kitten and childmindin

[samkeddy]

Hi,
Just after advice from anyone with a cat, we have just got a 9wk old kitten milly and she's gorgoues, but i know i now need to think about my policy and hygiene etc
I have a pet policy as i have 2 big dogs allready but this basically says the children wont have access to the dogs they will be in their garden and kennel whenever im working but i dont want this to be the case with the cat my children love her and her main living space is my living room im just wondering how other people go on with minding and cats, whats in your policies?
Have i done the wrong thing in gettin her? Is it not really ideal having an indoor cat as a childminder?
please help, thanks x

[louised]

No you haven't done the wrong thing getting a cat, I have a cat, in fact i had 2 when I started minding. It's good for children to learn to respect animals, if they respect animals then there is more chance that they will grow up respecting people. The key to having animals when childminding is supervision, no child should be left alone with a pet both for the childs safety and the pets. My cat will often disappear upstairs to get away from the children if he has had enough. My pet policy just states that the children will wash their hands after handling pets, something that admittedly they don't always do but they always wash them before eating anyway, and also that petfood will be stored and prepared away from the children, I have a utility room with a separate sink so this iseasy for me to do. I also have a record of flea treatments and worming and Osfted were quite impressed with it.

[grindal]

Make sure parents know about it too - DS2 and I are very allergic to cat hair - I cannot go into houses with cats unless i have taken antihistamines.

[jelly15]

I have a cat but I try to limit the time the LOs are with her to when I am activly focused on her IYSWIM. My cat is very docile but even though I teach them to be gentle with her they can get over excited and a cat will protect its self and bite or scratch. Remember a kitten can not always control its claws and they do scratch a lot.

[mrs.h]

hi there,

we got a kitten last year in october and i asked parents before if they had any concerns. eddie was hard work to begin with and the children would not leave him alone. i often had to lock him upstairs because he couldn't control his claws and children were after him all the time.
now he is very chilled out :) . if he had enough he will sit on the stairs, behind the stair gate where little arms can't reach :p .
it is good practice to keep records of worming, flea treatment and immunisations.

have fun with the little tiger :)

mrs.h