Introduction to Mums and Dads
Children are the future. The future should be better than the present. We owe an obligation to the domestic cat to make sure that things improve for the cat in the future. In households where there are domestic cats, parents have an obligation to educate their children about how to handle a cat. This means gentleness towards the cat. It means never striking a cat. The picture on this page looks extreme. But is it? It may represent mishandling of the cat by young children. Most children will not hit a cat either with their hands or feet, in a malicious way.
However, a lot of children, through no fault of their own, will handle a cat in way that upsets the cat. What upsets a cat is rough handling. It feels aggressive to a cat. If a cat is handled harshly or without gentleness, the cat will feel unsure and it may trigger a defensive response. Gentleness is the byword. A parent or parents who have a child, and a cat, have an obligation to ensure that the child relates to the cat in a way that is acceptable to the cat. I am not preaching. I am just trying to create harmony in a home where there is a cat and child.
For 3-5 Year Old Children – Please read this…
Do not hit your cat.
Do not kick your cat.
Do not shout at your cat.
Be gentle with your cat.
Love your cat.
Stroke your cat gently.
Talk to your cat softly.
Cats can be scared.
Cats can feel good.
Cats can feel bad.
Make your cat feel good.
Parents: have a look at this video. It shows cat cruelty by a child. This is the opposite to what I state here.
Well, my first thought was that a 3 or 4 year old may not be able to differentiate between a toy and a cat. Next, I thought that such a child may lack the fine motor skills to be “gentle”. And, lastly, I though that the child may not have the language skills to understand “gentle”.
Then, after a few minutes, I dismissed all of that as I remembered ALWAYS having many pets my whole life and, neither I or my siblings, ever harmed one. It was, somehow, understood even as a toddler. Although I must mention that child discipline was very different then, and I could well have feared the repurcussions from my parents had I been anything but kind.
The only thing that I would add to the list, and strictly for parents, would be to make certain there are several escape routes and high places for the cat to retreat to. Children can, sometimes, be TOO affectionate,
Similar to what happens to Daffy Duck here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPdHaNr0OAY
A very good article Michael and good advice for any children (and parents) reading it.
I did a search on young children and cats and came up with the fact that children under 4 years old are unable to control their aggressive and angry impulses and they should be monitored with pets at all times because they can’t understand that animals have feelings and are not to be treated as toys.
I also saw that many young children copy their parent(s) so if the cat is treated roughly by them the child will do the same.
So it is the parents to blame if a family pet is abused by a young child!
In the USA and Canada there must be thousands of cats suffering daily abuse because we read so many times of having the cat declawed for the child’s sake. Those children grow up thinking cats can be adapted to soft toys, but if the poor defenceless creature defends himself by biting, he’s a ‘bad cat’ and got rid of!
As always, it’s people who make this world a horrible place for some cats and those cats just like us, only have one life, it’s heart breaking to think that life is spent in fear of the abuse they suffer.
All good advice, children learn by example so if the family cat is seen as…just a cat, a living toy to entertain the kids but not valued by mum (or mum and dad if he’s around) then the kids will grow up the same, regarding a cat as replaceable, push them around with your foot, shout at them if they’re in your way, no need to bother neutering, microchipping, vaccinating, no need to keep them in or watch them when they go out there are plenty of kittens to be had so just keep getting another one. I think it takes a special person, and I think it would be a woman, to care properly for a young child and a cat, she would have to love the cat as much as the child to make sure in a kind way that they each acted gently with the other, and to teach the child for his/her lifetime that animals are precious and that we are lucky to have them in our lives.