How do your cats react when a stranger comes into your home? Have you ever had someone come in and every cat scatters to hide?
We live in an old house and there seem to be a lot of repair people coming in for one thing or another. It's interesting how sometimes our kitties are fine with the stranger, sometimes they start rubbing on the repair person's legs wanting to be petted, sometimes ignore the person and go to a favorite spot to sleep. Rarely do they run away.
But the other day, someone came up the steps outside of our front door and our cats freaked! They ran to hiding spots as fast as their legs could take them! I looked out the window to see who was at the door and it was a woman and her son (~11-12 years old). They didn't ring the doorbell because of our very firm "no solicitors" sign on the door, and eventually retreated down the stairs.
It took a while for the kitties to come back out, even though I went to reassure them. How could they be so scared at two people on the outside of the house? Makes me really wonder about the two people.
The next day, we had a new plumber come in and the cats were all over him, wanting him to pet them.
Do your cats do this? Can cats tell who are "nice" people, or do the strangers just smell good (or bad!), what do you think is going on?
We live in an old house and there seem to be a lot of repair people coming in for one thing or another. It's interesting how sometimes our kitties are fine with the stranger, sometimes they start rubbing on the repair person's legs wanting to be petted, sometimes ignore the person and go to a favorite spot to sleep. Rarely do they run away.
But the other day, someone came up the steps outside of our front door and our cats freaked! They ran to hiding spots as fast as their legs could take them! I looked out the window to see who was at the door and it was a woman and her son (~11-12 years old). They didn't ring the doorbell because of our very firm "no solicitors" sign on the door, and eventually retreated down the stairs.
It took a while for the kitties to come back out, even though I went to reassure them. How could they be so scared at two people on the outside of the house? Makes me really wonder about the two people.
The next day, we had a new plumber come in and the cats were all over him, wanting him to pet them.
Do your cats do this? Can cats tell who are "nice" people, or do the strangers just smell good (or bad!), what do you think is going on?
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