Should you get a pet while your baby is still little? I have a personal opinion on the matter lol.

Ok so here’s the thing. My family has always had cats and my childhood ones both died while I was pregnant. It was devastating to lose them. But because animals were such a big part of my life growing up, I thought it was important to make sure they were part of my son’s life too.

While I wanted to adopt an older cat, my father was adamant about getting a kitten. And since you want your cat to have a playmate, the discussion turned to two kittens.

Now before you think I’m crazy (fair) there is some method to my madness. Children exposed to an outdoor pet under the age of 3 have a better chance of not developing allergies. And for my family, this was definitely the case. I had cats as a baby and no allergies as an adult. My sister had no cats in the home as a baby and has the most wicked allergies. Now yes of course there are other contributing factors but I was willing to take on some pets if it meant my kid had a better shot at avoiding allergies.

Which meant the day after his first birthday, my kiddo got his first pet.

We adopted 2 little Maine Coon kitties who were just so good with the baby. One of the kittens would curl up next to him every time he nursed so she could be part of the experience too.

BUT

There is a caveat. If you are going to get kittens with a baby. Yeah…maybe don’t? Baby animals are a lot of work whether they are human or feline. And having 3 in the house is chaotic to be sure.

On the other hand, I submit the evidence below as to why it works.

 What do you think? Is it crazy to get a pet with a young toddler? Or is it good for babies to grow up respecting animals?