Hello, right now I have two savannah cats one F2and one F3 males. I am 5 months pregnant with our first. I’ve been scouring the web but haven’t found quite what I’m looking for. I was wondering if anyone has any advise on how to introduce my cats to the new baby. I’ve read a lot of cat forums but I know these cats are a little different. I do plan on letting the cats smell a clothing item before I bring the baby home to accumulate them. But should I set up the nursery sooner or later? Any advise is welcome! I can’t seem to find much on savannah cats and newborns. My family thinks I will have to get rid of the cats but I refuse to do that as they are my children as well!
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Hi Lizerd610,
As others have said, I've faced this issue in the reasonably recent past. I've had Savannahs for 18 years but welcomed our children 2 and 4 years ago... and so had to think about how that would go. Especially as I had two F1s in my household of five Savannahs, one being a 62% one to boot. And yes, people did assume I would rehome them when I got pregnant that first time! As if that was an option to me.
Yes, do set the nursery up sooner than later.... but try and do it gradually. For most early generation Savannahs (and really many cats of all breeds) change is very disturbing. So bring in one piece of furniture at a time... set it up and let them inspect it. I'm sure that they will then think it great that you bought them all these cool new cat beds.
When I was in the hospital with our firstborn, my husband would go home every day with one of the swaddle blankets we had used that day with Lola and laid it out on our bed... which is where they all sleep. He would come home the next time and there would be cat hairs on the baby blanket so obviously they were napping right on the blankets so were okay with the scent.
Something that Marilyn Krieger, the Cat Coach, recommended to me whilst pregnant was to seek out and play videos with newborn babies screaming. The pitch of a newborn's cry can trigger some cats, it is similar to the cry of an animal in pain. So it is better to accustom them to this beforehand.
When we brought baby home, we put her down in the room in her car seat and stood back. They all came up and smelled her but the moment she moved and even before she cried they backed off. We never pushed them to be near her, but found that when she was sleeping they loved to curl up next to her. It really depends on your comfort level, I never stressed about that. There is an old wives' tale about babies "stealing the breath" of babies, and I think it was Trish Savannahs that found the origin of that and it was a case of a dead baby that was found with a cat next to it, supposedly nudging it and now we think the cat was trying to activate the child, not steal its breath. Cats "might" be attracted by the milk breath but unless your cat has a history of sleeping on your face I don't think that they will start with your baby! If so, then shutting the door to baby's room fixes that.
Let me know of any issues you are worried about, I'm happy to help!
