Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 27, 1995 TAG: 9505060001
SECTION: PARENT'S GUIDE PAGE: PG-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Bernath said she never considered it. After all, she said, she had been sharing her life with Morgan longer than she had with Larry.
Today, the cat count is up to five, and the couple has a second child, Wyatt, age 3.
"There don't seem to be any problems" between the cats and the kids, Bernath said.
Her mother-in-law's suggestion was made mostly because "she hates cats," Bernath said, but she had heard the familiar stories all new mothers hear about cats smothering babies in their cribs or otherwise harming them.
Those stories didn't worry her, she said.
"We didn't want cat hair in the bed, so we kept the cats away from her room." Although she did catch Speedy in the crib once, the cats never went in there much, she said.
Steve Karras, a veterinarian with Cave Spring Veterinary Clinic, said the idea of giving up a household pet when a baby arrives is "like getting rid of an old family member when you get a new one," he said.
Connie Canode, a veterinarian with Veterinarians to Cats, said her office gets several calls a year from people who think they should get rid of their cats when a new baby comes.
The old stories about cats and babies are completely untrue, Karras and Canode agreed. A cat will climb into a cradle to snuggle up to a warm baby, and there is some danger that a large cat sitting on a small child could smother it, but all the parents need do is to keep the cat away from the baby's bed.
But many people who know better than to believe in old wives's tales often think pets are unsanitary or unsafe. If children are allowed access to animal feces, they can pick up roundworms and hookworms, but the majority of injuries are scratches and bites, and they are usually no worse than any other small lacerations.
Very rarely, Canode said, a scratch will result in cat scratch fever, an infection of the lymphatic system that usually causes mild flu-like symptoms, but is occasionally more serious.
For cat owners who are worried about their pet scratching a baby or a child, Canode can show them how to attach temporary covers to the cat's claws. Like false nails, they are glued on and last for about 6 to 8 weeks. Both dog and cat claws should be trimmed regularly, anyway, Karras said.
Letting a dog lick a child's face is "yucky," he said, but dog saliva is often thought to be cleaner than human saliva.
"I wouldn't make that judgment," said Mark Nevin, a general practitioner, but dog bites "are no worse than human bites."
Any bite can become infected, he said, and if a child is bitten by a strange cat or dog, the animal should always be tested for rabies.
Some children are allergic to cats or dogs or both.
"That can be a real problem for families," Nevin said, especially when the allergen triggers asthma attacks.
In cats, it is actually the saliva left on the fur that causes the problems, and not the hair or dander, and some cats, Canode said, don't have the protein in their saliva that causes the problems.
Many families put up with being miserable, however, because the animals "are such an important part of their families," Nevin said.
Although it's not a good idea to let children play with loose pet hair, Canode said, "at least it's cleaner than dirt or garbage" that children sometimes get into.
The key to helping children and pets live together is to exercise some common sense, Canode said.
If you already know your pet is aggressive, don't let it spend time alone with the baby, Karras said. Even if the pet is good-tempered, it probably needs as much supervision as an average 5-year-old.
It's really "a personality thing," Karras said. "Some animals get along terrifically" with children, and others don't. About 10 percent are too aggressive to be with children, he said.
"It is not unheard of" for animals to attack young children, Nevin said, "but it's fairly uncommon."
The problem often stems from "parents who don't think," he said.
Canode said the real danger begins when a child is at the toddler stage, and the animals respond to hair- or tail-pulling by scratching or biting.
The arrival of a new baby "is a stressful time for everybody," Karras said, including the pet. An important step new parents can take is to prepare the nursery as far in advance as possible, so the pets can get used to changes in the house.
Karras advises pet owners to allow the animal to sniff the new baby's clothing, and to check out the crib and other furniture. If they are familiar with it, it will be less interesting to them later on, he said.
Canode's partner, veterinarian Diane Dorazio, agreed. "Don't make the room off-limits," she said. "They'll be less inquisitive about it."
On the other hand, Canode recommends keeping the pets entirely away from the baby's room. There are certain areas of the house that her pets don't go into, she said.
If you're really worried about your pet's adjustment, both Karras and Canode recommend buying a doll and treating it like the baby for a while, so the pet can get used to the differences in your behavior.
This works especially well with dogs, Karras said, but cats are "a little bit different." Unlike dogs, they often "don't want much to do with the baby.
It's not a good idea to go out and get a pet around the time the baby is born, Karras said. Usually, the new parent's attention is too divided to properly train the pet to live in the household.
by CNB