How to Prepare Your Pets for a New Baby in the House

How to prepare your pets for a new baby...Last week Molly Sims told People magazine that she has no intention of setting aside her dogs for her baby, due in June. She said that she's planning to include them as a part of her family. And while a lot of people find the idea of this to be weird, I couldn't agree more. Except for changing the dogs to cats, because cats are way better.

I have two cats, the first is Karma, she's 6 and is more my husband's cat than mine, the second is Jacques-Imo, he's 2 and he's my cat, although the growing belly is starting to seriously bug him. And I love them more than is at all reasonable. I mean it. I have over a thousand pictures of them. Yes, that is crazy, I am well aware of this. My cat has already taken over a Moses basket we were given and has claimed a Tigger that my dad bought for the baby. Yes, he's quite spoiled.

And while my dad keeps telling me that once the baby comes the cats are no longer going to be so important to us, I would beg to differ. In fact, I'm planning to differ.

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Our cats are a part of our family. I know that sounds silly to non-pet people, but it's true. We've had them and loved them for years now, I can no more imagine living without them than without my husband. Okay, well maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but not all that much. And since our cats have never been around a baby before and we want to make the transition safe and as easy as possible for all involved.

The first decision we made was that when the baby is sleeping in his room, we'll be keeping the door shut.

But the rest of the time, we'll let them explore. Keeping the baby's room off limits at all times will only make things more confusing for the cats, especially since the room was formerly our office where they had free reign. We hope that by letting them roam a little, the baby and the room won't be so mysterious, but by closing the door when the baby is asleep inside, we can keep everyone safe.

Related: 8 reasons why dogs are great for kids

We're also going to send my husband home from the hospital at some point after the baby has arrived (probably to feed the cats) and he'll be bringing blankets the baby has used so the cats can smell them and get a little used to the baby's scent in advance. I mean, I know he's going to produce some smells that no one will ever be used to, but hopefully this will make that first walk into the house a little less crazy for the cats and for us.

The only thing we haven't fully decided on is how to handle the sleep situation the first few days and weeks with the baby in the bassinet in our room. Our cats sleep on our bed, every night, usually in the most inconvenient locations possible. We are obviously concerned that they'll get too curious and try to join the baby in the bassinet, but we also have a hard time kicking them out of the room, both since it's their bedroom too and because it will result in a night of endless pawing and head slamming against the door.

Thankfully we still have some time to sort things out, but the bottom line for us is that they may "just" be cats, but they're a part of our family and just because we're adding another member doesn't mean we'll be forgetting about them anytime soon.

- By Katie Loeb
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