When I was pregnant, one of my cats used to sleep on my big belly and in the baby cradle. After my baby was born, my cat carefully would sleep curled up beside her in the cradle. I never once had any issues between any of my cats and the baby, they all got along wonderfully. I think most people are scared the cats will hurt the baby, so they stress out, and shoo the cats away from the baby, because the HUMAN parents are paranoid. I did nothing... and everything went great, cats loved baby, baby didn't care one way or another about the cat sharing her bed. Babies should be laid on their sides bolstered between two rolled up towels to sleep. In this position, it is impossible for them to choke on their own spit up OR for a cat to lay on their face enough to hinder their breathing. As babies mature, they begin to pull fur on the cat if the cat tries to curl up too close... cats learn to avoid the baby on their own, no human discouragement is required. It's really amazing what nature works out on it's own if you just leave it to be, and let it run it's own course. Litter pans do need to be put in a non-baby accessible place one baby begins to crawl or walk.... (obviously).
As far as rescue work goes, I would avoid doing anything that would lead to you being bitten by an unknown animal, as I doubt they would be able to do the rabies treatment on a pregnant woman without harming the fetus. You should also have all the cats (and other animals) you care for tested for Toxoplasmosis and parasites, and if they have any of those things, have them treated so that handling them and their litter, bowls, and bodies is not endangering your pregnancy. Jenn http://ucat.us http://ucat.us/domesticcatlinks.html Adopt a cat from UCAT rescue: http://ucat.us/adopt.html Adopt a FIV+ cat: http://ucat.us/AWrescue/FIV/ http://ucat.us/FIVadopt.html Adopt a FELV+ cat: http://ucat.us/FELVadopt.html "Saving one animal won't make a difference in the world, but it will make a world of difference for that one animal." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I collect KMR kitten formula labels for Bazil, a 3 yr old special needs cat who must live on a liquid diet for the rest of his life. Bazil's caretaker collects labels and sends them to KMR, where they add up until she earns a free can of formula! PLEASE save your KMR kitten formula labels for Bazil! If you use KMR, even just one can, please ask me for the mailing address you can send them to, to help feed Bazil! -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.12.7/156 - Release Date: 11/2/2005
