cat scratches

Sara wrote in
:

llama mama wrote:

we have one cat
that will let Boo maul him, a deaf cat named Faucet. he *will*
scratch if extremely provoked, but it takes a lot to get him to. i
can't remember him scratching more than 4 or 5 times before Boo got
the hint that tails aren't pull toys, and they were always very light
scratches.

Our cat is deaf. I wonder if there's a connection? Anyway, I'm hoping
Ollie will learn soon. He's had about four or five scratches -- not
all that many, but the problem is that they're on the face and head.
We're afraid the cat is aiming for the eyes.

not that likely. it's just that the face is usually the closest thing to
the cat's paw. Boo did get a couple face scratches, one next to his eye
(but that was from Bran, not Faux).


http://www.tarogue.net/~tom/brennan/...e/mvc-011f.jpg Faux
meets the baby

Maybe our cats are related:
http://chatteringmind.com/photos/200.../quit_taking_o
ur_picture.jpg

oh, he does look like Faux. does he have one blue & one yellow eye or
both blue? the gene for deafness is linked to the blue-eyed gene in cats
(and llamas, it seems)
lee
--
It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate
between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital
connection between them. -Leo Buscaglia, author (1924-1998)

llama mama wrote:

oh, he does look like Faux. does he have one blue & one yellow eye or
both blue? the gene for deafness is linked to the blue-eyed gene in cats
(and llamas, it seems)

Both are greenish-blue. He's completely white, every hair on him --
I've been told that white animals frequently are deaf.

--
Sara, accompanied by the baby barnacle

I check this e-mail account infrequently

Andrea wrote:

I have a great online reference for you about Cats & Kids found at the
address: http://www.flippyscatpage.com/health.html#children .

Please let me know if this helped.

There's some good information there -- thanks.

I'm going to supervise them better and hope they both grow to behave
themselves soon. When they _do_ get along, it's wonderful; I love
hearing the cat purr as the baby pets him, or seeing the cat rub his
head against the baby.

Thanks to all of you for your advise!

--
Sara, accompanied by the baby barnacle

I check this e-mail account infrequently

"Sara" wrote in message
...
My nine-month-old baby loves our cat. Loves to chase him, to pet him,
to try to eat him. The cat is surprisingly tolerant, but... well...
there have been incidents. We keep the cat's claws trimmed and try to
stop the violence, but even so Ollie's getting quite a few scratches.

Is there anything to worry about with these scratches? I've read about
"cat scratch fever," but anything else? (He's an indoor, healthy cat.)


I don't post here much but just had to say that I now have that damn Ted
Nugent song running through my head!!

Nadene

In article ,
Sara wrote:

P. Tierney wrote:

I think if the child has "quite a few" scratches, then there is
something
to worry about. My 18 month old has received, maybe, three mild scratches
from a combined four clawed cats. It sounds like yours is getting more
than that from just one in half the time, so I suspect there's a
relationship problem between the two.

The thing is, they get along well and usually enjoy each other's
company -- it's not that the cat doesn't like the baby.

I'd try to gradually teach the child how to pet and treat the cat
properly.

Any advice on how to do this? We're trying to teach him "gentle," and
show him over and over how to stroke the cat. Ollie's stopped biting
him and doesn't grab his fur with both hands any more, so there's been
progress.

Until your child learns, which should take awhile considering his age,
I'd monitor their "playtime" pretty closely.

They're together all day and night, so it's pretty difficult. On the
plus side, Ollie's trying to say "cat," we think -- he makes this
coughing sound only at the cat -- so at least I get some warning when
that's who he's focusing on.

Depending upon how bad it gets, you might need to find a way to lock the
kitty in another room unless you can be right on top of the two of them.

I know how hard this can be to do, but even if it means locking the cat
in the bathroom for a while, if it means protecting the cat and the baby
from each other while you are, for example, cooking dinner, you might
have to.

I got lucky, and my cat trained my kids with only one scratch -- and
that one was deserved. (Child was older, and when I asked what she was
doing when the cat scratched her, she said she was "just petting her
under her tail". Never did that again.)
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"dragonlady" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Sara wrote:

P. Tierney wrote:

I think if the child has "quite a few" scratches, then there is
something
to worry about. My 18 month old has received, maybe, three mild
scratches
from a combined four clawed cats. It sounds like yours is getting
more
than that from just one in half the time, so I suspect there's a
relationship problem between the two.

The thing is, they get along well and usually enjoy each other's
company -- it's not that the cat doesn't like the baby.

I'd try to gradually teach the child how to pet and treat the cat
properly.

Any advice on how to do this? We're trying to teach him "gentle," and
show him over and over how to stroke the cat. Ollie's stopped biting
him and doesn't grab his fur with both hands any more, so there's been
progress.

Until your child learns, which should take awhile considering his age,
I'd monitor their "playtime" pretty closely.

They're together all day and night, so it's pretty difficult. On the
plus side, Ollie's trying to say "cat," we think -- he makes this
coughing sound only at the cat -- so at least I get some warning when
that's who he's focusing on.

Depending upon how bad it gets, you might need to find a way to lock the
kitty in another room unless you can be right on top of the two of them.

I know how hard this can be to do, but even if it means locking the cat
in the bathroom for a while, if it means protecting the cat and the baby
from each other while you are, for example, cooking dinner, you might
have to.

You can plan it so sometimes the baby is strapped in the highchair near you,
and sometimes the cat is the one locked out of the way... that would
distribute the burden so neither of them would be likely to notice it so
much. Also good is if you try to plan something to distract the restrained
small creature with during their incarceration... crayons and paper for the
baby, schedule a feed for the cat when the cat gets locked away.

If the weather is cold, then making the place you want the cat to sit be
warm will mean the cat is a lot more likely to hang out there. Also, if the
weather is good and the cat doesn't get out the house much then buying an
outside cat run that attaches to a window (depends a lot on your house
design) might be a good thing.

If you think the deafness might be an issue, and you are lucky enough to
have hard floors, maybe putting improvised tap shoes on the baby would help
give the cat warning of when the baby is descending fast on him, by
vibrations through the floor.

silvasurfa wrote:

If you think the deafness might be an issue, and you are lucky enough to
have hard floors, maybe putting improvised tap shoes on the baby would help...

If nothing else, this would be good entertainment for me...

--
Sara, accompanied by the shufflin'-off-to-Buffalo barnacle

I check this e-mail account infrequently

"snipped
I don't post here much but just had to say that I now have that damn Ted
Nugent song running through my head!!

Nadene

Me too! but I LIKE IT! :-)

"T.R.H." wrote in message
...

"Candio" wrote in message
s.com...
On 23 Jul 2003, "T.R.H." wrote in
:


"snipped
I don't post here much but just had to say that I now have that damn
Ted
Nugent song running through my head!!

Nadene

Me too! but I LIKE IT! :-)

it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it like it yes I do

and Ted helps get me pumped for the up-n-coming hunting season - YEAH!


So you need Ted to get you pumped up to kill Bambie ;-)

"Plissken" wrote in message
. ca...

"T.R.H." wrote in message
...

"Candio" wrote in message
s.com...
On 23 Jul 2003, "T.R.H." wrote in
:


"snipped
I don't post here much but just had to say that I now have that
damn
Ted
Nugent song running through my head!!

Nadene

Me too! but I LIKE IT! :-)

it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it like it yes I do

and Ted helps get me pumped for the up-n-coming hunting season - YEAH!


So you need Ted to get you pumped up to kill Bambie ;-)


nope, don't need anything, the adreneline gets going on its own once I'm
stalking something.

And its usually swamp donkeys I go after, but will take "bambi's" dad if he
crosses my path and the freezers getting low. :-)