Your Cats and Strangers

swampwitch

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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?
 
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di and bob

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I truly believe that animals can 'sense', one way or another, that someone is cruel or mean. (perhaps the boy?.....) My cats are the same, all over one visitor, and then hiding scared from the next. I always pay attention to them because we have found out at a later date that the people they run from are druggies or felons.(and not willing to change) I think in things like this they are much smarter then us. It can't be a 'dog' smell or anything because I've seen them on the lap of dog owners. We don't have enough strange people in our house now to observe, but I enjoy watching them react to people walking by.
 

pangurban

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Every cat I have ever had before Pangur would hide in another room or camp out in a safe corner/under some thing when company initially arrived. They might or might not decide it eventually safe to come out for a sniff but would never allow company to pet them until they had visited a few times and gotten to know them.

Pangur Ban doesn't know what a stranger even is. He is right on top of who ever the visitor is, rubbing and marking them up while chattering softly. He is so friendly and open. It makes sense because when we first brought him from the shelter he didn't feel the need to hide and adjust to the environment at all. Instead he immediately started exploring from room to room rubbing on everything.
 

catspaw66

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When my friend pulls into my driveway, the cats perk up and listen, then go back to what they are doing. Any law enforcement vehicle also gets this treatment.  When a stranger pulls in, they growl, run to me, and then go under the bed, That's when I know to get the house cannon close to me. I live out in the middle of nowhere, and the police response time is 45 minutes to 3 hours.

In December, I lost my electricity for 6 days. After having repairs done, the line crew came to hook it back up, and the cats were curious enough to watch out the window closest to the electric box. Even when I opened the window so they could tell me what breakers to turn on or off, the cats were sitting in the window.
 

catmomma627

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My cats are totally unpredictable. Zoey tends to be more skittish to strangers than Luna. Zoey usually hide and will come out after awhile. Except when my mom is over, and then Zoey vanishes (I think because my mom gave her a bath once). Luna is usually very friendly, but hides from my dad.
 
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