Expert content provided by Kentuckiana Animal Clinic.
Introducing a New Baby to a Family of Pets
Tara Groves
Licensed Veterinary Technician
When introducing your bundle of joy to your furry family member(s), start with doing some research. Since my pets typically have full roam of the house, I started by establishing boundaries, and designated the nursery as “off limits” by using a child gate to block the doorway. When coming home from the hospital, give your pets time to be excited about you being home from your stay. Allow them to smell you as they take in all the new scents of you and baby. My husband and I calmly introduced Sawyer to our furry family members by slowly allowing our pets to approach and smell him. We took precautions to make sure not to over step any comfort levels. Keep visits short and sweet! Since the nursery was off limits, the majority of “mommy and me” time was in that designated area. Visiting times became longer and eventually Sawyer became a routine that the pets were adjusted to. It is important to stay smart when it comes to your children and pets! Remember that even though your pets may not hurt a fly, do not leave them unattended together. This is very important to keep in mind even as your baby gets older. Doing your research and keeping the comfort of your pets and the safety of your child in mind, you can cross this introduction hurdle with ease.
Introducing Changes
Sarah Nelson
Lead Client Service Representative
It is important for us as pet owners to remember the commitment we made when taking in a pet and try to find solutions instead of automatically rehoming our pets. I recently got engaged and my fiancé has a son that is allergic to cats. Working at an animal hospital and being the owner of three cats, my heart instantly sank at the thought of having to rehome my cats. Two of my cats I bottle fed since they were kittens and the other cat has special dietary needs so I didn’t know how to make all of this work initially. I think a lot of families come across changes like these in their lives and a majority of the time your first instinct is the same as mine. However, there are better solutions than simply re-homing. My solution was to build a cat enclosure and put it in my back yard. This enclosure was not expensive or hard to make. It allows my cats access to outside but also provides them a warm safe place to come in to. I put my cats up in this enclosure every night just like I do my dogs in their kennels. This allows me to make care for them and keep a close eye on their special dietary needs. When I come home from work or have finished playing with the cats, I take my clothes straight to the washer to cut down on the allergens in the house. Now I can have my new family but also still have my cat family!
Introducing a New Pet to a Family with Kids
Dr. Laura Boarman, DVM
When introducing new pets into a family with small children, it is important to make this transition slowly. Animals are already going through a lot of stress when being relocated away from everything they know and usually from their siblings and mother. It is important to make sure those pets feel safe and loved. We all know it is hard to contain the excitement of young children when bringing home a new pet, however try to remind your children to go slow and be easy. Make sure to do supervised visits with kids and pets at first until everyone feels comfortable around each other. Also another helpful tip that is very important is to make sure that your new pet is on prevention to reduce the risk of intestinal parasites and other harmful diseases. Protection for your four legged family, means protection for the rest of your family.