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Dr. Brazelton, your stunning ignorance will kill a lot of family pets

By Gina Spadafori

January 15, 2009

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I can’t believe this kind of crap is still floating around, much less from a noted pediatrician. In this week’s column, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton repeats the old myth that cats are prone to smothering babies — so expectant families should dump their pets, ASAP:

You are right to be concerned about your daughter’s cats and her new baby for other reasons.

Cats attach themselves to human caregivers, and felines have been known to be jealous of babies as if the new arrivals were siblings! Some cats will seek out the infants’ mouths and noses and lie on them to smother them.

It would be better for the baby if your daughter would rid herself of the cats. If not, the cats must be kept away from the child for the infant’s protection.

Finally, if there is a history of allergies or asthma in the family, or if the child develops signs of either of these, your daughter may once again need to consider finding a new home for her cats.

Of course, this was after grave warnings about litter boxes, legitimate to an extent but easily and safely dealt with through a few basic common sense precautions.  And besides, you’re more likely to get sick by handling meat.

As for the allergies, you know, Dr. B, you might want to check some recent studies. These show that children who are not raised in a sanitary bubble of overprotective germ-phobia are much more likely to be healthier in the long run. And those good dirty influences? They include pets.

That said, let’s remind people about common sense. Parents who have it always supervise interactions between pets and children, teach young children proper pet-handling and hand-washing habits and make sure the family pets are kept in good health by the family veterinarian, to further reduce any chance of passing along disease.

But as for dumping the cats when you get pregnant? Dr. Brazelton, we’re waiting for a correction on your bad advice.

Drop an e-mail to the ill-informed doctor here.

Filed under: animals: pets — Gina Spadafori @ 1:50 pm

46 Comments »

  1. Your cat will smother your baby *on purpose*?! That’s…that’s…wow.

    Comment by mikken — January 15, 2009 @ 2:07 pm

  2. Wow. This is just ridiculous. This is assuming a WHOLE lot that has never been substantiated. I’m not even sure where to start! It’s very sad that so much ignorance still exists in the medical community. And what new parent is going to question what her pediatrician tells her?!?! Unbelievable.

    If you’re worried about introducing your pet to your new baby, or acclimating your pets to the idea of a baby in the house, there are LOTS of resources out there. the key is to be prepared, not have this knee-jerk reaction and get rid of the pet.

    Comment by Oklahoma Humane Society — January 15, 2009 @ 2:33 pm

  3. But they’ll make it look like an accident. Cats are sneaky like that. ;O)

    Isn’t that guy like 900 years old? He was old when I was little, if it’s the same person I’m thinking of.

    Comment by Lori — January 15, 2009 @ 2:38 pm

  4. how old is this guy? this is pretty outrageous.

    Comment by stellaluna — January 15, 2009 @ 2:48 pm

  5. Aha! I always suspected cats were sociopaths.

    Comment by C.L.H. — January 15, 2009 @ 2:52 pm

  6. What drivel! In rescue, I get calls every day from expectant mothers and new parents that need to rehome their cats. When I grew up, we always had at least one cat and one dog, and we survived even though I had allergies.

    Comment by Dru Milligan — January 15, 2009 @ 3:04 pm

  7. Wow! Are you kidding me?

    Comment by Jason Merrihew — January 15, 2009 @ 3:25 pm

  8. Sent a polite note, mentioning how my brother and I have made it to middle age in spite of being raised in a house with Persians from birth. Asked for a retraction.

    I ended up taming then re-homing a kitten mill refugee (Persian/Himalyan mix sold as Persian) because the rescue knew they were out of their depth on Persians. The rescue ended up with this poor guy because the idiots that bought him (for more money than I would have spent on The Queen of the Universe and HER father was a Supreme Grand Champion that really was tied for The Most Amazing Male Cat I’ve Ever Seen) dumped him after they had a baby for just this reason. Have enough on my plate right now to deal with mopping up after this published idiot causes a whole bunch more cats to be put into rescue.

    Ask for the retraction. It’s outrageous that a pediatrician would be peddling this kind of tripe. Let’s take the time to hold him accountable, because otherwise, he’s going to take up OUR time and dollars rescuing these cats that shouldn’t be removed from their homes in the first place.

    Comment by Dorene — January 15, 2009 @ 4:26 pm

  9. I sent him a mostly polite (Ok there was some sarcasm) email.

    My snarkiest comment was “I’m suprised to see that you didn’t also recommend that if the new baby is suffering from ‘ill humours’ that he be taken to the nearest barber for a blood letting.”

    I included nice links about allergies (pediatric allergist blog), toxoplasmosis (humane society) and cats suffocating babies (there was actually a trial by the pilgrims of a cat that allegedly did this).

    I also offered to teach him how to use Google since it took me less than five minutes to find numerous articles on these topics.

    Its amazing the drivel that gets sent out as news these days.

    For an interesting read check out Nathan Winograd’s web site - he has a very telling article about his recent phone interview with a ‘reporter.’

    Comment by 2CatMom — January 15, 2009 @ 4:36 pm

  10. I wonder if he’s been ever a cat parent? Thanks Gina for reminding all of us that even on this technologically advanced world we still have souls living in the 18th century.

    Comment by Karina A — January 15, 2009 @ 5:38 pm

  11. If my pediatrician faced me with this kind of choice, I’d be looking for a new doctor or an abortion. That crap in this day and age is totally unacceptable!

    Comment by Anne T — January 15, 2009 @ 6:08 pm

  12. Gee, I haven’t heard that old chestnut for, oh, about 40 years now and most people scoffed at it back then.

    I guess my cat Felix didn’t get the memo because when my daughter was tiny and sleeping in a basket, Felix would guard her, charging anyone strange who came near the basket.

    Maybe he just wanted to isolate the baby so he could complete his sinister plan in private.

    Comment by Selma — January 15, 2009 @ 6:22 pm

  13. Thanks for the heads-up. I sent the doctor a polite email pointing him to your blog and asking him to print a correction.

    —Autumn

    Comment by Autumn — January 15, 2009 @ 6:36 pm

  14. Well, this showed up on Pet Chat With Doc Halligan (Parade magazine) on the Pets page of SFGate a day or so ago, so it’s still out there, floatin’ around (eye roll):
    http://www.parade.com/pets/pet.....eFile=true

    And (off topic) when I went back to SFGate for the above link, I found this:
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....#038;tsp=1
    Please explain to me why it is ok for a zoo to sell a one year old giraffe to a commericial THEME PARK. Oh, $70,000. Right.

    Comment by Susan Fox — January 15, 2009 @ 7:06 pm

  15. Ok…..my take on this is keep the cats, rehome the kid!

    Comment by Melody — January 15, 2009 @ 7:39 pm

  16. I’ve long wondered if the folk belief that cats smother infants wasn’t an attempt to explain SIDS. At any rate, if it were true, I expect I wouldn’t have made my first birthday — my first minder was a large, fluffy ginger tabby, who was by all accounts perfectly willing to keep me toasty warm.

    Setting aside the good doctor’s claim that smotherings are motivated by jealousy — good grief, could we get more gothic? — are there are any confirmed cases of a cat smothering an infant?

    Comment by Eucritta — January 15, 2009 @ 7:46 pm

  17. this is about the closest i could find on the subject, and they do a pretty good job of explaining the possibilities and the folklore behind the beliefs:
    http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/catsuck.asp

    Comment by stellaluna — January 15, 2009 @ 9:13 pm

  18. Oh My!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this guy for real?

    I have been in nursing, for like, 30 years, and haven’t heard this since WAYYYYYYYYY before then.

    I always wondered what those cold cat stares were about. Now I know. They are contemplating the end of the universe, via suffocation of all living things.

    Comment by Katrina — January 15, 2009 @ 9:38 pm

  19. This just begs the question . . .

    Do cats only smother babies? Do they ever smother say, new lovers out of jealousy? Or how about owners when they bring home obnoxious new kittens or puppies? {will sleep with one eye open on this one}

    “It would be better for the baby if your daughter would rid herself of the cats.”

    Rid herself?!

    Well, I must say, I thought PeTA won the award this week for rendering me speechless, but now . . . .

    Comment by straybaby — January 15, 2009 @ 9:58 pm

  20. I’m wondering if cats could be trained to smother certain people… I mean, it would be the perfect crime!

    Comment by Christie Keith — January 15, 2009 @ 10:32 pm

  21. I’m wondering if cats could be trained to smother certain people… I mean, it would be the perfect crime!

    Only Huple’s cat.

    Comment by Eucritta — January 15, 2009 @ 10:42 pm

  22. I certainly think that the good doctor is wrong. I owned cats with children, infant through adult, without any problem. But, to choose “abortion” or “rehome the kid”? To be anti-children is as bad as being anti-cat. I find comments like these to be offense.

    Comment by catlady — January 15, 2009 @ 11:28 pm

  23. Well, cats can be trained . . . lol!~

    Geeze, and I’ve been working on silly stuff like “Sit pretty” . . .

    Comment by straybaby — January 16, 2009 @ 12:19 am

  24. Thank you Gina! It is not often that I write to a newspaper/website, but your post prompted me to issue a carefully worded email to the “great” doctor. As a veterinary hospital manager and veterinary management consultant with 18 years of experience, I have actually worked to help re-educate clients that have been guilt tripped into asking to euthanize their cats because of the “risks” that Dr. Brazelton mentioned. Thankfully, they trusted our informed opinion and have healthy, happy children as well as healthy, happy cats!

    Comment by Debby Phillips, CVPM — January 16, 2009 @ 2:26 am

  25. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA - NO.

    Comment by slt — January 16, 2009 @ 6:29 am

  26. Comment by straybaby — January 15, 2009 @ 9:58 pm

    “{will sleep with one eye open on this one}”

    SNORK!!!!!

    Comment by The OTHER Pat — January 16, 2009 @ 7:00 am

  27. And I thought my cat liked to sleep on my head because he loved me! (Note to self: Time to write the cat out of my will).

    Comment by 2CatMom — January 16, 2009 @ 7:33 am

  28. My message was not to Methuselah himself but to the newspaper, asking how they could possibly publish such garbage and that they needed to print a correction and get rid of Dr. B.

    I always thought my cat smothered me with affection. Now I find out he just wants to kill me and get rid of the dogs!

    Comment by Phyllis DeGioia — January 16, 2009 @ 7:59 am

  29. Dr. B. ignores all the benefits of children growing up with cats.

    I, personally, have never heard of one time when a cat smothered an infant, and I have been on this planet for quite a while.

    Thanks, Phyllis DeGioia, for writing to the newspaper. I tried but I could not connect—I think it was my computer’s fault.

    What a wonderful bonding my daughter had with the cats that lived with us.

    Mean-spirited, blind-sighted, cat-haters gotta
    go, not the darling felines!

    Comment by Colorado Transplant — January 16, 2009 @ 9:53 am

  30. I was given a lovely demonstration early this morning of what actual jealousy between two cats and a little dog looks like, with everyone piling on to my lap and stubbornly holding to their claimed territory while I tried to read the paper. No breath suckage occurred, though it was a bit difficult to suck down my coffee with a cat on my elbow. I suppose that could be considered life-threatening at 6.30 in the morning, ayup.

    Comment by Eucritta — January 16, 2009 @ 11:14 am

  31. Frankly, I am unwilling to let cats off the hook entirely for evilness. I swear mine are trying to drive me mad.

    Clara slipped out yesterday — took advantage of my clumsiness and haste — and was not back/in house when I went to bed, despite my desperate calling/searching for her. I went to bed worrying that she was not coming back at all. (They are, for the most part, indoor kitties.)

    This morning, she was sleeping on the couch (I’d left the dog door open so she could find her way in.) Ilario, however, had used the dog door to let himself OUT.

    He came in as soon as I opened the back door. But you know, he is still really a kitten, so he is not yet as skilled when it comes to screwing with my head as she is. I daresay he will learn.

    All doors secured today. Stay put, you rotten kittehs.

    Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 16, 2009 @ 11:59 am

  32. Our new, shelter born 4 month old tuxedo boy got his first taste of outside yesterday when we let him out onto the patio. About five minutes was enough, then he went back inside. He has no clue what a cat door is, but we’re still keeping him confined at night until we feel he knows what he’s doing outside.

    He’s been here a week now. The three girls have pretty much gone through the five stages of new cat introduction: Shock, Outrage, Hissy Fits, Observation and Indifference.

    Comment by Susan Fox — January 16, 2009 @ 2:12 pm

  33. Geez, I am so tired of such ignorant rants. I actually did a post after attempting to research how some of the misconceptions about such things keep getting perpetuated in September. I put the link to it so if you click the name you can take a look.

    So sad when “educated” and “trusted” sources make ignorant statements.

    Comment by Ark Lady — January 16, 2009 @ 2:47 pm

  34. Seriously, is there any evidence to support this belief? Has it ever happened, in other words?

    Dang, there I go again…

    Comment by Selma — January 16, 2009 @ 3:10 pm

  35. I found one possible case described on PubMed, Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1982 September 18; 285(6344): 777, ‘Can a cat smother and kill a baby?’ The authors admit that other explanations are possible, but feel the cat, which was found lying on the baby’s face, was most likely responsible.

    I also found a neat solution to the potential problem: a large-mesh cat net for keeping cats out of prams. Seems to me that if one were fearful of the cat accidentally smothering the baby, this is a much better solution than ditching the poor creature.

    Comment by Eucritta — January 16, 2009 @ 6:49 pm

  36. Or how about this - don’t leave the cat with an unattended baby. There are a number of documented cases of dogs killing unattended babies/toddlers but I don’t hear any outcry that people with small children should unilaterally get rid of their dogs.

    Seems like a little common sense is all that’s needed.

    Comment by 2CatMom — January 16, 2009 @ 7:08 pm

  37. Well, you know, common sense isn’t. But you’re absolutely right on all counts.

    Comment by Susan Fox — January 16, 2009 @ 7:19 pm

  38. I could see how an affectionate. large cat could accidentally smother a baby just by cuddling too close to their faces… but to say cats would do such a thing ON PURPOSE is just nutty.

    Just supervise the cat with the baby or don’t allow it in the baby’s room… problem solved!

    Comment by Pai — January 17, 2009 @ 2:13 am

  39. I raised two very healthy successful kids to adulthood with three dogs and five or six cats. Put screen door up to baby’s room because we didn’t want the cats - and one of the dogs - sleeping in the baby bed. Always supervised the kids around the pets when they were little, mostly to protect the pets! Taught the kids not to put their hands around their faces when handling animals, to wash hands after touching cats and dogs. Also taught the children to leave the cats alone “when they get big eyes.” My favorite t-shirt says, “We got rid of the children. The cat was allergic.” It has a cat on the shirt sitting amid a bunch of children’s toys! I can’t believe the widely-read baby doc is so out of touch and so ignorant. It’s horrible!

    Comment by cheriecat — January 19, 2009 @ 9:03 pm

  40. Hmmm, my two kids are 18 & 16 - top students, healthy, active. Wonder how on earth they survived since they were born into a house with 4 cats!!!!!. Not to mention 3 dogs, 2 hamsters & a guinea pig. And I even failed to lock the cats out of the rooms they slept in.

    This ignorance is very sad in someone who has been respected for many years.

    Comment by Deb Eldredge, DVM — January 21, 2009 @ 5:08 am

  41. During most of my childhood, cats were my best friends. I remember Bootsie sleeping in bed with me when I was a young child and never did she try to smother me! Smokey helped me get through those horrible pre-teen years, and again, he never tried to sleep on my face!

    It’s very, very sad that garbage like this is still being published. I am very sorry for the families that get rid of their cats because of this, and for the poor cats who have done nothing to deserve their fate.

    I suspect the Doctor himself dislikes cats and has transfered his dislike to all cats.

    Liz and cats, Xena, Pumpkin, and Squash

    Comment by Liz Palika — January 21, 2009 @ 2:39 pm

  42. We complained to the syndicate and the article is no longer available on the Chronicle (our local paper) but there was no retraction or correction posted that I could see. Sheer idiocy!

    Comment by BadPixie — January 29, 2009 @ 4:39 pm

  43. Holy people. Just chill out. Everyone is aloud their own opinion. You don’t like it, don’t read it. He’s not telling people to euthanize their cats like they do in Texas. Bigger wars out there to be fighting!

    Comment by Reality Check — May 28, 2009 @ 12:05 pm

  44. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but that doesn’t mean they get to make up their own FACTS. This is a distinction that is often missed.

    I’m sorry but fighting ignorance that kills nice family pets is battle well worth fighting.

    Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 28, 2009 @ 12:26 pm

  45. He doesn’t tell people to kill anything….

    Comment by Reality Check — May 28, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

  46. And it’s “just a cat,” right? Phooey.

    His advice was a death sentence to cats. If he didn’t know that, shame on him for not bothering to find out. If didn’t care, even worse.

    He followed up with a mea culpa, by the way, so it WAS worth the time to correct his error.

    Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 28, 2009 @ 12:52 pm

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