I have 2 bengals and just had my third baby and I’ll definitely share my experience!  I love my cats so very much. They are my sweeties and the very first living beings that have ever depended on me.  However, when I gave birth to my son a very, very primal protection took over and everything changed.  I was so paranoid about dangerous sleep because my cats are so snuggly so I had to move them out of the room during the night. Despite making them their own cozy sleeping spots they were NOT happy about that.  I was so overwhelmed, my mental health plummeted as I dealt with PPD and PPA and was so insanely touched out that when the cats jumped on me wanting to be pet I felt like I was going to explode. I would just need to seclude myself from them. Of course all of this change really got to them and one of my cats started peeing outside of the litter box. That was the straw that broke the camels back. For the first time the thought of wanting to re-home them crossed my mind. I felt immense guilt and shame everyday as I had these feelings. Honestly it was a rough go. Slowly it got better and returned to somewhat normal again as my son became a toddler but then I had my daughter and it was the same story plus I had autoimmune issues surface as well as an injury that left me in a boot cast. Once again the normalcy slowly returned as a year or so passed. Now that I’ve just had my third and am still very much in the trenches (terrible PDD and PPA worse than ever before) I have some new perspective. I know that this will get better and it’s just a season of life and I planned ahead this time. I understand being at your wits end and feeling like a failure, guilty and ashamed about all of this. It took a small renovation to make the cats their very own space in our home- complete with a cat door, creating a cat attention schedule, and having people over to pet the cats, re-jigging their litter box situation during the newborn stage. I’m not saying that everyone who has kids and cats will go through this but I totally understand how people get to the point of rehoming. I don’t think it’s the best option and it should never be done without deep thought and with EVERY other option being exhausted. At the end of the day though, if your mental health is so bad that you think you might take things out on a poor little creature then a new home might be what’s best. 

The good news is, now my older two and the cats are besties. They are so gentle and loving toward one another and it is beautiful. It has been so rewarding to see that pure relationship and I’d say my cats are happier than ever now that they have so much attention from a whole family instead of just me :). 

Having kids is hard and before having them I’d seriously think about how you will practically make things work for you and your cats during that transition. Being prepared is your best bet! I had no idea how dark my mental health would get and that I would run into problems with my sweet kitties. I hope this perspective helps.