Avoiding Cat-astrophy

Meet Khan and Belladonna Took. They're our two cats, and we love them dearly. But in terms of preparing for Baby's arrival, they're a bit of a wild card. How will our little darlings react and adjust to life with Baby? What can we expect?

Khan and Bella get along well enough together,
but how will they get along with Baby?

Well, of one thing we're fairly confident: we cannot expect an entirely smooth transition. We've already observed that Khan has a powerful fear of children. If he so much as hears a child playing down the block, his ears perk up, and he tenses, ready for a quick getaway. We also know that our cats--again, Khan in particular--are gluttons for our attention, and that it's not going to be easy for them to share that attention with a new and even more demanding resident. Khan, for instance, is already in the habit of meowing loudly and insistently and at all hours of the day and night if he feels he hasn't gotten enough petting or playtime in. We don't even have a baby yet, and Khan's vocalizing can sometimes drive us climbing up the wall. So, I guess the question becomes not so much "what can we expect?" but "how can we best manage our cats expectations?"

We're hopeful that there are at least a few things we can do minimize the stress of this transition for all felines and humans involved:

Khan, just a wee little kitten

1. We're working on redistributing "cat time"--more petting and playing with Daddy, less with Mom. Not easy, since Mom spends significantly more time at home with the cats, but we're making progress.
    
2. When we get new baby equipment, or used baby clothes with that soft baby smell, we're giving the cats a chance to sniff and (within reason) explore them.  So far so good; after a day or so of sniffing, the cats seem to pretty much lose interest.
    
3. We've started to play baby noises over the Internet to get the cats used to the sounds of a baby's cries. This has been especially hard on our poor Khan, who tends to run behind the couch at the first hint of a baby squeal.  But again, slow yet steady acclimation.
   
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4. We've taken Khan to the vet just to make sure his sometimes excessive vocalizations aren't the result of some physical ailment and, also, to discuss possible remedies, regardless of the source, in light of the fact that nothing we've tried on our own has worked.  (So far the vet's recommendations seem to have improved the situation, but not enough time has passed to say for sure.)

Bella's always been a snuggle bug.

We're hopeful that these efforts will pay off because, in general, we have two pretty well-behaved cats.  They're both gentle and loving.  (Khan, for his relatively annoying habits and occasional skittishness, is actually quite the tolerant teddy bear when it comes to being grabbed and hugged and poked and prodded.)  They don't leave spiteful presents for us around the house, in the manner that some cats do.  They're not hissers or scratchers or biters, as a rule.  And aside from a little inevitable shedding, they've both spared our furniture from potential devastation.  All things considered, we'd like, when we're sleep-deprived new parents, at the end of our ropes from hearing baby's seemingly ceaseless cries, not to find ourselves fighting the temptation to throw equally anxious cats out the window. (Interesting bit of trivia, though: our vet thoughtfully informed that we'd have to be 7-12 stories up to pose any real danger to kitty... Nevertheless, we'd like to avoid the temptation!)

Our vet gave us one last reminder, to which we can cling, in the event that all our efforts come to naught.  Though bad cat habits (the meowing in particular) may be an annoyance to us, they're not likely to threaten Baby's well being at all.  Noisy cats, for instance, may make a tolerant sleeper of Babe--and that's something we can live with.