Our cats love any person that has a lap. Or a Hand. Or just two legs to do ‘figure eights’ around.
I am the stranger. All cats love me because I’m allergic to them. They know!
Hisses at strangers.
Other – mildly friendly but standoffish, even after my mom stayed with us for a week! I thought she’d love Mom, I really did, but nope. She will accept some pets and even reward said human with some purrs but the whole snuggly-kitty thing? Apparently I’m the only one who gets that.
Thank Og my mom grew up with a Siamese so knows that cats do what they want, not what we want them to do! But it hurt my feelings. I don’t think she (the cat) cares.
One loves strangers. He is rambunctious and rather goofy-dog-like in temperment. I’d say you could usually hoist him up and rub his belly on only the slightest of acquaintance.
My other one, a much more cat-like cat, is politely tolerant of strangers. He’s quite blase - when he was in a shelter they used him to “cat test” new dogs and he will usually happily fall asleep in the scale at the vet’s office. With a new person in the house he might come up and give you give you an interested sniff and accept being briefly petted. But he won’t really hang out or tolerate much direct attention before retreating in a dignified manner. He plays up to my ego by only ever really being affectionate with me.
So I gave it an overall “yes” vote, even though it is a qualified yes.
My kitty passed away 5 years ago. She was generally OK when I had male friends over, never actively seeking attention but would accept it. She was rather hostile towards women, though. I think she was the jealous type.
However, she hated veterinarians more than anything else. When her kidneys were giving out, I had left her with the vet overnight, and by the time I came back to pick her up the next day, everyone at the clinic was so terrorized that they wouldn’t go anywhere near her cage.
That was a good kitty.
Yes, yes they do.
If you are allergic, or hate cats, my cat will LOVE you. I think he views it as a challenge.
The book How to Live With a Neurotic Cat opens with these words of wisdom: “A recent census taken among cats shows that approximately 100 percent are neurotic. That estimate is probably on the low side.”
Yeah, well I do that too, sometimes.
He loves people, but he is a little skittish in general. He’s the sort of cat who bolts in terror when anyone sneezes. On the other hand, the day I brought him home, to new surroundings and an unfamiliar owner, it took him less than 20 minutes to find my lap, and stay there. He’ll walk around and demand belly rubs from virtually anyone, and is sometimes willing to sit on their laps. Unless they sneeze.
a mixed bag at casa scubaqueen. turk likes to visit people for petting. maggie wants to, but mostly ends up trying to bite the hands trying to pet her. not a very polite thing to do.
i haven’t had widget long enough for people to have come over to see her yet.
As long as the strangers aren’t cats. Humans are just fine.
I read somewhere that cats do not like humans to give them too much eye contact. So, strangers who like cats might make them uncomfortable by staring, and cat-hater strangers try to ignore the cats which actually makes the cats more comfortable walking up to the stranger and trying to interact.
My cat greets and head bunts most strangers and will try to jump up on their laps. He especially likes to try to hang around my cat-hating MIL. I have had to put him in another room during her visits.
Other.
Lucy is curious, will check out whoever is here. If she knows them it’s “ass in face” time, which I guess is a good thing.
Dot and Mayme are fine with females. They are littermates who were not treated very well by their teenaged male original owner and his buddies. They weren’t abused, per se, just had to deal with a bunch of constantly stoned guys who were very loud and ignorant of how to deal with kittens. When a male comes in the house they disappear. Mayme will come out if my brother-in-law is here, and there is one particular teenaged guy she will look at from across the room, but Dot is no where to be found.
I voted yes. My cat’s an attention whore who will solicit any and all visitors for cuddles via copious amounts of rubbing and purring.
The only person she seems to dislike is Mr. Chord, who has never had a visit that didn’t involve sharp little kitty teeth in his hand. But then, he’s a dog person. She knows.
Yes. My Marco is the friendliest laid back critter and loves everyone. He sits there, blinking his big blue eyes, for all to admire, and purring like a motorboat. He’s a chewer, though. People who come to visit will sit in a chair with their legs crossed, and Marco will come over, sniff their shoe, and thoughtfully start biting their foot. I put a stop to it of course and explain he doesn’t mean to start eating them from the foot up, but he’s just a chewer.
I read that many years ago too, and told it to my cat-phobic ex (I got the cat after we broke up). It does actually seem to work, though I don’t know if it’s for the supposed reasoning behind it.
Of all the pairs of cats I’ve had over the years, there have always been one sociable one and one introvert. Paris is a real attention whore, and he’ll do his happy dance for anyone who will watch, then he’ll beg for other kinds of attention. Vienna, on the other hand, is just starting to be sociable with me, after 5 years. I don’t know whether she’ll ever get close to those big strange meanies that come and go around here.
Other Cat: How do you eat a human being?
Marco: One bite at a time, my friend. One bite at a time.
Boris is neutral. He will stay on the couch but watch them carefully. Some people, I don’t know why, deserved to be hissed at.
My cats completely ignore strangers. They don’t avoid them, they don’t seek them. They’re like moving bits of furniture to them.