A whopping Congrats on your first born.
As far as the cats, mine get spooked out as well. Most of my snakes are 6-8 ft so they stay spooky for a few months or until they see one again.
Living alone, sometimes I get bored and can have a mean streak. When one of the cats come through the living in ultra slow, spooked mode, I grab a pen or wad up a napkin and toss it real high in the air so that the object comes straight down behind the cat. It is too funny, the cat jumps 3 feet in the air while doing a 180, lands and then does a burn out like a cartoon character rolling up the carpet as it runs, then shoots off like a rocket! Sometimes I just can’t resist.![]()