What do you do with your cat when planning a home birth and how do you...

[Belgianchocolates]

introduce your new baby to your cat. Does a cat actually show any interest in a new baby or will baby just get totally ignored?
I was just wondering this, because with the other 2 we only had a goldfish and he isn't all that bothered about what the humans are doing!

I havee two cats and didn't even consider them during the home birth!

They are usually shut in the kitchen over night - but if someone did open the kitchen door - they certainly didn't come near me. (my midwife did say she allowed cat's but not dogs at her homebirths)

Cats need to know the pecking order, and ours had to re-learn this when we had DS1. I guess I must have reacted quite strongly when they came near him or the cot, as they didn't even dare with DS2 or DD.

dunno about HB as i haven't had one but with regard to cats and newborns i've found they generally view them with an odd mix of curiosity and abject terror

the cat we had when dd was born got such a friht the first time she cried he ran face first into a glass door to get away from her! he got used to her but was never fond of her which suited us. he wasn't overly impressed with ds1 either but wasn't as scared and would lie on the couch near him contentedly enough.

this time we had 3 cats, the oldest a female has barely aknowledged ds2 other than to pause while walking past him and give a disinterested sniff. the older kitten who is about 8 months is very sweet and came up to the couch and snffed his head and then jumped on my lap purring and content, he doesn't bother much with him though, tried to stand on him occasionally to get to me for cuddles but is learning to walk around him now.

the kitten is a differant matter though.... i think he feels a bit didplaced and is determined to lay claim to the baby bouncer whther or not ds2 is in it at the time and can't understand why he can't lie on him in the bed [sigh] am making allowances for him on the grounds that he's only a baby himself but it's getting slightly irritating now, especially as dd and ds1 are always happy to play with and cuddle him so it's not as if he's really losing out on attention.

My cat was under the bed in my bedroom during HB (the room in which I gave birth!) - totally forgotten about her! She appeared once midwives had left. She was terrified of most people, so no worries about her appearing. Under the bed was her place. I make no noise during labour so nothing to scare her.

She was no longer around for 2nd hb.

Thanks for all your answers. It's more or less the way I expected I suppose. Cats tend to do that, don't they, just sniff a new person and then walk off pretending not to be interested in the slightest. Ours is constantly doing that: pretending she doesn't want to be near you, but then being upstairs when we're upstairs and coming back down when we're down!

My cat was around 7 months when I had my homebirth. She disapeared the evening before and turned up 1/2 hour after DD was born. She ran in the front door when the midwife went to her car to get something.

Shes never really been bothered about DD. Tryed to stand on her coming to me for a cuddle but soon got the hint when I put her on the floor a couple of times.