Question of the Day, Friday, October 11

[Winchester]

Good morning! And Happy Friday!

How sociable are your cats? How do they act around strangers? If I were to visit you and walked into your house, what would your cats do? Would they run and hide until I left? Or would they visit with me?

If you'd visit me, the cats would probably be very curious about you. Likely you'd be covered in cat hair within five minutes. My girls are very curious about everything and anything. Amber would hide as she's very standoffish with people she doesn't know. That would last about 15 minutes, then she'd be out, too. "Who are you? Watcha doing? Ooh, a lap! That looks nice!" And they'd be stomping all over you. To my girls, strangers are just laps they haven't sat in yet.

How about your kids?

 

[Columbine]

Grischa - runs and hides.

Shenka - wants to know what's going on if he's awake, but won't interrupt his nap time.

Mala and Shanti - adore all visitors. Very curious, and likely to be all over them demanding games and cuddles.

All four cats will disappear if doggy visitors come around. The girls aren't even confident around Leah yet, and the boys got spooked when they were little (the reason Grischy now hides without fail, I think). If I know dogs are coming I'll shut the cats away upstairs so they don't get overwhelmed.

 

[Katie M]

They're both pretty curious, but Selene will immediately hit the floor and start rolling around, begging for pets. Charlie stays aloof.

 

[neely]

Fortunately most of the cats we have had or presently have are all sociable with people. None of them have ever hidden but some would go up to people and seek attention more than others. Our last cat would sense when someone was not comfortable around cats and purposely sit on their lap.

 

[susanm9006]

Willow disappears even at the sound of people outdoors. The only person she will come out for is my son, who lived here for a couple years. She doesn’t get close to him, of course, but she really likes his feet and shoes.

 

[cassiopea]

Bijou, Phryne, Tintin, Tippy Toes, Meadow: OMG Hiiiiiiiiiiii



Liffey and Morgana: Who dafooq are you

 

[Mia6]

Cal is extremely friendly, loves to be petted and be on your lap but she is just too heavy for that.
My Vincie girl was friendly but got very jealous if one of the other kitties were getting hugs and kisses.
I got Kirsten from my vet. She kept her sibling, the male. They had been abused. I think she was abused
by a woman because she hid whenever female friends would visit but not when men visited. Later on, one of
my helpers just picked her up, you should've seen the look on her face. She finally got more comfortable
around people when she was about 10 or 11.

 

[jcat]

Mowgli doesn't make up with people until he's meeting them for the third or fourth time or they've been staying at our house for at least two days. He usually gets behind a sheer curtain and spies on them

 

[jefferd18]

None of my cats are sociable except for Figaro, who is in everybody's face.

 

[Kat0121]

Lilith would head for my room and hide under the bed. Sophie is far more curious and would come over to check you out.

I had the AC guy over in June for a repair and he came in to check the vents. He was standing on a step stool and she came over to see what he was up to. She sat by his feet and she started chattering away. He thought she was adorable.

When DDs BF came to stay with us for a while, Sophie warmed up to him right away. Pretty soon, she was hollering at him for pets. Strangers get polite chatter. Family members get yelled at. She used to jump up onto the chest freezer and yell until he went to pet her. Lilith never really warmed up to him but that's how she is. She's not much better with DD. Lily is a mama's girl. The funny part is that Sophie is the one that the shelter worker said was "unfriendly" and told me I could ignore her. She turned out to be the more social of the two.

So Sophie would want to say hello and check you out. Lilith probably would not.

Speaking of strangers and cats, check this out.

DD had a visit recently from a HS friend who lives near Orlando now. She brought her BF with her. Abby has met the girls and is familiar with how cats can be around strangers so she let them be. The BF? Oh no. I had heard less than nice things about him in passing and wasn't thrilled that he basically barged into the house. As soon as he did, Sophie ran and hid under my bed. Lily wasn't fast enough. He managed to corner her in the living room and tried to pick her up. She started screeching at him. I told him to leave her alone. He said, "Oh. it's fine." I said, "NO. It isn't. She does NOT want you to touch her." She escaped and joined her sister under my bed. If I hadn't stopped him, he would have gone under there after them. Yes. Really. He said he likes cats but I don't think he's had much interaction with them. I honestly think he was expecting them to act like small dogs (although who in their right mind would do that to a dog either?). They left shortly after and Sophie was fine as she missed all that but Lily was very clingy after. She was clearly very upset. I snuggled with her and then she took a nap. That buffoon became an ex not long after.

He gave off a very creepy like vibe that I felt the second he walked through the door and I have no doubt that the girls felt it too because Sophie's not one to turn tail and run to hide like that normally. She is super curious about everything and would at least check the person out a bit like she did with the AC guy. She was perfectly comfortable with him being there and he chatted back at her while he was inside.

With the creeper, she ran like she was being chased. I wasn't very happy with Abby for bringing him in. They were just picking DD up for an afternoon visit. Things with him got even creepier from there. I'm glad he doesn't live around here.

 

[DreamerRose]

Mingo is curious about visitors and will hang back for a little while, and then come closer to sniff them out. Last time a visitor was here, Mingo was soon rubbing his hand. Lily, on the other hand, hides on a chair under the dining room table and watches the visitor. If they stay a long time, like my sons, she will come out and begin to act like herself again.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

Only one person in my life has seen Maisie in person (my brother). She will not come out if anyone is here and she'll stay hidden for at least 20 minutes after they leave. Remy is hesitant. He's more likely to be sociable with a woman though.

 

[Maria Bayote]

If you were to come to our home, it may be the following:

Bourbon - Grumpiest one will just take a look at you and struts away, her head high. If you try to pet her, I won’t be liable for any damages. LOL.

Barley - He will also just look at you, then go back to sleep. But he won’t complain if you pet him.

Graham- She would demand that you pick a toy and play with her. She will be “talking” to you non-stop and will be all over you. So prepare for a lot of fur on your clothes.

Pepsi - He won’t even raise his lazy head.

 

[aliceneko]

Toffee and Fudge were semi-feral, and before they were rescued they had little to no human interaction, so they're still very scared and skittish around strangers even two years on, and two years of socialisation and TLC. They're completely fine with us, however when guests come round (which isn't very often as I prefer to host friends and relatives out since our house is small, luckily for the boys!), their first reaction is to hide under the sofa or the table and they'll go to ground until they leave. If they're staying for a long while, Fudge will still hide as he's always been the shyer and more timid of the two, but Toffee will slowly regain confidence and will stalk my guest/s and, if he's feeling lucky, will even go into the room and let them pet him for a second.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Evie disappears- poof, gone, hiding in the closet. Cue "I thought you had 3 cats?" questions.

Emerson initially panics and hides, but will poke his head out. Will not allow pats.

Dexter kind of goes to the other side of the room but will warm up and rub against you eventually.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Mooch would hang out and let you pet her some. Noodles you never know. Sometimes she loves a person instantly. Most of the time you have to let her sniff your hand for a bit. She might let you pet her. She might glare at you. She might whap you for walking by...

 

[NY cat man]

All six would head for the tall grass, although Digger and Miss Eleanor might then get curious and sneak back to see what was going on.

 

[VinceL]

Bonnie is our most sociable cat. When company comes, she stays in the room with them and seeks attention. Clyde and Lexi are indifferent. Loki is our classic scaredy cat. If he hears strange voices or the doorbell rings, he heads for our bedroom closet. After 2-3 hours, he will come out to see what is going on. But, he only seeks attention from guests who have been at our house all day or even multiple days.

 

[denice]

Alice will hide at first as did Patches. After a few minutes curiosity gets the best of her and she will very cautiously come out. She will stick by me for quite awhile and check out the people that she doesn't know.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Good morning! And Happy Friday!

How sociable are your cats? How do they act around strangers? If I were to visit you and walked into your house, what would your cats do? Would they run and hide until I left? Or would they visit with me?

If you'd visit me, the cats would probably be very curious about you. Likely you'd be covered in cat hair within five minutes. My girls are very curious about everything and anything. Amber would hide as she's very standoffish with people she doesn't know. That would last about 15 minutes, then she'd be out, too. "Who are you? Watcha doing? Ooh, a lap! That looks nice!" And they'd be stomping all over you. To my girls, strangers are just laps they haven't sat in yet.

How about your kids?

7 out of 9 will greet you like a dog at the door. They'll flop at your feet, solicit petting and generally be obnoxious. They're used to strangers coming in and out at all hours of the day and aren't fearful of new people. Plus, they know if someone treated them bad they'd have Dad to deal with
The other two are more cautious about new people (the two that are the most territorial, imagine that.) They'll stay away for awhile, but curiosity gets the best of them. Once they know you, they'll casually greet you too.
We've had so many comments about how "friendly" our cats are. It's kind of fun to have a big herd (pride? school? murder?) of cats that swarm new people for all the attention they can get. Kind of turns people who say they're "not a cat person" into people who realizing they too have personalities.