Types of people your cat accepts?

[immortalflower]

Our kitten, Nibbles, is 5 months old now.  He is doing great.  I've noticed something about him though.  He likes our entire family equally (me, my husband, 2 kids)... but when new people come over... that is a different story.  If any child comes over he is surprised and wary for about 5 minutes then is totally over it.  But any adult hat comes over he is terrified and hides upstairs.  My father-in-law came for Christmas and stayed a week... we thought after a day or so Nibbles would get over it... and he never did!  He stayed upstairs the entire time except to come down and use the litter box. We had to move all his stuff upstairs for him.

Now... day two after father-in-law has left and I am pretty sure Nibbles is still trying to run off a week's worth of pent of play by tearing around the place like his tail is on fire.  We did try to play with him while our guest was over but he was always looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was coming.  Our guest didn't come upstairs at all during that week.

Is this normal behavior?  I find it interesting Nibbles is totally fine with kids he doesn't know but won't adapt to new adults.

I can't imagine him ever going outside if this is how he faces new things!

 

[sheesha]

Are the adults your cat is afraid of generally men? My parents' cat tends to be okay with children or women, but is terrified of men. I think it's probably a matter of size being intimidating, plus louder voices.

Another factor to consider is smells. One of my cats is very, very wary around cat owners, presumably because he is smelling other cats in 'his' territory.

 

[immortalflower]

There have been more men by than women, but my cat seems to react to all of them the very same way.  Only one of the people was a cat owner but my cat was possibly never close enough to smell that person.

About voices, not entirely related. But if I scold the cat, even gently, he reacts quite quickly... but my husband scolds him, shoes him, claps his hands and the cat is pretty "huh?... whatever" about it.  So, not so sure he is affected too much by deeper voices.

 

[kittens mom]

My 5 year old tortie Mook is horrified of babies. She's not fond of anyone new but the sight of a baby put her over the edge.

 

[catmomma627]

My 2 year old cat Luna is generally scared of anyone who is not me. She's especially terrified of men though. She even hisses at my dad before she hides. Strangely there have been two people she's not been afraid of, my best friend Emily, who doesn't come over often because she's allergic to cats, and my coworker Leigha, who has only been over that once, but Luna wasn't afraid at all. Zoey isn't afraid of anyone. Every new person brings her hope that they have treats

 

[misterwhiskers]

My cat Robin has never been around kids since I've had him, but he rushes to the window to watch my neighbors 2 year old in the yard, and his first owners (if you could call them that since he was basically kicked to the street by 2 months) had a baby.

He reacts very well with new people. He is a greeter, and likes to supervise. When bored, he will sleep elsewhere. When my sisters visit, he seems interested, but won't jump on them or in their laps, and won't sleep unless he is between me and them. My protector. [emoji]9786[/emoji]️

The only bad reaction he ever had was a furnace guy and he growled and got his hackles up. The guy was very big and muscular, and had lots of animals. I do believe Robin would have attacked him, so he went in his cage. But generally he is the genial host!

 

[mtgal]

I have three indoor cats. My oldest (she's 14) is rather snooty toward new people, but eventually will come into the room and sniff around a visitor. My nervous-nelly cat is rather funny about people. She's a rescue (as are my other two) and came from an elderly person's home where she spent three years living in a closet. When she came here she was terribly anxious and disliked any new person. But after about 18 months, she's much happier and likes to greet new people BUT only if the dogs are around. She and my Pit Bull are best buddies and she will only come see strangers if he is around. Then she can get very friendly. My middle cat is shy around anyone but those she knows very well. She used to live on my deck and refused to come into the house until last winter (Finally!). Male or female, adult or child, she will not come out of hiding. It took me six years to get her into the house, so you can guess she is quite shy with anyone but me. My older cat doesn't like anyone who smells of alcohol and neither do my dogs. They're okay if we have friends for dinner or something and have a few glasses of wine or whatever. But when people they don't know come around reeking of alcohol, all my cats and dogs keep their distance. 

I personally believe animals know things you and I lack the ability to understand. I see animals as great judges of character. Dogs tend to be a bit better than cats, but both will show reluctance to be around unstable people or people who have bad energy. Both my dogs have great social skills and are good with people of all sorts. But when they growl or show caution around people, I always pay attention. The same goes for my older cat, she either accepts or ignores most people. So when she shows signs of aggression toward someone, I know I need to stay aware of that person. Last summer I had workmen in the house. The lead guy has been here many times and both I and the animals trust him completely. But he was with a new hire and both my dogs seemed over alert around the new guy. My German Shepherd is therapy certified and excellent with people. But she really didn't like that guy. On the fourth day, my older cat came into the area where the guys were working, snarled at the new guy and even tried to scratch him. I was shocked because she had never done that before. Later the same day, my Pit Bull came into the house and headed to where the crew was working. He greeted the two guys that have been here many times, but then he turned and lifted his lip at the new guy. Meanwhile, the other two cats hid upstairs. All of this left me nervous and unsure. The next day, the guy who owns the company -- someone I've known and trusted for years -- showed up early. He told me that late the previous day he had caught the new guy stealing from another customer. He wanted to make sure the guy hadn't taken anything from us (he hadn't). Moral: I trust my animals!

 

[catlover73]

My oldest cat Starbuck never lets anyone see her except for myself or hubby. (9 years old)

My youngest cat Casey has to check out anyone who comes in my house and will visit everyone. ( A year and half)

Apollo will watch people at first but then will hang out on or with them. (3 years old)

Sonny takes some time to warm up to people. He hides at first but then will come hang out later.  (5 Year Old)

 

[immortalflower]

I guss Nibbles is well within the realm of normal then. None of my previous cats (when I lived in Canada) batted an eye about new people..

Nibbled lived with a single guy for his first 9 weeks, and we were the first new people he saw.

 

[di and bob]

I very much believe in animal instinct. My Yorkie, Stanley, years ago was a VERY good judge of character, if he growled and hid from certain people it almost always turned out that they ended up criminals or animal/wife abusers. He LOVED a big loud guy that was a biker and a rock music fan, ( which most dogs do not like)and he was a very good friend for 30 years. My cats are pretty much the same, although big Burt is pretty much shy of everyone. I DO pay attention!

 

[rickr]

My cats fear people who wear shoes, especially boots.  We don't wear shoes in the house and most of my friends reluctantly indulge our habit. Workers, of course, are a key exception.  My kids generally run from anyone wearing shoes.  And they've learned that the doorbell means an invasion of shoes, since friends typically knock at the back door.  When they hear the doorbell, they run for cover.  

As far as regular visitors go, it usually takes Archie and Lucy a few visits to warm up to anyone.  They rarely give a new visitor more attention than a casual sniff.   Frequent guests may receive a head bump or two and allow the person to briefly pet them.  Mostly though, they hang out in an empty room when we have guests.

 

[Winchester]

Our cats are interested in everybody. When people come to the house, the cats don't scatter, the cats don't go back to the bedroom. Not even Amber and Amber used to be afraid of her own shadow; in fact, we called her the Phantom Kitty because nobody ever saw her but us. She may hide under the couch for a couple minutes, but even she can't help herself anymore; she'll come out and check people now, too.

The flooring guys spent the day in the bedroom yesterday. And the cats were in and out of the bedroom pretty much the entire time. They would come back and check on things, then go back out to the living room and come into the computer room. When the guys came out of the bedroom, the cats would talk to them. One of the men said that he's used to cats that hide when people come. But honestly, our kids do not hide. (Actually, they wait until you're sitting on the couch, then they jump in your lap. Then you're their prisoner and you're stuck there until they decide you can stand up again.)

In the fourteen years that Banshee was alive, there was only one person she simply could not stand. There was a woman who came into the house during a get-together we were having. Banshee walked up to her.....and hissed like you've never heard a cat hiss. Her fur even stood. She hated that woman with a passion. Well, the woman was a trouble-maker and she wasn't happy unless she was stirring up some kind of hassle among people. She dearly loved cats, though, and nobody could understand why the Queen B acted that way toward her. (Turns out that Banshee was a very good judge of character indeed. Man, she did not like that woman.)

 

[artiemom]

Artie just loves people who do not like cats!!! I have 2 friends who are not  "cat people". When they visit, he is all over them!!  

He is skittish of new people, and of men; however, if a repair person or my superintendent comes in to do some work, Artie is supervising their work. He has to inspect everything!