Humans, apparently.
We got two kittens in October. They’ve been exclusively inside cats their entire lives. We had them both spayed in January and now both of them (one worse than the other) act very skittish around people – even us, who they live with 24/7 – most of the day. They refuse to be held, only reluctantly allow themselves to be petted (they don’t seek it out and don’t seem to particularly enjoy it) and run away whenever a human approaches – except in the late evenings.
Oddly enough in the late evening they’ll jump up on the couch and curl up between my wife and I or, occasionally, climb onto her lap. During those times they’ll purr when petted, knead the couch (or her laps), and in general be affectionate. But during the rest of the day? They act like they are actively scared of us. It goes without saying that they aren’t abused, if anything they’re spoiled rotten. (Or would be if they acted spoiled. But we sure try to spoil them.)
Our two kids are older teenagers who spend most of their free time in their rooms so there isn’t really a change in routine after dinner. We’re all still doing the same stuff we do the rest of the day when we’re home. It’s not like late evenings are calmer or quieter – it’s always pretty calm and quiet at our house. But for whatever reason the cats seem to completely change personalities as soon as dinner’s over.
We used our fireplace for the first time last weekend. The overlords were quite curious but then decided that wood heat was quite nice:
