Toddlers and Kittens

[EllasMum]

So far, not a great combination. :( The kitten is about 13 weeks old and we have had him for about a week. DD loves him and, unfortunately, loves to carry him around. She is ok most of the time but then seems to just get too rough (grabbing him, pulling his tail, picking him UP by his tail - ouch). I tried pulling DD away and talking sternly to her but she just laughs. I've done the 'look in mommy's eyes' trick while talking to her but it doesn't help. So far the only thing I've been able to do is to put her in her crib while I tend to the kitten (who is in his own room as we have an older cat who is slowly being introduced - what a week!). I'm just wondering if anyone has BTDT or knows of any good websites with advice for introducing kittens (or any young animal, I suppose) to young children? Any advice would be appreciated!

TIA,
Susan

[dogmom]

I think best thing to do with kittens is just run interference until they learn which places toddlers can't get to. (Under the couch, up on something high, etc.) We keep the cat litter box in the basement (so the dogs don't get into it) and have a cat door in the door going to the basement. It is a great escape hatch. Maybe on of those kitty condos or something that is high enough for the child not to get into. Just keep up with the enforcement of the gentle thing with your DD. I'm not sure hold old she is. Before my DS was two he was getting time outs for hitting the dogs, etc. (He could never get his hands on the cats.) The side benefit is he has always been much more gentle with his younger sister than many siblings are.

Jeanne
Mom to Harvey
1/16/03
& Eve 6/18/06

[Melanie]

It's tough. I think toddlers and any free-roaming baby animal are not a good combination. My mom used say that you have to be able to train one of them, so either the child or the animal is older. :)

[mudder17]

I agree. We have 5 cats (no kittens) and a toddler and infant. The fifth one is actually very good with kids and let Kaya pick him up (and still does), but she had to learn how to be gentle with him and in the meantime if she got too rough, we would run interference and make her put him down. She was around 2.5 when we got him. We have a 7 foot cat tree, and while it doesn't prevent Kaya from getting to him (she's been able to climb to the top since she was 18 months old!), it does slow her down, giving the cats a chance to escape. If it were really bad, we'd just close the two doors we have that have cat openings on them so that they could escape through them if needed. But it never was that bad. Honestly, as Kaya grew older, the cats just learned to stay out of her way when she was in certain moods (i.e. wanted to chase them). They're are often times now when they enjoy playing with her, like when she runs around the house in circles dangling something and they chase after her.

I think the kitten will learn very quickly to stay out of your DD's way when she gets too rough. Over time, she will learn to become more gentle and the cats will learn when it's "safe" to play with her. You just have to be very vigilant in the meantime and repeat and repeat and repeat to her "gentle". The good news, as Jeanne mentioned, is that overall, she is much more gentle with her little sister than with the cats.


Eileen

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