Babies and Animals

I have some questions.... A friend of mine found out a week ago that she is pregnant after previously having 2 miscarriages. She is somewhere around 9-10 weeks along. She is an avid animal lover and takes strays when she can. With that being said, she has 2 cats (that constantly stay locked up in their own little room at her house) and 4 dogs (3 inside and 1 outside). These animals are practically her life and getting rid of them is probably not going to happen.

Here's my concern... I love animals too, but with a soon to be newborn?!! Her house is a total wreck and disgusting with all the animal hair around and such. And the smell.. you can only imagine. And the cat room, I'm almost afraid to even see what it looks like. Anyway, I have been giving her some advice on baby stuff and what to get and not get, etc. and I feel like a discussion needs to happen about the animals with a baby in the house. The house just needs to be cleaned really really really well... and I just don't want to offend her in anyway.

Can y'all help me out with the pros/cons of having so many animals with a baby? Also, I know back in the day a pregnant woman couldn't change the litter box... is that still true? I'm just looking for feedback on what I should talk to her about... I didn't have any animals when I was pregnant with my kids, so I'm not sure how to go about doing it...

Thanks for any insight you guys can give me!


Karine

well... i have 2 dogs and cat.... they are fine with the baby. yes cleaning the hair is a pain in the ass.. and im sure she realizes that... but really if someone told me to get rid of them.. im pretty sure they would have got the rath of my hormones... jayson loves his dog.. yes.. i got him a dog.. she lets him climb all over her... pull her years... if i let them share food.. she wouldnt mind... she say****o the baby before me :(... brings him his toys.. brings him her toys LOL... if your really concerned about the house being cleaned... hire her a cleaning lady

I have to agree with the pp...if someone tried to tell me to get rid of them...there would end up being some hurt feelings.  I have 3 cats and a dog.  I've never had an issue with my animals and Matthew.  She really shouldn't clean the litter box so her SO should do that. 

I have 5 cats and 3 dogs - this is what happens when your best friend works for a vet clinic! My cats and my Jack Russell are indoors. The 2 yellow labs run in our 1 acre yard.

I am a FREAK about pets. My husband laughs at me that I want my animals but don't want any trace of evidence that they live there. This is true. I have a dyson animal vacuum - and a small stock of sitcky rollers.  I vacuum and sticky roller 2-3 times a week. Our cats stay off of the furniture, they don't get on counters or the table - they like to hang out on their cat tree and in a kitty bed in my walk in closet. I think they like it because it is all dark and hidden in there. They stay out of my kids rooms, except they will curl up in the rocking chair everyonce in a while. They do LOVE the bassinet - but I throw several pillows in it during the day so they won't curl up in it - and the pillows are stacked so high they are unstable and they won't get up on them.

I wipe all of our surfaces down with clorox wipes when I vacuum. The kitty boxes (we have 3 covered boxes that they enter from the top - so they don't kick stuff out - YUCKA!) are in the laundry room. They get completely changed (box rinsed and bleached out - new box of litter) once a week and scooped daily. You are right - pregnant women can not do this job!

As long as she gets a good cleaning in and than keeps up on it a couple times a week it will be fine.

Having animals is one thing but having animals and being unclean/unsanitary is another.  I have no problem with animals inside as long as the owner is responsible and clean about it.........and the animals are housebroken. It is a different story if the dog/cats walk around randomly and crap all over and the owners let them.

We live on a ranch and have tons of animals 8 horses, 4 donkeys, cattle, 7 dogs (2 inside), 6 cats (Outside), goats i could keep going on forever here...............

I dont think the animals are the problem, sounds as if she is not keeping up with the animals being indoors. 

I have no problem with a pet inside but if it ****** on my floor it is a outside dog.

JMO:  I doubt she will be getting rid of any of her animals. I would stay out of this with her, not your baby nor your concern to really be involved. She would more than likely get her feelings stomped on.

The dangers in changing cat litter as a pregnant woman are twofold:

A- the clay in kitty litters get airborne, no matter how "low-dust" they are.  That is very bad for pregnant women.  I took pottery as a minor in college and the first thing they tell you is that if you are pregnant or get pregnant during the class you have to leave the course.

But there are non-clay cat litters out there so that helps some..

B- the second danger is cat feces CAN contain a disease called toxoplasmosis.  It's harmless to them and most of the time doesn't affect non-pregnant people, but the diesase is very bad for growing babies and can lead to lots of physical and mental defects (including miscarriage).

There is just no easy way to sugar coat that.  So please emphasize that someone else must deal with the kitty litter & feces while she is pregnant.  No exceptions.  That may be a "deciding' factor when it comes to trying to convince her to clean up her act for the baby's sake.

I say stay out of it... unless there is feces and urine on the surfaces the baby will be playing / crawling on.  If that's the case then your friend should be willing to clean up for the sake of the baby.  A little animal fur doesn't hurt..... but feces/urine in the house are bad if not cleaned properly. 

Having animals is actually GOOD for kids..... good to learn caring about another creature, good to learn responsiblity and good to build their immune systems.  (See article below)

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=early-expos ure-to-pets-ma

Like the PP said though -- no handling kitty-litter / cat feces while pregnant!!   Her OB should mention this... I know mine did. 


Cooper loves his puppy....  she helps him with "tummy time". 

My mom and Grandmother made the mistake of mentioning this very subject to my uncle's pregnant wife...and unfortunatly things have never been the same in my family since. I've found that most people get the clue after the baby comes, people who have only ever had pets just Think they know what it's like to have kids because of the care a pet requires...Thoes of us who have already experienced the joy of motherhood know that no emotions you have toward a pet will ever equal or even get close to what we feel for our babies. And usualy the pets take a back seat, so you may want to casually mention the Toxoplasmosis stuff...but I wouldn't push her on the subject, if you see that things don't change after the baby comes...then I'd think about being more foward about it.