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Children and Animals - Introducing Baby to Pets?

W

Wiserabbit

Young Bun
Hello!

My bump is now officially overdue and all this time hanging around is driving me crackers! Too huge to be comfortable! It means my brain is in overdrive and I'm starting to wonder how best to introduce our animals to baby and vice versa.

Up until last year I pretty much swore that I wouldn't have children and so didn't ever think this would come up (curse that biological clock and it's infernal ticking).:lol:

We have degu, a chinnie, the two girls and a canary and will soon have three chickens too. Now the goos and the chinchilla aren't really a problem as they are caged most of the time with supervised play runs, but Juno and Verity are both house buns and one of them is always loose (they don't get on, hence having separate playtime, taking it turns to have a loose day and a cage day).

Both my rabbits are Dutch-crosses. Verity is nimble to the point where she can clear a baby gate easily (I wish she would sumbit to a bunny harness - she's cleared obstacles that are larger than the world champion rabbit showjumping courses and could be a star) so blocking off is not an option. Plus, as a strict veggie I want the new baby to understand that we share this world rather than own it, and there is no such thing as "just an animal".

How have you dealt with introducing pets to new babies, and ensuring that new babies grow up to be respectful and caring of their furry siblings?
 
I will be keeping a close eye on this thread, as my wife is due end of July, although our buns are outdoor buns for the summer until the winter....
 
I too will be keeping an eye on this thread as I am due in August and am wondering the same thing!
Will you be raising your little one as a veggie?
I am vegan and my husband is a meat eater so we have compramised on raising him veggie until he is old enough to make his own choice.
 
That's something I've often thought about, if I'm ever lucky enough to have children! I would want them to be as you say; sharing the world is a lovely way of putting it :) as I don't have children I can't help I'm afraid, but good luck when yours comes along! :wave:


Wiserabbit said:
Hello!

My bump is now officially overdue and all this time hanging around is driving me crackers! Too huge to be comfortable! It means my brain is in overdrive and I'm starting to wonder how best to introduce our animals to baby and vice versa.

Up until last year I pretty much swore that I wouldn't have children and so didn't ever think this would come up (curse that biological clock and it's infernal ticking).:lol:

We have degu, a chinnie, the two girls and a canary and will soon have three chickens too. Now the goos and the chinchilla aren't really a problem as they are caged most of the time with supervised play runs, but Juno and Verity are both house buns and one of them is always loose (they don't get on, hence having separate playtime, taking it turns to have a loose day and a cage day).

Both my rabbits are Dutch-crosses. Verity is nimble to the point where she can clear a baby gate easily (I wish she would sumbit to a bunny harness - she's cleared obstacles that are larger than the world champion rabbit showjumping courses and could be a star) so blocking off is not an option. Plus, as a strict veggie I want the new baby to understand that we share this world rather than own it, and there is no such thing as "just an animal".

How have you dealt with introducing pets to new babies, and ensuring that new babies grow up to be respectful and caring of their furry siblings?
Click to expand...
 
hey there, my son who is 2 years gets supervised time with our rabbit JaJa. I will let JaJa sit on his knee so that he can stroke him for a wee bit.

I never leave Jack unsupervised with our bun as both can be pretty unpridictable (sp)

I think that if your baby is around your buns alot then he/she will grow up loving them as much as you do. :D
 
Good luck with the baby, hope it all goes well for you :D

Don't be surprised if your pets are absolutely terrified of baby to start with. My poor buns hated it when river cried. Gypsy ran round in a panic and Storm was all concerned that I was hurting this new strange helpless pink thing :lol:

Just having baby with you while you do every day things with your pets, like feeding or cleaning will help. I had River in a sling while I did things and sat in the bunny room for the bunnies to come and have a sniff at the strange bundle. I also took River's car seat with him in it into the bunny room for him to sit and watch. The bunnies would still jump every time River made a noise. Gypsy would run away if he cried. Storm would sometimes sit with him.

River is now 3 and the bunnies will take treats from him. I really had hoped that River would have more respect and be more gentle with them but he can be horrid!:( maybe a lot of children go through a terrible phase. I'm hoping that River will " get it," soon and learn some empathy. You can only try your best. Good luck X
 
Hi Rachylou!

Much like you, the new baby will be veggie until he is old enough to make his own decision. I've had a few people give me a hard time over this, but I don't see it as any different from my parents raising me as a meat eater until I was old enough to understand and say no!

I do all of the food planning and cooking in the house and my husband soon realised how much healthier he was on a veggie diet, before seeing the point of my logic when it came to animal rights and welfare! He's now veggie by choice too.

I was actually vegan for a while too before I got pregnant. We are planning to get chickens to make it easier on my vegan sympathies - I know that even free range organic eggs come from birds that will end up in pies, whereas if I have my own birds, I know that even when they stop laying they will have a secure and safe place to live out their "retirement". Plus I can't imagine a better way for new baby to learn about symbiotic relationships with animals, and where his food comes from!
 
Wiserabbit said:
Hi Rachylou!

Much like you, the new baby will be veggie until he is old enough to make his own decision. I've had a few people give me a hard time over this, but I don't see it as any different from my parents raising me as a meat eater until I was old enough to understand and say no!

I do all of the food planning and cooking in the house and my husband soon realised how much healthier he was on a veggie diet, before seeing the point of my logic when it came to animal rights and welfare! He's now veggie by choice too.

I was actually vegan for a while too before I got pregnant. We are planning to get chickens to make it easier on my vegan sympathies - I know that even free range organic eggs come from birds that will end up in pies, whereas if I have my own birds, I know that even when they stop laying they will have a secure and safe place to live out their "retirement". Plus I can't imagine a better way for new baby to learn about symbiotic relationships with animals, and where his food comes from!
Click to expand...

This is exactly how I feel!
A few of my husbands friends have given me a hard time about the decision too which is hard because my husband is reluctatly agreeing to it so does not really stand up for the decision as much as he could.
But the way I look at it is by raising him veggie that is a compramise for both of us.
 
my 2 year old is very loving and lovely with the pets but can get over excited.
with my rabbits she just tries grabbing them to pick them up (i stop her)
but the rabbits climb on her and everything but she can get a little rought with them when shes over excited.
 
you will find that the baby will watch you a lot and see how you deal with the animals and have a respect for them, my eldest is nervous of animals as we didnt have many when he was young really all he saw was the dogs but we didnt have to do anything for them as they were his grans who we lived with at the time, my youngest however has been brought up with loads of animals and he is fantastic with them, we start by letting them help clean the cages we do the dirty stuff and let him put all the things back in and food in the food bowl things like that, getting him to sit on his bum legs out he gets to "hold" the animals, when he was good at doing this we let him touch the other animals like the reptiles and he will stay still as soon as he starts moving about we take the animal away and say thats enough, we now have a dog and my youngest is above me in the pecking order, if the dog does something wrong like leaving a room he is meant to be in its the youngest that goes and grabs his collar and drags the dog back, you have to watch them carefully but mainly if they are brought up with animals they understand how to behave with them :)
 
Its very difficult to get a baby to see things the way we do. I dont think there will be any real bond or understanding between the baby and the pets until he is about 2 or 3. I got my buns when my little boy was 7 months old. He was curious of the buns and crawled after them trying to catch up but i think he just looked at them as toys not another being if that makes sence. Oscar is 1 now and he still doesnt really understand what the buns are. He will chase them and be excited to see them and he is pretty gentle and will stroke them through the baby gate if they come up to him but at the same time he wouldnt hesitate to throw a toy at them or pull their fur. It doesnt really matter how you teach them, oscar recognises the words 'gentle' 'nicely' & 'be careful' but he doesnt immediatly associate them with the buns, you have to say it each time they come into contact. Oscar is really gentle so i think im lucky as my friends little boy is also 1 and there is no way he would be allowed near my rabbits because he's just to boistrous. Your buns will let you know how they feel about it, Lola will stamp if Oscar is doing something she doesnt like and i will move him away.
 
Thanks for the comments all - we've made note and will let you know how it goes. It's good to see there is a range out there as well so no matter how little one behaves we'll know he is "normal"!:D
 
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