Monday, February 6, 2012

I Think My Cat Knows I'm Pregnant

I'd heard before that animals can tell when you're pregnant.

I remember a story about a lady who had a cat who would lick her hands only when she was pregnant.

I'm not sure that I believed it.

I'm still unsure.

But my cat has been acting strangely.

Both my cats are kind of needy, one more so than the other.  They are not the kind of cats that disappear into other rooms to sleep by themselves.  They actually seek us out when they come in to make sure they are sleeping in the closest room to us.

One has anxiety issues when we leave the house for a few days in which he starts peeing all around his litter box without actually peeing IN it. But generally he is the less needy of the two, he'll be the one that goes out in the morning, pops in once or twice during the day and then we don't see him again until we call him in for bed.

The other one is the needy one.  He loves me and doesn't really like to be TOO far away from me.  But the last few weeks he's really kicked his neediness up a notch.

An example, this morning he went out for an hour but then came in and followed me around the house, laying down to sleep in each new room I went into, getting up and following me into the next room and on and on.  Finally because I felt sorry for him, I picked him up and we had a little snuggle on the bed for half an hour.  Yes, I really dropped what I was doing to give my cat some snuggles for a full half an hour.

When we first got them as kittens we would bring them up to bed with us, me carrying my little needy one and Dom bringing the other one up whenever he came to bed.  Eventually they started to come to bed with us when we'd call them and we stopped carrying them up.  Generally they sleep at the foot of the bed, but sometimes, sometimes my cat really likes to snuggle with me up by my face, he lays in the nook, just under my chin and my armpit.  

His face under my chin, the rest of his body under my armpit.

Herein lies the problem:

This just happens to be the exact spot a nursing baby would be sleeping.

So, in preparation we've been trying to wean the cats.  We don't bring them up to bed with us, we don't call them up to bed, we just go to bed.  If they follow us they are of course still allowed in the bed, but we don't encourage it the way we used to.

This seemed to be going well, half the time they'd both pass out downstairs while we were watching TV and then just stay there all night, or come up at some point and sleep at the foot of the bed.

But lately Killer baby (his name is Killer, my husband named him, if you really want the story I'll tell you sometime) has decided that he not only needs to be sleeping with me, but he needs to be sleeping in my nook. 

And he needs to stay there ALL night long.

What do you guys think?  Is my cat getting nervous about the pregnancy?

And then this leads me to this question, does he know that this is a viable pregnancy now and that the other one wasn't?  I think I might have to start gathering research for my new theory titled:

How to Tell If Your Pregnancy is Viable Through Your Cat's Behavior.

This theory will be published along with How To Tell If Your Baby is Still Alive By Obsessing Over Your Thermometer which I am still gathering research on.

Who's got an animal story for me?

And since I'm talking about cats, everyone please click on this link, I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.  CAT FANS ONLY.

25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions

19 comments:

  1. Hahaha! I just love this post! & I love your theories!

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  2. Lol. You're too funny. I think your cat DOES know that this is a very viable pregnancy and he's getting kicked to the curb in a few months and getting all the love in he can. :)

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  3. LOL! Great, thanks a lot....Now not only do I have to think about every twinge or weird feeling in my body, but now I'm going to obsessively watch my cat to see if he's reacting differently to me! Which for the record, he's downstairs and has ignored me since I got home a little bit ago!!! Oh no....... But it's still early, right? When did this start??? And yes, I want to hear the story about his name!! :)

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    Replies
    1. Sorry! Just what you need, 1 more thing to obsess over! It didn't start at the beginning of either pregnancy, it started at about 10 weeks this time and he didn't do it with the first pregnancy, hence my theory!

      I'll have to have another cat post now and tell the cat name story ;-)

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  4. My mom had a cat, Max, who slept by her head when she was pregnant and only then. Not pregnant, no cat. Pregnant, cat.

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    1. Max was also the cat that would rotate to different parts of the bed through out her cycle- and for the record- he did not like sharing his lap when the nursing baby came along. With my cat, I was so paranoid after the baby came that I made her sleep outside cuz she is a snuggler and I was so afraid she would lay on the baby.

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  5. Oh, and Trooper is Nick's dog but when I got pregnant, he would only sleep on my side of the bed and would only jump on the bed from my side. At the end of the first trimester, he would even act scared of Nick sometimes. Animals are weird and know things.

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  6. I wonder if there might also be a way to predict a BFP through cat behavior....

    PS your kitty sounds very cute :D

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  7. I really think animals know everything. Our dog always comforts me when I am sad -- and was super clingy after my miscarriage.

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  8. I have two toy poodles and my smart one (sasha) totally clued in that something was going on. She went from a really well behaved 4 year old to a brat. She started peeing in the house again, she totally destroyed a pillow, a pair of thongs and she ate my husbands work boots. Stuff she hadn't done for years. And then she would look at me balefully as if to say my position in this household is going to be usurped. Frankie is a bit simple but even he has been super clingy. We are trying to train them to not come onto our bed but so far no banana's!

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  9. Love this post and love cats!!! I'm absolutely sure they know these things! They have amazing intuition. In fact one of our cats (the female) changed her behavior radically already after my embryo transfer (i.e during the 2WW) and it's been pretty much the same ever since. Although it was most pronounced in the beginning. I wrote a post about it during my 2WW: http://closeencounterswithfertilitytreatment.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/meet-roseselavy-my-personal-zen-master-aka-the-rest-police/

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  10. Yes, I think your cat knows you're pregnant. My girls are all very in tune with my emotions and comfort me when I'm sad regularly.

    Here's what I was thinking: I sleep on my side. Two of my cats like the prized spot right in the crook of my belly. But they don't like each other enough to share that spot. So if one is there, the other just finds a spot at my feet. I suspect your cat will do the same when there is a baby in that spot. AND I also suspect your cat might just avoid the bedroom all together if there is a screaming baby in there! For now, I'd say let your kitty cuddle you and purr on you and give you all the kitty love and support to nurture your pregnancy.

    YEAH to theories about kitties predicting viability. I'll be analyzing my girls starting Friday (just kidding, well half kidding).

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  11. Cats can detect pregnancy hormones (I learned this on Animal Planet). If I could just get them to communicate their knowledge better! I have a jealous cat and a super laid back cat. The jealous cat seemed to become more possessive of me when I had pregnancy hormones, and like yours lost interest in going outside.

    On another note, thank you for all your comments lately on my blog. You let me know that what I was experiencing was normal-- and that was very comforting.

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  12. Your needy/clingy kitty sounds like my Rusty. He's VERY much a mama's boy. He needs love when I get home, doesn't like me going out in the evening and herds me to bed when it is time (in his opinion). He also sleeps in my nook too. I'm not sure if he's figured out that I'm pregnant yet, or if he cares (yet). He's being as vocal as he always is.
    His sister, Mansi, on the other hand is just as spazzy as normal. I don't think the pregnancy will effect her in any way, except she won't like crying and she might like a new snuggle buddy (something we'll have to keep an eye on).

    Love the kitty link!

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  13. Hmm, according to this link, http://user.xmission.com/~emailbox/trivia.htm , cats and humans have similar areas in the brain responsible for emotion. I think this can help a lot in your theory. If cats and humans feel almost the same emotions, then it's possible that your cat senses yours too. For me, cats are very special… I have 10 cats at home, and they always lift me up whenever I feel down. The same goes for you. They will always be there for you, especially now that you're in another pregnancy stage. They'll love your baby too, so do not worry too much. :D

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  14. Hi its finny cause i notice my cat acting different an i want to see if it was just me i work frm 7 pm to 5 30 in the mornin an as soon as i get home she my lil baby powder comes to she meows an licks my hand an wont stop until i show her affection she sleep on my stomach anywhere she can get comfortable as long as it is on me she runs frm everyone else an now that i see these stories i no why that is i thought maybe it was cause i pick her up on the street an brought her home but i now know why...... she my lil baby an her name is Powder Patch McCoy an she keeps me warm at night

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    12years to get pregnant and needed help! i have been going to the
    doctors but still nothing. The doctor said that me and my husband is
    fine and I don’t know where else to turn. Until one day my friend
    introduce me to this great spell caster who helped her to get back her
    lost husband back with love spell and also made her pregnant, So I
    decided to contact this spell caster on whatsApp, after interactions
    with him he instructed me on what to do, after then i should have sex
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  17. A GREAT SPELL CASTER THAT HELP ME GET PREGNANT. I have been trying for
    12years to get pregnant and needed help! i have been going to the
    doctors but still nothing. The doctor said that me and my husband is
    fine and I don’t know where else to turn. Until one day my friend
    introduce me to this great spell caster who helped her to get back her
    lost husband back with love spell and also made her pregnant, So I
    decided to contact this spell caster on whatsApp, after interactions
    with him he instructed me on what to do, after then i should have sex
    with my husband or any man I love in this world, And i did so, within
    the next one months i went for a check up and my doctor confirmed that
    i am 2weeks pregnant of two babies. I am so happy!! if you also need
    help to get pregnant or need your ex back please you can reach via email[
    dradoguspellcaster@gmail.com] or
    whatsApp him on (+2349069051185

    ReplyDelete