‘The day we brought our newborn home, she promptly sneezed in the baby's face’: I Can Has Cheezburger's online feline family shares their cats' fateful first meetings with family members

Ayala Sorotsky • Writer and Editor

Aug 18, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

Introducing a new family member to your cat is always a gamble. Sometimes it's sweet, sometimes it's chaotic, and sometimes it's the purrfect combination of both - like when the cat's brain freezes in exactly the right moment that a new family member arrives. Classic cat timing. Cats have a way of declaring their opinions immediately and without hesitation, whether it's on babies, boyfriends, or visiting relatives.

We asked around the I Can Has Cheezburger HQ about how the cat expurrts' cats handled these big introductions. What can we say, we're as curious as cats. Unsurprisingly, the responses were both heartwarming and hilarious. Here are just a few favorites:

"My cat climbed right into my dad's lap like they'd known each other for years"
"The baby cried, and my cat cried louder"
"Our kitten tried to groom our new puppy's ears for twenty minutes straight"
"She hissed at grandma's perfume, not at grandma. It took us a couple of days to figure that out"

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Of course, not every cat is ready to roll out the welcome mat. Some are shy by nature, preferring the safety of a quiet hideaway to the bustle of new faces. Just as this cat pawrent shares - their cat prefers to hide while a newcomer is around. And that’s perfectly okay, because love for a cat isn’t measured in social skills, but in trust built slowly over time.
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Then there are the interspecies introductions - the legendary cat-and-dog first encounters. While cartoons tell us they’re eternal enemies, real life often writes a different story. Cats and dogs can form some of the strongest bonds, balancing each other out with opposite personalities. Nothing beats watching a pup wag his tail while his feline sibling calmly leans in for a head bump. It’s proof that family doesn’t have to look the same - it just has to love the same.
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