toddlers - dds or Gdcs - have ever caught any noxious germs from my floors. Inc. when we’ve had a dog and/or a cat walking all over them.

I do sometimes wonder whether an over-obsession with ‘hygiene’ is why so many more children seem to suffer from allergies nowadays. I gather that children who live on farms and are often very close to livestock, get rather fewer than the average.

I think the only problem was that she didn't point blank refuse to have the cat in the first place. We had lots of pets and children - never dreamt of fostering any of them out.

This is three weeks old with NO input from original poster why are you still worrying and trying to solve her problem ifit ever was a problem 🤣

Please do not be put upon like this. Tell her quite firmly that you are NOT having the cat and if she persists then tell her to buggar off! It’s your life and your health at stake here. They are the ones being selfish.

Can you give her two weeks (say) to "ready her home" to take the cat back and say, you will then return it? Ask her if she wants you to rehome it instead? Tell her you ard happy to sort this out if she agrees.
She may just say yes...

Defleaing and deworming is a basic health check for any cat, we’ve just had our cat done. Worms would be a risk to a crawling toddler when the time comes. Your DD should either re home or take care of the animal herself. She should not just dump the poor cat on you!

Some years ago a colleague asked me if I had a pet and on being told "no" went on to suggest that if I had a pet it would give me something to think about other than myself . The implication being that people who do not have pets are selfish.

I lashed back pretty hard and reminded her that leaving some poor creature alone for 8 hours a day while you are out at work is pretty selfish. When you take on a pet you commit to care for it and that involves a certain amount of sacrifice (ie not going away) or expense (paying someone to look after it).

fancythat

I would take cat around to your DD tomorrow. Job done.

I'd have done that with my DD cat, but she had moved in (temporarily) with people who owned dogs.
I eventually had to remove her cat, because it was getting me very down and expensive to de-flea etc, much to the huge disappointment of my DGC.
I had no other option as nobody would accept the cat.
We had agreed on 6 months, ha, nearly 2 years later he was removed. He's now with a loving family who send pics now & then.

Poor cat. I too don’t understand why parents these days don’t want pets near their babies . When I had my son , we had three cats . I wore gloves when changing the cat litter or got my dh to do it. I used a cat net over the pram and cot . The cats were intrigued at first and wandered over for a peek but then they ignored him. When my dd was born we’d added a 6month Labrador puppy to our household . It was all fine.
Incidentally children growing up in a home with pets are less likely to have allergies and asthma , than children in a pet free home .
Oh and I’d take the cat back to your daughter or suggest she rehomes it.
I’m also angry that your gs wanted a cat but is not prepared to care for it. When my dc wanted hamsters and rabbits , it was on the condition that they cared for them .

When I say no

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

And if they argue, show them this thread.

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.

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.

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,

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!!

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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?"

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

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.

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