Think my mum lost a potential buyer for her house because of her cat

ruthyb

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My mum and dad have had their house on he market quite some time and they are now desperate to sell. All the viewers they have had so far haven't even sold their houses. Anyhow on saturday she had a couple round who have sold and really liked the look of my mums house. My mum has 4 cats and she is as mad as me for them, they are her babies. The couple came round and the lady was heavily pregnant, my mums cat claudia is very,very nosey so she got up and decided to inspect the woman, the woman just froze and started shouting "get it away from meeeeeeee,NOW"  my mum said Claudia not frightened by her shouting decided that she would investigate more and started rubbing herself on the womans legs, the woman got hysterical and started crying. My mum said it's a cat, she will not hurt you I promise but the woman just carried on screaming, my mum picked Claudia up and took her upstairs, Claudia very impressed with the new friend she had made
 Dear me, the couple left and my mum hasn't heard anything back. I don't know whether to laugh or not really, I know some people are scared of cats but my mums attitude was tough luck, its still my house and I am not hiding my cats away.x
 
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momto3boys

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I never did understand people's fear over cats but then again I am scared of fish, LOL

I hope the couple can look past the cats and still buy the house ;)
 

luvmyparker

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I actually laughed out loud reading that. I mean it sucks if it lost a potential buyer but just the reaction from the lady. 

You'd swear people think cats are rabid badgers or something. 
 
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ruthyb

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I actually laughed out loud reading that. I mean it sucks if it lost a potential buyer but just the reaction from the lady. 

You'd swear people think cats are rabid badgers or something. 

I know, my mum was gobsmacked, I wasn't sure of peoples reactions on here as some people might say you should put your cats away lol. My mum said she didn't want the woman in her house if she didn't like the cats. Claudia did genuinely seem to like the woman, my mum said she made it worse as she drew attention to herself, there is really no need to scream tho.x
 

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I've got a friend like that she is terrified of cats even more so when they start purring I do feel sorry for her though must be hard

But sorry your mam might of lost a buyer especially with people not buyin to :(
 

luvmyparker

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I know, my mum was gobsmacked, I wasn't sure of peoples reactions on here as some people might say you should put your cats away lol. My mum said she didn't want the woman in her house if she didn't like the cats. Claudia did genuinely seem to like the woman, my mum said she made it worse as she drew attention to herself, there is really no need to scream tho.x

Well l don't put my cat away for anyone. Scared or not. This his house lol, so there was no need for your mom to either. The only time I see it fit to do that is if the cat is temperamental or moody. Claudia sounds like she just wanted some lovin'. 
 

Draco

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Reminds me of a family friend. Whenever she comes over, she immediately sits on my tallest stool and puts her feet up on the other stool to be far up and away from my cat as much as possible, lol

Now that I have two, she asks me to put them in the other room during her visit.
 

rosiemac

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It amazes me when people say their scared of cats as well, because everytime ive asked if they've had a bad experience with one they've all said no?!

I've said this before about one of my best friends who has never been to my house because she's scared of cats. She said the only time she'll come down for coffee is if l lock them in another room, but I've told her I'll never do that so not to build her hopes up!
 
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ruthyb

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Our neighbour across the road is scared of cats, she came round once and freaked when she saw billy, I asked her why and she said cats look evil???x
 

momto3boys

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I have one friend that says cats are like an inbetween, they can communicate with the dead and be over on "the other side" but still be here with us, too.

  People are hilarious and slightly crazy
 

Winchester

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My neighbor is like that. Evidently when she was little (around 5 or 7 or so), a kitten climbed up her skirt. She completely freaks out now about cats. The first time she came over to our house and saw Hydrox (he was an only cat at that time), she started screaming. I'm talking screaming like a killer is after you! She had her three kids with her, too.....nice to show her kids that a cat is such a terrible creature. Geez.

And then after we got six cats, well, she doesn't even bother coming over anymore. Some friends gave her a gorgeous set of glasses with cats on them and some matching napkins one time.....I have them. She couldn't wipe her mouth with the napkins because of the cats on them. She couldn't drink out of the glasses because of the cats on the glasses. She thinks we're completely crazy because of our kids.

But I will say that when Hydrox was operated on for cancer, he had to have three stomach tubes inserted and the tubes had to stay there for drainage. Hydrox wore a collar. The first time I took the collar off of him so that he could eat, he wouldn't let me put it back on. I called her and she came over. I held Hydrox while she put the collar on. And she did it without freaking out....I was truly amazed.

But she despises cats.....period. She simply hates them and she's terrified of them. She's the one who found Tabby, though, and she did call me to try to feed her. I ended up bringing Miss Tabs home and now she lives with us. Her DH was going to take the her (Tabby was about four weeks old at the time) for a ride in the car and throw her out the window into the woods. She did talk him out of it and called me instead. I will give her credit for that. And for helping me with Hydrox that time....I really needed her help there.

But I still think she's a few whiskers short of a full set! Which is OK bc she thinks the same thing about me.
 
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mani

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I don't think cats or cat lovers really need to take it personally when people are over the top frightened of cats.. it's obviously a phobia, and there's no rhyme nor reason to them; it could just as easily be dogs or horses or birds.

I know someone who needs me to put the cats in the bedroom when she's here, and I'm fine with that as I can see she's terrified.  The subconscious is such a strange thing, anything could have triggered it and the person could have absolutely no idea what it was.

It's when a fear of something threatens the object of the fear that it becomes a problem.

And sometimes pregnant women who don't know a lot about cats freak out because of toxoplasmosis... although in the case of the prospective house-buyer, it was a pretty extreme reaction!!
 
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Ms. Freya

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My brother's girlfriend's mom is like that - terrified of cats. She actually won't come to family functions in they're at my place because of the cats (not that you ever see them when we have company
) My brother and his GF have actually started asking me to host things that they don't want her family at even if it means they give me money to do it.
 

arlyn

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I wonder, if her overreaction was because of her pregnancy.

We all know that there are plenty of doctors that believe the toxoplasmosis 'epidemic' is so terrible that they advise their pregnant patients to get rid of their cats
 

tarasgirl06

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As I just posted on another thread, we specifically sought out cat lovers when we sold our house, which had a huge catio and a stables compound built out with cats in mind.  I also said that anyone who's so OCD that they can't face the reality of people having beloved indoor cats needs to seek help.  This woman obviously fit into that category, bigtime.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Oy.  That is a bit extreme of a reaction...but you never know what her story is.  There are a couple kids (siblings) at my church who are scared of cats.  They were at my Mom's for a BBQ once and I took a few minutes with the younger one to talk to him about the cat he was getting dramatic over.  Honestly it felt like it was more of a show than anything.  But I figured if he understood them he'd have less reason to be scared.

I've been scared of plants all my life.  I know what it comes from, I know it's irrational, but you can't stop the pounding in my chest and head or the sweats and panic that comes over me.  I've gotten over it enough that I started gardening.  But I do it on MY terms.  I had trouble last year when I saw how big my summer squash and zucchini got.  DH had to harvest most of them!!

Guess I'll never buy a home from a botanist.
 
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