Wam90 · 19/04/2022 22:25

I can’t help but stroke cats that come up to me.
My cat would never be petted in the street, even by us!

pictish · 19/04/2022 22:27

Love the posts about friendly cats waiting for the school kids to pass for fusses. Cute.

Our cats are a gaggle of skittish twats who would run a mile sadly. They are fine being fussed by family members but don’t do strangers at all.

lilmishap · 19/04/2022 22:29

My fluffy White Arlowe loves a cuddle and any petting will lead to him trying to manoeuvre a cuddle. My son saw him leap into the arms of a passer by (he obviously knew them as someone who would) my son got REALLY upset by this which took me by surprise as Arlowe would never leave us for someone else.

Aggie however (little Black cat) I have seen sitting in another persons window...the little bitch saw me and turned her back on me! That hurt. But she's in every night to sleep on my bed so I just accept she's a hussy!

She once bought home a full lamb leg that was still warm and half wrapped in foil, so yeah. You pet other pets at your peril!

Toddlerteaplease · 19/04/2022 22:30

I always stroke cats if they'll allow me too!

OneTC · 19/04/2022 22:30

and in the dog world you don’t pet a dog without asking

I've been doing it wrong clearly. I figure if someone let's their dog come right up to you and it looks game then I'm gonna stroke it. No one has ever complained or reacted funny. I wouldn't walk up to someone's dog and start stroking it though

Re cats: I know all the local friendly cats. I am proper cat tourist. There's one that takes up position near a school for morning and afternoon runs, and if it sees someone it knows will pat it it chases after them and gets their attention. If I don't notice her on the wall then she'll jump down and come after me. I've met an owner of another much loved local 3 cats that all hang out together at the front of their house and they could see all the people stopping to pat their cats. Other people's cats are great.

A station nearby has a cat that comes and sits outside at rush hour, he's been in the local paper

AllCatsAreBeautiful · 19/04/2022 22:31

[quote Giraffesandbottoms]@Watto1

Aha! A boundary. Stroking cats fine, picking up not. Interesting[/quote]
I love petting random cats when I'm out and about and it's a pleasure to sometimes see neighbours/pedestrians petting my (very friendly) cats in the street. I wouldn't pick up another person's cat but occasionally if I go down on my haunches to talk to a specific friendly local cat he will climb onto my legs to affectionately headbutt my face. I think that's ok because the cat is deciding. The only other context to pick up a random cat would be to move it to safety, eg if I could see a driver was trying to reverse and the cat needed to be out of the way.

secretsqizzle · 19/04/2022 22:32

You may stroke my boy EXACTLY 3 times .. head to tail... 4 x and he will have your arm off..

allontheirterms..

RedHelenB · 19/04/2022 22:32

@Giraffesandbottoms

On the thread re feeding horses, a poster said that all cat owners accept if their cat is an outdoor pet, if it approaches someone it’s fine to pet them. Is this true? I’m now extremely curious about this - it would never occur to me to just pet a random cat I saw. Would you not mind as the owner if everyone was petting your cat? is it "fair game" if it is let out?

Yes. My cat used to wander over to the school to be petted by the kids

lilmishap · 19/04/2022 22:33

I was pissed off when Aggie went missing for a fortnight and when she returned she was frantic really quite stressed out and didn't leave the house for a couple months after.
2 days after she returned a FB post on our local page had a picture of her and claimed they'd 'rescued' her as a stray, she was so 'mistreated' she hadn't eaten for a few days but she'd been cured 'by love and strokes' and then gone missing through a window.

No you stole my cat and she didn't eat because she wanted to come home but you'd locked in your house Mary,

It's a double edged sword

HomeprideSaucy · 19/04/2022 22:33

If I was out and about and met a cat who was willing to be stroked, yes, I would definitely stroke it.

MissMaple82 · 19/04/2022 22:33

I stroke every cat I see. And I always will. I also have a cat and I take no objection to strangers stroking and saying hello to her, in fact I enjoy it when they do. I find it odd that you think it's odd! People enjoy animals

OneTC · 19/04/2022 22:34

Also know a cat near my work that lies on a wall in a busy spot and bites/swipes anyone that tries to touch it

Lellochip · 19/04/2022 22:34

Dogs are sweet naive babies, out with mum or dad, so you never touch or feed without checking! Cats are grown ups, owners accept they're out doing their own important cat business on their own terms. They might be too busy to deal with your human nonsense, or they might want to chat, shake hands etc. Picking them up crosses the line into over-familiar though

Mumsgirls · 19/04/2022 22:37

Oh dear, my cat invites a stroke then bites and scratches. Certainly would think twice about letting a child stroke an unknown cat.
My sister has a facial scar from when she bent down and petted a stray.
Many cats are very unpredictable
.All my visitors are warned and stroke at their peril

Lellochip · 19/04/2022 22:38

and it's a pleasure to sometimes see neighbours/pedestrians petting my (very friendly) cats in the street

My street has numerous cats renowned for their friendliness, always being gushed over on our local Facebook - I'm almost a little put out that mine gets no recognition - she's obviously not putting the work in to flirt with the neighbours!

lilmishap · 19/04/2022 22:38

Cats are grown ups, owners accept they're out doing their own important cat business on their own terms. They might be too busy to deal with your human nonsense

You reading this Mary?

Hawkins001 · 19/04/2022 22:38

@Giraffesandbottoms

On the thread re feeding horses, a poster said that all cat owners accept if their cat is an outdoor pet, if it approaches someone it’s fine to pet them. Is this true? I’m now extremely curious about this - it would never occur to me to just pet a random cat I saw. Would you not mind as the owner if everyone was petting your cat? is it "fair game" if it is let out?

Some run away, some come to me for a fuss, it all depends really on the cat.

OneTC · 19/04/2022 22:38

I do stroke every cat ever but I wouldn't pick one up to stroke in case someone thought you were going to nick it

AssignedBlobbyAtBirth · 19/04/2022 22:39

I pet every cat I see and have conversations with them. If they don't want to be stroked or petted they will let you know
I have 2 cats. One would accept strokes from most people but the other wouldn't go near strangers. He only allows 4 or 5 people near him. He is a softie with those of us He is friends with but is very wary of anyone else

goopsoup · 19/04/2022 22:39

I used to be able to pet lots of random cats but they seem much more standoffish now.

Does anyone think there has been a change in their behaviour, are they more wary now?

I have been down these last few years, can cats sense that and keep their distance?

Hawkins001 · 19/04/2022 22:39

@lilmishap

Cats are grown ups, owners accept they're out doing their own important cat business on their own terms. They might be too busy to deal with your human nonsense

You reading this Mary?

That's pretty much true, one could argue, based on how cats are

HRTQueen · 19/04/2022 22:44

I’m happy for people to pet my cat

He is quite a nervous cat but will go in other people’s houses and sit with them. His favourite house to visit is the drug dealers next door I’ve seen him sitting at the window he pretended not to see me

AskingforaBaskin · 19/04/2022 22:44

My cat does not understand consent and is also a slut. He will throw himself at anyone.
In our old house we were on a main route to a school. Many teenagers would be perched on our drive. We came back one day to a child sitting on our front steps with him purring and rubbing all over them.

HRTQueen · 19/04/2022 22:46

goopsoup don’t look at them they then will pay you more attention something to do with dominance

Cats very often will sit on or give people who dislike them more attention

Trixiefirecracker · 19/04/2022 22:46

There was a cat in York called Vince who sat on a park bench every day waiting to be petted. Everybody passing him would stroke him, he was much adored. When he died he was missed so much that someone erected a plaque in his honour. Always pet a cat.

A question for all cat owners (it’s not about poo)

allontheirterms..