We get all kinds of interesting questions and comments from others related to having twins. One of the most common questions we get is “how are your pets handling having two babies in the house?”
To give some background, Dave and I have 2 dogs, Abby and Trinity, and 2 cats, Vince and Lilac. Abby is a large golden retriever and Trinity is a small mixed breed dog from the pound. Vince is a gray Persian cat that I rescued as a stray, and Lilac is a black and white tuxedo kitty that was adopted from the pound. We are big animal lovers and our pets are very important to us. We interact with them constantly throughout the day and consider them an important, fun, and loving part of the family.
Abby loves mud baths!
Trinity – couch potato
Lilac – Tuxedo cat
Vince, the spoiled rotten Persian
When we first brought the babies home from the hospital, we set the car seats down on the floor and let the dogs go ahead and get a whiff of those little creatures that were invading their peaceful home. They took a good long sniff, looked up at Dave and I with confusion, and wagged their tails. The cats were also invited to this introduction, but hung back with purposeful indifference, as only a cat can.
In the days to follow, we have had many amusing and touching moments with the pets and babies. On our second night at home, at about 3 AM, Andrew broke out into an ear-piercing shriek for the first time. Abby began to bark at him in her full 85 pound dog loud voice as if she wanted to join in on the noisemaking. Another time, she abandoned a full bowl of food to go check on Audrey when she was alone in a room and crying. The look of concern on Abby’s face as she peered in at Audrey was sweet.
Abby checking on Audrey
Trinity and Lilac have taken the approach of ignoring the babies. They go about their daily lives the same as always. I believe that in Trinity’s case this will change when the babies begin throwing food on the floor!
Vince, who is perhaps the most adored and spoiled pet, has had quite an adjustment period. He is a very laid back and friendly cat who takes to lounging about the house twisted on his back with his legs spread open. He is very affectionate and loves attention. In the first day or two home from the hospital, we did not do a good job of giving Vince our undivided attention.
While I was in the hospital, we received two absolutely gorgeous bouquets of flowers from my company. We brought them home from the hospital and put them on display on our bar that is at the center of our house. They were huge multicolored bouquets in beautiful glass vases. Vince has always loved to snack on plants, but he is usually pretty good about leaving flowers alone. On our first night at home alone with the babies, we were up in the middle of the night, each feeding a baby. Vince, wanting some attention, climbed onto the bar, took a bite out of the flowers, and knocked the glass vase off the bar onto the tile floor, shattering it. The glass flew all over the house and the water and flowers were everywhere. The crash was unbelievable! We finished up feeding the children and then spent the next hour cleaning up the glass, water, and flowers. While this sounds like it should have been stressful, the only thing I remember thinking about was whether Vince was traumatized or had glass in his feet. We cleaned up the mess, I found my cat and gave him a hug, and we went back to bed. Now he is much happier and has adjusted to life with the babies. We laugh about his late night snack!
This past week we have had my parents’ border collie, Daisy, visiting us as well. It has been a lot of fun having her around, as she and Abby take turns chasing toys in the swimming pool for exercise.
Abby’s crazy cousin Daisy