Question about cats, I heard they kill infants?

Question

over the years i've different things abouts cats sucking the breath of an infants and killing it and recently i heard that they sit on the infants face and it suffocates them, i know they don't mean it because hey tend to take naps everywhere and such but is this true?

Answer 1

Well if they do..i mean i have heard of such cases but the cases are in few...i tell you they do not mean it ofcourse you know about the nap thing but still there are not many cases in which this happens...also..if i were th emother of my baby..id be safe than sorry and try to make sure i kept an eye on my baby!Lol

Answer 2

well it's actually a wive's tale. There have been a very few rare instances however it's really not what you think....cats like to sleep in really warm places, and in most cases when infants nap in their cribs, they radiate lots of body heat and the heat is trapped in the blankets of the crib, not only are cats attracted to this heat, they are also fond of the smell of infant breath. They will usually just lay beside the child in their crib, however there have been a very few instances where the cat actually laid on the child, not knowing that it was suffocating it. So I guess it can happen, but it usually doesn't. It's like the odds of finding a deep fried finger in your mc donald's french fries. Highly unlikely. Just watch your cat around your child and if it ever crawls in the crib swat it and tell it no loudly. I promise the cat won't do it again after that.

Answer 3

NO! Of course they are NOT true. Cats aren't these evil things that go around a kill everything in sight. And whatever the kill they eat. And I highly doubt that a cat will even TRY to eat a baby.

And my mom is a crazy cat lady and now has 2 children (me and my brother). And I have survived 12 years with cats. In fact ALL my pets are cats. Except one time I had a dog....never mind that part.

Don't worry about it. And if your concerned (which you shouldn't be) then watch both the cat and the baby.

Answer 4

cat's can suffocate an infant but most tend not to go near the child's face if they have been told once or twice. they like to be next to a warm body and since the child is so small they cannot avoid their faces. cats should always be supervised with an infant.

Answer 5

The stuff about cats sucking the life out of babies is nothing but pure nonsense. As for cats suffocating infants, it's possible, but not bloody likely, and I mean not bloody likely. Otherwise, infants would be dying tenfold every day.

Answer 6

This is an old wives' tale:
"Cats can steal the air from a baby's mouth."
False. This tale goes back hundreds of years to a time when cats were associated with witchcraft and evil spirits. Cat-lovers, rest easy - it's anatomically impossible for a cat or other animal to suffocate a baby by sealing the baby's mouth with its own. Even so, cats and other pets should be supervised around small children and introduced to a baby gradually. You should also keep cats (just as you should keep other items, like blankets and plush toys) out of your baby's crib or bassinet.

Answer 7

most cats are very mindful of infants. I know my mother has six cats and not once did they ever come close to my son(now 1 yo). the only thing they had a tendency to do was sleep in the babys bed when the baby wasnt in it himself. and the myth about them sucking the breath out of the infant is just what it is, a Myth. none of it is true. so dont worry, babies are safe around cats.

Answer 8

I've heard the same thing over and over when I was pregnant with my daughter. When we brought her home from the hospital, Lightning (my older cat) plopped down next to her and promptly fell asleep. He was her guardian until she learned to crawl. Wouldn't leave her side even at nite. He would sleep under her crib and come get me if she started crying or anything. Nothing but a myth that drove me bananas cause e1 who knew I have cats would tell me that. Only reason he stopped being near her in the crawling phase is cause she would constantly pull his tail which he didn't like. Lightning never ever hurt my daughter. Would just hiss and scoot off out of reach.

Answer 9

I grew up around cats. We had a cat that was a few years old when I was born, and we had cats when my sisters and brother were born too. And none of us were ever suffocated by cats. Even a few years ago, my older sister had her first born and our cat never even got near him. Same with her second.

The youngest one did get scratched for pulling her tail, but that's what happens when you pull a cat's tail. And that's the extent of injury we've ever had between a cat and a small child.

Answer 10

No, it isn't true. When my son was born we had 3 cats in the house and he's 14 now, so he survived.

I believe the myth came from the fact that babies could have formula on their mouths and the cats could come by them and lick it off (hence the stealing the baby's breath).

As with any animal dogs or cats, you have to supervise