This exact same thing happened to me, although, I must say, I only have one cat. But I used to pick her up and carry her with me throughout the house and she even rested on my belly while I was carrying my son. However, when he was born things changed. I couldn't simply go from petting her to picking up the baby at a moments notice, and frankly, after caring for a child in addition to regular responsibilities, you have little steam left for something else that requires your attention. I have to say, I know my cat gets the short end of the attention stick, but is it so wrong to just treat them like pets? instead of "4-legged children"?

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This didn't really happen to us, but we have been/are sharing the house with a pretty independent dog who has always been of the opinion "I live WITH you, but am not dependent ON you." He likes humans, and when he wants to be petted (like twice a week) will make his wishes known. But he's always perfectly content snoozing in front of the window of the living room while life goes on around him.

It's actually become a bit harder in recent months, as he has fallen fully into dog elderhood and is experiencing increasingly major problems related to that. So, it's become not "take our pet" but more "when is enough?"

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I was married for 8 years before having my first child. We had 6 cats and a dog when our first daughter was born.
It was a bit of an adjustment for a month or so after we brought our daughter home. The dog spent a lot of time inside, but was not a barker. She was gentle, but I stilll didn't allow her to be in the same room our child when she was having "floor time".
Our cats were a bit spooked by the baby before she started walking so they sure as heck didn't try to go into the baby's room, lol. For years before our child(ren) arrived, we had built a very large outdoor enclosure for the cats. We secured it to the house and put food, water, and a litter box in it. We loosened a window screen so we could just open the window and out the went. The cats loved it so much we would have to "chase" them back inside.

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I have 8 children- 4 canine and 4 human
We all have dinner at the same time, go to bed at the same time, we all get up at the same time
We hire a pet sitter if we are gone more than 6hr

I treat my pets the same regardless and have had no problems with any of them assimilating to the children(s) existance-

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I have 3 cats (2 are 15 years old, 1 is 9 years old) and a 1.5 year old boxer. DD is 2.5 years old.

The cats have had more issues with the arrival of the dog than the baby, and I really didn't have many problems with them during the first 1.5 years either. It took a little adjustment -- our house is small and the cats fairly inquisitive (and yes, one of mine also has that YOWL that could wake the dead, which she insists on producing right outside DD's door....), but we were headed toward equilibrium.

Then, I decided it was time to get a dog. This was a major mistake. I love the dog, she really is a sweetie. She is well-behaved (well, for what is essentially still a puppy anyway), mostly very gentle with DD despite the preschooler tendency to pull ears and lips and such, and is just a good dog. But....she is much "needier" than the cats -- she is underfoot all the time because she follows me everywhere, she wants to sit on my lap or cuddle up next to me whenever I sit down, if I sit on the floor to play with DD, the dog is immediately in my face (literally), etc.

If I had it to do over again, I would not have gotten her. I feel sometimes like I have two two-year-olds, instead of a kid and a dog -- if I'm not after one of them, I'm after the other. "Squeaker, put that down. Don't stand on the chair, sit down, sit down, SIT SIT SIT!! Hy, sit down. No, don't come over to me. Get out of my lap, dog! Sit down, sit down, sit down!!!!"
*sigh*

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I have no idea why anyone would even want a dog; they are smelly pests who want attention and ruin clothes, furniture and carpets with their chewing, peeing, pooping and humping.
They are just more work. Every person I know who has a dog screams and screams and screams at the dog, which ignores the owner and pees, poops and humps to his heart's content. I will not go into a home with a dog; my leg is not a tree or a female dog. I do not have a treat for Fido.
I would never trust one around a child.
Just what everyone wants; a house filled with pee and poo, chewed and stained clothes and something hairy and smelly jumping uncontrollably and a walking schedule, rain or sleet or snow.
Is their companionship so wonderful that it is worth all that?
Seriously I have no idea.

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Yes, this exact thing happened to us. I had a sheltie and loved him to death. When our son was born, he immediately became an annoyance; waking him up, getting underfoot, etc. Your priorities shift when you have a baby. I gave him away to a good friend and her little boy, and they love him. He's very happy with them. They can give him the attention that I can no longer give him. My husband and I have no plans of getting any more pets in the future.

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I had no problem adjusting. It was extra work but I was young and our dogs well behaved. Leaving the baby's room door might stop a cat from yowling to get out. Or checking under the crib before you leave the room.
I had an interesting experience when my son was 3. We had 2 dogs with a beware of dog sign on the fence. The meter readers would always knock and make sure the dogs were in. One day one of them did not. My son was out in the yard with the dogs. Suddenly I heard him cry. The dogs were on either side of him in full point, teeth bared with the meter reader up against the wall. I had no doubt that if he tried to touch my son that would be the last thing he ever did. After a few choice words on my part to the idiot I rescued him. Kids need to be raised with animals. It also helps later in life with keeping allergies to a minimum.

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Check out "Martha Stewart of Mommies" on www.CelluliteQueen.com for a real life look at parenting as seen through the eyes of someone that never had children. I never understood just how difficult parenting was until I was on the telephone with my youngest sister for 15 minutes, listening to her life for a mere 15 minutes, dealing with her two young children and their new puppy! Parenting is the toughest job on the planet! And it's pretty darned funny, too.

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I have to say reading some of the comments blew me away. As a Child I too had a small zoo... But literally... in addition to traditional pets the dogs, and cats, birds , fish we had horses, ponies, goats, chicken, geeze, ducks, all sorts of rodents from a genius rat to chinchilla, multiple reptiles from snakes to ancient tortise and turtles , oh ca never forget Piper our pig tailed Marque Monkey or The Wolf. My children had to resign themselves to dogs and a cat or two, a few birds , some ill fated fishes... Now I am raising 5 of our 10 grandkids, the economy and life created a need for them to live with us and we feel deeply blessed. 5 Kids from 3 years to 9 , all with us since their births , 8 large dogs and 5 Cathouse cats.
When Karenjean wote she did not understand why anyone would want them I for a few moments thought she was talking about kids! They are smelly, loud all over the furniture, potty accidents abounded in our home for almost a decade now...but my dogs are housebroken, can take easy naps in their crates when I need down time and I only have to say "sit" once to get results. On top of that I will never have to put them though college, can leave them home alone and they only eat once a day ! I have had more damage to my home, property and peace of mind from a two legged kid than ever one of my 4 leggers.
On top of all of it my dogs are either retired champions, with multiple titles or trained service dogs that ease the worry and pain of folks dealing with a harsh reality at times. My Foundation Girl was my seizure alert dog. She got me off the road a couple of times when a medication I was taking began to cause unexpect grand mals seizures, had it not been for her I dread to think what could have happened!
We are currently enroute to Gettysburg Pa , traveling there with 4 dogs and our 4 year old grand daughter. While there we will participate in a National Dog Show, tour historical sites and hang out with friends. We will go to seminars and play some silly games. Two of our pack will be going home to their Forever Home , they will live in New York City. The eldest is looking forward to his role as St Jude Children's hopsital Cancer Canine, he survived a cancerous tumor and now is trained to visit hospitals and children's rooms to offer his special never ending understanding and love. While with us the past year he obtained 3 titles in Service Dog, and even took to herding Sheep!
I think what I am trying to say is simple ... Karenjean is obviously not a dog person.. that's cool, not every one is. My husband is not that fond of Kids but he is great with them....I rarely like other people's children for more than an hour or two, they get on my nerves and always have. But we all get out of life what we put into it. My home is filled with love, fun and noise... somehow the fact it is no longer immaculate isn't a problem. Each of our kids and grandkids are into giving back to others, they believe in helping, training and being kind. I thank my dogs for helping to teach them these important values.

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oh, poor pretend friend to animals, she should of thought about it before adotpting all those poor animals before deciding to have children, i had animals before i had my son.....no cats though. and had no problem with finding time for my dog too. thats why there are things called schedules!!

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