Sorry, Jess, I don't have any exceptional advice for you re: the spitting and fur- maybe try squirting the cat with a water pistol every time it does that.
As for my cat, she was extremely affectionate all through my pregnancy, but now is quite stand-offish towards the baby. She is a very curious cat, but isn't taking much interest in the baby - she prefers the baby's things! I left the baby's room door open towards the end of my pregnancy when the cot, etc was all set up. That way she would be used to them, but I would always be in the room when she was in there, so that I could tell her off when she tried to go somewhere I wouldn't allow - eg cot, pram, etc. That way she knew which places were off limits.
I was interested to see everyone's experiences with pets. I've got a dog (2 years) and two cats (5 and 10 years respectively) - there's pics in my photo gallery (yup, proud furkid mummy! ).
I'm also interested to hear in other people's thoughts/experiences. My younger cat is an outdoor roamer, and to be honest, I don't think he'll bat an eyelid (he's got more front than the Empire State building I swear!). The older cat is a lap-girl, so maybe more likely to notice changes... but she won't jump up high... so again I'm not too worried about her. Even tho, my MIL loves to tell me horror stories about cats smothering babies!!!
My dog is only 2 years, so still a puppy-head, and she's very smoochy & pretty docile (you can do anything to her, and she's pretty cool with it), plus she has never had a jealous streak which I think is a good sign. However, I do think that she will be the main one to watch because she's very energetic and is used to getting a lot of attention. So saying, maybe the fact she has to respect the cats will stand her in good stead (the cats are SO boss of the dog lol!).
Anyway, I've got 6 months, so figure I should start thinking now!
when I got PG with Paige, Sheppy(border collie) really started keeping his distance for a fair amount of the PG,We did all of the pre-introduction things including have DH bring home things from the hospital with the smell, when we came home we put Paige on the floor and Shep gave her the once over wagging his tail he was fascinated he looked at me as if to say 'oh I understand now, is she really ours?', as time went on he stayed close to her and when she started kicking her legs reliably he got his puppy toys and placed them at her feet and would move them back in to place as she kicked them...VERY CUTE,
once Paige could reach out and touch her Shep became a little more wary of her and keeps his distance mostly (but takes advantage of times when her hands are full to swipe her across the face with his tongue), he pretends mostly disinterest lately when she grabs him in a bear hug saying 'love you sheppy' you can almost see him rolling his eyes but if I come home without her in the car he gets most concerned and will continue to hunt for her and continues to give me daggers until we go and collect her from where ever she is.
When Paige goes to bed at night sheppy bundles the clothes that she was wearing for the day under his chin and sleeps on them like a pillow
I think they really will be the best of friends in time.
The best piece of advice I've been given about mixing babies and pets is to not change your pets way of life once the baby comes home. So if your dog is an inside dog, let him continue to come inside - if suddenly he's locked out he'll attribute that to the arrival of the baby and might resent it.... If you want to make changes to thier lives, do it well before the baby arrives so they can get used to it.
Having said that, I'm due in 5 weeks with our first bub, and our fur baby (3yo Jack Russell) is in for a shock.
I've been trying to prepare him for the arrival of bubs by giving him boundaries, e.g. must sit on his rug inside - no couch time, not allowed to jump on our bed, not allowed on the chair in the nursery, must sit on command etc. He does all these things and is quite obedient, but my DH treats him like a baby. He carries him around, kisses him, play fights on the floor and more! I've discouraged the floor play fights because soon DH will be on the floor with a baby and I don't want the dog to think it's 'go time'.
I think he'll be fine, although MIL keeps going on about how we'll have to watch him - duh of course we will like any other dog!
I'm going to get DH to bring home baby's clothes for him to smell, then I'll just make sure the dog knows the baby is higher up the food chair than him.
Anyway, that's my say- I'll let you all know how it goes!!
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but if I come home without her in the car he gets most concerned and will continue to hunt for her and continues to give me daggers until we go and collect her from where ever she is.
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