Howdy folks,

I am expecting a baby in July

But... we have a small house and unfortunately our fur baby's room is going to have to become our human baby's bedroom. We've had Bella for about 3 years and she's a very shy bengal. Although she's made great progress since we've had her she still spends a lot of time in "her" room, which is very much her safe place.

I obviously want to make any transition as stress-free as possible for her, and I want to start soon so she has time to get used to things gradually before the human baby arrives.

I just wanted to know if anyone else has done this and / or or has any tips / advice for minimizing her stress.

Just my 2 cents since you have no other responses. Odds are it will cause some stress.

Lots of praise, treats and playtime in the other areas will go a long way.

Hard to give advice without knowing how well you have fashioned this room for her.
Is it reinforced she's a good kitty for being in there?
Do you feed in this room too? If so try to gradually move that as well. Same with litter box if that applies.
Do you have other pets?
Is this room less noisy?

Try to think of options that give the same level of security and comfort elsewhere and why. Maybe a new cat tree or condo placed elsewhere might work. With careful thought you can make this work for all in the household. Where there is a will there is a way.

Congratulations on your future child and best of luck.

First I want to say congrats on your baby!!! I am a Mother of four so I know how excited you must be!! I know from experience, everything changes when you have your first little one but that doesn't mean you will have a TON of stress and neither should your kitty!! I think a good step is to see what all is in her room that attracts her to it!! Like mentioned above my food/water, litter, trees any of those things would need to be considered and carefully placed in your home! If her box is in there and in a corner, try to find a place that is similar to where it is now!! Same goes for food and any other thing that might be hers that's in there! Does she have a cat tree now? If so try arranging things to have the tree in front of a window! Maybe even in the room if you have the space! If she doesn't I would go ahead and get one!! Do you mind describing her room now and what she does in there? I think that will help with giving you ideas as to how to arrange things and accommodate her needs!

_________________

Thank you both for your replies

It hadn't occurred to me that we might actually be rewarding her for being in the room, so I'll definitely be taking that on board with more playtime and treats when she comes downstairs.

We feed her downstairs so that won't change, and I'm planning Phase One of making changes to be moving her litter tray onto the landing (which is a low-traffic area) so hopefully that won't be too upsetting for her.

My main concern really is that this room is the only place she'll sleep (usually on a sofabed we've got in there) - for some reason, even when we're out, she'll never settle on either of the sofas downstairs, the dining room chairs or any other surface. She also has a huge cat tree in the room, which she loves, so if I can find a similar spot for that somewhere that should help.

Anyway, like you said - where there's a will there's a way! I'm determined that Baby and Fur Baby will live in harmony!

x

Sounds like you are moving in the right direction! I would be sure to make the changes slowly before the baby gets here so its not all new to her at one time! As far as sleeping you might have to make arrangements to move things around and see what she likes best! It might end up like my sons room! He has a cat tree in there but only because he wanted her to sleep in his room. They both sleep on his bed now and our new cathas joined them! All in all I think you will be ok! If she does start getting stressed you can always get feliway diffusers and plug them in! I had never used them until we were about to get our new cat and now I swear by them

_________________

I thought I'd post an update on this for anyone interested...

The litter tray is still on the landing and that's been no problem at all. Bella's room is now the baby's nursery and for the moment until the baby arrives she's not allowed in there at all. (We've just painted it so this was a practical thing too - shes so nosy I could imagine her treading in paint trays and running round the house leaving little prints everywhere...)

We've taken it all very slowly so theres been no sudden changes, and she's been fine apart from one protest wee on the sofa. Her "safe room" is our other spare room and she seems to have settled quite happy in there now. I did buy a cover for the bed to protect it from her hair which loves burrowing under, which kind of defeats the point, but I'm happy if she's happy