Forum home Babies Baby

Really silly Q for anyone with house-cats & babies in prams!

Hi all

I have a seriously bad habit for worrying about stupid things but this is playing on my mind a lot!

For anyone who has house-cats, or maybe perhaps doesn't let their cats out of their front / main door because they live on a busy road or something... how do you manage to get baby in the pram out of the door without the cats making a run for it?

Our cats are house-cats and do not go outside at all - but they are curious about "what's out there" and are always waiting at the door when we come home or looking around to see if they can sneak out when we go out or something. For ages they haven't actually made a run for it but I am a bit worried about how I will handle keeping the door open wide enough to get the baby in the pram outside but avoiding them escaping!

I'm aware this bit could be an over-reaction in advance - but I thought I should write a disclaimer on my post nonetheless!!! - I am NOT asking for anyone to give me their opinion on house-cats! They are house-cats for our personal reasons (which I will share if anyone is that interested!!!) and I won't be drawn into debates about indoor cats!!! :lol: (Sorry I get quite defensive about this issue which is probably rude of me!)

Thanks for any advice and for the millionth time, I'm sorry for gategrashing!

Joo xxx
32+6

Replies

  • I'm crashing from ttc to reply Joo. I have house cats too and in my old house when G was tiny it was straight out onto the pavement. Its 3 years ago but I think I used to get her all ready then put the pram out quickly and leave it there for a few secs whilst I picked her and bag etc up then went out and locked up, so put her in pram outside.
    One of my catmen is very inquisitive (siamese) about the outside world and does go in the garden on a lead(think I'm going to get abuse too lol!!) but he was never really a problem-I think I used to push him away with my foot-gently of course as he's my baby too!!!
    My problem has been that I'd love to have the kitchen door open so G could play outside safely whilst I'm in the kitchen but obviously the cats would go out then-and get lost, squashed etc, so I got locks on the gates. I could do with a screen door like they have in the US but haven't seen anything like it here.
    Hope you don't get any abuse Joo-its a valid concern.
    Helen.xxxx
  • Our cat is only a house cat when he doesn't like the weather outside :lol: but I would do the same as Zoey and close them into part of the house. We have a big kitchen and our catflap is on the back door so when I go out, the cat (if I can find him) gets shut in there so I can set the burglar alarm.

    See, you've made me really nosey now though and I want to know why you keep them as house cats :lol: think my cat would like to be a house cat, he's so pathetic these days the other cats pick on him!
    xx
  • Thanks both!

    QB - the problem (well not problem but you know!) is that they have full run of the house, except bathrooms and the nursery of course (and our bedroom when baby is in there at night-times). So wouldn't want to shut them in one room for the many times we will be going out... UNLESS of course, you meant pop them in a room whilst we get the pram out!!! Which is a good idea - yes!!!

    Helen - thanks honey! We want to get those too so we can open the french doors in the summer, we did find a place but they were quite expensive so we scraped the idea. We are currently researching window locks so we can open the windows wide enough, but without a cat slipping through!

    I think getting the pram and all other bits and bobs outside the house whilst the cats are tucked in the kitchen is a good plan - and then carrying baby outside to the pram that way. Chances are, baby will almost always be in a car-seat when we go out anyway as we live in such a crappy area we are unlikely to be walking anywhere locally!!! :lol:

    oooh I feel better now thank you!

    xxxxx
  • Bless him, I love my cat, I'd be devestated if anyone did something like that. There are some sick F***ers about.
    BTW I didn't mean it to sound as if I thought house cats were wrong, I know there are all sorts of reasons to keep them in, I'm just nosey!!!
    xx
  • If you are anything like me, the pram stays in the car! My cat used to stay far away from James when he was a noisy little baby (and now does because James' eyes light up when he sees him and crawls after him given the chance!!) so it wouldn't have been an issue for us.

    QB that sounds awful, your poor cat, how could someone do that? At least he has a good home with you now.
  • My cat is most definately not a house cat although she doesn't stray far from home but I just wanted to make a suggestion about window locks. We have pvc windows and I had a retainer lock thingy fitted on cole's large window as a safety precaution. IT took the guy 2 mins to fit it, and all it is is like a little hook and latch thing that stops the window opening too far - and for safety it unhooks really simply should you need to get out in an emergency. I'm fairly sure the cat couldn't get out of it but can't double check right now as cole has just gone to sleep!

    Can't tell you how much it cost because i ended up getting it done for free when i had my back door fitted because they'd forgot about it first time, but they'd originally said it'd only be a few pounds. You could just try calling a upvc window company and asking about them because they do sell them without fitting - its just that the guy fitted it for me to be nice image

    As for the cats not getting out - well my cat can jump over the baby gates - both the mesh portable one and the normal ones so they'd be no good, we are planning on getting a high dog gate for the stairs so I don't know whether that'd make a good deterrant. If possible though -if your cats are escape artists I'd recommend shutting htem behind 2 closed doors as I remember when my friend first moved house and thought her cats were safely shut in a bedroom while we moved stuff in, and one of the cats still managed to escape due to the front door being open for more than the few seconds it usually takes someone to shoot in their house.

    Oh and zoey... I can't believe soemone would do that to a cat.. poor thing! Some people are just disgusting!!
  • We have exactly the same problem! We have 4 house cats who have the run of the house apart from the nursery and whichever room lo is in in his moses basket during the day. So far we haven't shut the cats away when we take the pram out - it would take ages to round up 4 cats! We just shut the doors off the hallway and keep an eye on the open corridor and stairs. The key is to get everything ready to go then just go for it. If the cats are going to be curious and come towards the door they'll do that when we first get the pram out! So we can then shoo them away.

    The alternative is to get lo into the cot or car seat first, then go outside and put the pram frame up. The cot or car seat just clips on to the frame so it's really quick when the frame is up to just carry lo outside like that. In fact I think I'll do it that way from now on!
  • Good point about the chassis staying in the car - mine lives there most of the time. Expect yours could too, Joo, if you're mostly going to be driving baba before and after you use it.

    My cats (sadly only cat now) were originally house cats purely because they're ex-breeders and had lived in a cage or house their whole lives, but they kept getting nosier and nosier so we let them out. They don't go very far for very long, and I no longer have to clean litter trays - hooray!
  • Thanks everyone! Wow didn't know there would be so many other house-cat owners! But then I do sit next to someone who rants and rants at me everytime I even mention the word "cat" to her. She's always on at me to let them out, but we just can't do it.

    Bedhead - the reason isn't anything major... they are SO SO precious to us, I can't even begin to put into words how much we both adore our little cats. We live on a bit of a rough estate, well, just not that nice really - the car drivers are loonies and there would be a huge risk of them getting into an accident. Also, our cats are pedigrees and you can tell by the look of them, so we wouldn't put it past anyone locally to steal them and sell them on. Its happened with pedigree puppies around us recently - very sad. I can't bear to think of them being taken from us or being seriously injured. So whilst our reasons might be a tad selfish, we keep them in for safety. But also, we researched the breed really well (Birmans) and they are actually a breed that do prefer an indoor life and would barely venture outside anyway...

    Was chatting to hubby last night and he agreed about keeping the main part of the buggy in the car boot or garage all of the time and just moving the baby around in its car seat or carrying out to the pram like you've suggested.

    The treats thing is also a good idea... we used to do that a lot but since they have become less curious and less likely to sneak out, we don't need to anymore - but def. a good option to try!

    Thanks so much everyone!

    Joo xxx
    33w today!

Sign In or Register to comment.

Featured Discussions