QuoteReplyTopic: Toddlers and kitten Posted: 11 June 2012 at 2:06pm
We've brought a kitten and I would like advice on how people how adapted a toddler to the kitten.
Ds (19 months) seems to like the kitten and the kitten is very tolerant of him but the kitten is tiny and ds keeps trying to pick him up (and is often successful), and pat him but is often rather rough. We are trying to get home to be gentle but its quite difficult.
I'm thinking we brought a kitten when ds is too young but we can't really return the kitten now so need to get get things working a bit better.
The kitten does her own space and we're trying to encourage her to use as ds can't get to it but she doesn't seem very keen.
TIA.
We got a kitten when DS was about that age and he was the same. Forever picking him up, hands round the neck.
The novelty will wear off eventually, just keep on with telling him to be gentle and showing him how to pat and if he wants a cuddle he needs to get you to help (you can like put him on his knee or similar) It sounds a bit mean but a few playful scratches helped DS to realise he needed to be gentle.
My son is almost 3. We had 3 cats before he was even born/thought of. The novelty still hasn't worn off. Have tried everything with him. Telling him to be gentle. Telling him off when he pulls their tails or legs but it doesn't seem to help. One of the cats has taken to biting him in return. Some how that hasn't managed to sink in either lol. For now we tell him that if he's going to be mean to the cat that the cat goes outside. He doesn't like it when the cat goes outside!
We got a kitten when DS was 20 months and had very much the same problem. He is still quite rough with her but now she is much bigger, she tends to give him a swipe and he backs off. I did worry that he'd hurt her in the early days but she soon got bigger and more robust. I guess you just need to supervise a lot for the first couple of weeks
We say "touch the cat with gentle hands" til I get sick of hearing myself say it, using our hands over theirs to show what sort of pressure to apply when they pat.
I also make sure there's somewhere the cat can go to escape, ours go under our beds and they have a basket (a nice one that matches our decor ) up on a sturdy cube bookshelf that the toddlers can't reach.
We're thinking ds is jealous of the kitten so trying to work on that. The kitten was sitting on me earlier and ds actually came and picked the kitten up off me, put it on the ground then tried to climb up. Think its a big change and he's struggling to cope as his behaviour as changed as well. We're trying to decide whether to keep the kitten or find a new home for it.
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Toddlers and kitten
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) up on a sturdy cube bookshelf that the toddlers can't reach.