I have a14 year old cat. I also have a Grandmother that gives me advise all the time.?

Question

Granny told me to be sure to keep my cat away from the baby because cats are known for sucking the breath right out of babies. This is an old wives tale, Right?

Answer 1

Funny, my grandma said the same thing when I was pregnant with my now 15-year-old daughter.
Although she explained it to me like this;
Babies, being breastfed or bottle-fed, tend to smell like milk. Sometimes they even have a little left over in the corners of their mouth. A cat, being naturally curious, is gonna check out the baby. When it smells the milk, it's going to start licking to taste it. A cat licking a baby's small mouth and nose could suffocate it.
Yes it is an old wives tale, but my grandma's explanation made sense to me and it certainly is a horrible possibility.

Answer 2

Of course it is! I mean, if you think about it, how could that even be physically possible?

I read a theory that the only wives' tale got started way back when pretty much every household had cats for pest control, but people were also very superstitious about them. Back then, they had no explanation for sudden infant death syndrome (well, not that we do now), so people would just blame the cat, if it had been seen anywhere near the baby.

But there's no truth to it, so don't worry. :)

Answer 3

The sucking the breath thing is bogus but cats do tend to like warm places to sleep and an infant can be very warm and also unable to move the cat if it happens to cover it's mouth and nose. That is the origin of the tale.

Answer 4

Yes, it's an old wives tale. The kitty might sniff out of curiosity, but that's all.

Oh yes, some kitties- and dogs- will sniff a person's breath if that person is starting to get ill too.

Answer 5

Yes it is an old wives tale. You do want to try and keep kitty out of the baby's crib though.

Here's some articles with good advice on doing so:
http://cats.about.com/cs/catmanagement101/a/humanpregnancy.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_4580_introduce-new-baby.html
http://cats.about.com/cs/catmanagement101/a/newbabyandcat.htm

Answer 6

My guess is that the cat gives better advice than old granny.

Answer 7

you should keep the cat away from the baby to to be safe
a cat could scratch or do anything wait till the babies a lttle older.

Answer 8

Don't tell me you believe that? When was the last time you seen a cat suck on anything?

Answer 9

absolutely. a cat won't suck the breath out of your baby any more than you will.

Answer 10

You should keep the cat away because cats attack small animals and they can easily attack and injure a newborn.