What are people's thoughts on giving away cats because they are too rough on children?
I have had a cat coming onto 3 years, she's absolutely amazing with adults, gentle, loving gets plenty of attention. But she is absolutely nasty to kids! The kids do not antagonise her, are gentle do not pull at her or jump all over her. She will literally sit herself in a room full of kids and enjoy stalking them and attacking them. Not in a playful way either. My 7 year old daughter cops it the worst, to the point she's too scared to walk around the house incase this cat jumps out and attacks her.
She will literally jump out, climb up her body and swipe/bite at her face. One time being millimetres away from her eye.
There are times where she can be loving towards the kids but not often.
I could understand if the kids were chasing her but that's the thing, she looks for it! She loves when they come up to her because it's an opportunity to attack. She will pick her times when she does it too, when I'm not looking. I thought maybe I wasn't feeding her early enough and she was hungry, and maybe in turn that was giving her a temper but nothing's changed. Got her desexed (needed to be done anyway) but thought maybe an added bonus would be her not attacking the kids. What else can I do? I'm seriously considering re homing her but I feel awful, and funny enough even though she attacks my eldest she still loves her.
I don't want to be one of those people who just get rid of animals but I'm tired of my poor kids getting attacked. Would it be wrong to re home? I know dogs get re homed or even put down if they show aggression towards kids but is it silly doing that with a cat?
Re homing cat
Re homing cat
Posted in:
Parenthood Guilt, Behaviour, Baby & Toddler, Kids
4 Replies
It's a shit situation all round but I honestly think re homing puss to a kid free environment would be the kindest solution for everyone.
Kids would be happier (and safer) and puss would be undoubtedly happier (probably feels threatened by the kids, hence this behavior).
Honestly, some animals just don't have the temperament to be family friendly pets, kind of like some humans don't have the temperament to interact with children 😂, that's no ones fault though.
Love my cats to death and would hate to re home too but.....
The cat sees your children as prey/play things. This is not about food. Your cat needs other stimulation play things and it would need to be a lot. Think about it, the kids moving around etc are perfect to stalk and attack. Like your cats personal play things!
I think it's unlikely you could provide enough other stimulation or keep your cat separate to your children. So you need to re-home. You need to find a child free home, if you don't the cat will be condemned to a life of misery moving from home to home.
I rehomed my cat when I fell pregnant with my first because I knew he would be like this. He was like this with us and all people so I wouldn’t have trusted him with a baby and kids.
I still do not regret my decision 4 years later.
We had a cat when we were kids that would stalk my little sister and attack her. We had to re home him. Do it. Not worth your kids being scared.