Do cats and dogs get jealous with the arrival of a new (human) baby in the family?

[brentspeak]

Unfortunately, because dogs and cats are somewhat lacking in the articulation department, we really can't get the answer directly from them.

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Yes, they do, and some worse than others. When my third child

was born, the cat I had at the time was so happy to see me come home from the hospital, but when she realized that I was holding a baby, she hissed at me, jumped down from my lap and ignored me for about two weeks. She was pretty much a one person cat, but during that time she made it a point to cozy up to visitors at the house, most of whom she was not even friendly with, ordinarily, but wouldn't even look at me when I talked to her. She never tried to take it out on the baby, however. I was the focus of her unhappiness. She got over it in a couple of weeks.

[philosophie_en_rose]

2. It depends.

Some dogs are disturbed that there is a naked rat in your house. Others are perfectly fine (though dogs, imho, should never be left with little kids). If you can keep up your usual routine with the dog, they're usually less anxious.

[bbernardini]

3. As a new dad, I can safely say: my cats don't give a crap.

They're going about their business as usual. The youngest cat (of 4) often jumps up on our laps while we're feeding/rocking/burping him, but she did that before the new one arrived.

A few pictures of him:

http://declanb.blogspot.com

[brentspeak]

4. Cute baby

Congratulations!

[DixieBlue]

5. Depends ...

I have two cats. The female was insanely jealous of my baby when she was born. The male could've cared less.

Just be sure to give a little love to the kitties and things should be okay.

[Beausoir]

6. My cats were always shocked. My dogs were always thrilled.

Everytime I brought a new baby home, they would get the "deer in the headlights" look.

My dogs were always happily curious and glad to have another "critter" added to the pack.

[TheBaldyMan]

7. it depends on the crittur, dogs are usually good with kids but can get jealous

especially if the pet is spoilt rotten and is used to being the centre of attention. Just like other members of the family they can be a bit put out by the lion's share of attention going to a new arrival.
The good news is that the cat or dog will adjust to the new routine within a few days.
Fit your pets around your routine, they get the message soon enough.

[RubyDuby in GA]

8. It depends. Our cat and dog didn't get so much jealous as upset

that they weren't the centers of attention anymore. They have adjusted now, but you can see in their eyes that they are still sad about it.

[Left Is Write]

9. They certainly can. It happened with our cat Gunder when my now 7yo daughter was born.

[Chowlie]

10. I think they do

We had a cat when my first daughter was born and she absolutely lost it. She was peeing everywhere. The final straw was one time she came into the dining room, turned around, looked right at me and peed. We tried to find another home for her but could not. I finally gave her to the pound. I cried my heart out, but I felt I had to choose between my cat and my daughter, because I didn't want my daughter learning to crawl around carpets with cat pee all over them. :(

[u4ic]

14. Welcome to DU, Chowlie!

:toast:

[Chowlie]

17. Thank ya :) Been a lurker for years, barely posted.

[LibertyLover]

11. Our dogs were so glad to have us get them out of the kennel

that they didn't notice the kid. Actually, not quite. We adopted a little girl from China and the day we brought her back home, my stepdaughter picked us up at the airport. She had gone to the kennel and gotten our 2 whippets out and brought them home, so when we walked in the door, we were mugged. They were over-the-moon happy. Then they noticed the kid - they proceeded to mug her too with licks. She was going bananas, pointing to the dogs and saying 'gua' - which according to Chinese speaking collegues of mine is the Chinese toddler equivalent of 'doggy'. Anyway, they were thrilled, but the one that took the cake was our Siberian Husky. He very carefully sniffed the kid and then lay down in front of her and wouldn't let any of the other dogs near her. 3 years later, she is still his kid. Our senior greyhound was not thrilled but that lasted until she dropped food to him. Our greyhound bitch decided that it was another puppy for her to mother. I found them one day cuddled up on a dog bed in the living room, with the kidlet happily asleep, her head on the grey's chest. The dogs accepted her without any problems, which we were very happy about, because as much as we love them, we had made a decision that if one or more didn't seem to be able to deal with the kid we would have to find new homes for them if we couldn't work the problem out with behaviour modification.

[SeattleGirl]

12. They sure do.

When my daughter was born, the dog I had at the time wasn't too happy. One day, I took my daughter over to my mom's house for a visit. When I got back home, I found that the dog had chewed an enormous hole in the mattress of the bed, and completely ruined it. x(

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. Sometimes

When my little sister was born, our dog was very protective of her. She became especially agitated when my mom massaged olive oil into the the baby's skin. She'd whine, and try to lick the oil off.

On the other hand, one of my cats was clearly displeased with our youngest's arrival, and set to peeing in all sorts of nasty places.

It's important to give pets as much attention as possible as they get used to having a baby around.

[brentspeak]

15. It sounds like cats like to express their displeasure by peeing around the house

Other posters on the thread have similar stories.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. Probably where the expression "pissed off" came from.

:D