Shutting the cat away

[Aranea]

I feel horrible. Dd1's best friend is frightened of cats and we have a very lively and playful 8 month old kitten. I agreed to shut her in my bedroom, and she has miaowed for the best part of an hour, trying to open the door. I went in and got some very intense cat love, lots of purring and cuddles, but I've had to leave her there again now so I can feed the DC. Oooff, I don't want to do this again but I suppose I have to, don't I? WWYD??

[thecatneuterer]

Cats come well above human guests in the ranking in my home:) If visitors don't show themselves to be sufficiently cat-friendly they don't get invited back ....

[issey6cats]

is with catneuterer i have four cats one dog and occasional foster cats so anyone coming here has to like cats but usually my cats see the grandchildren walking down the front path and they form an orderly queue at the back door lol, but can understand that some children are wary of cats, one of my grandaughters loves cats but when she was little my girl cat decided she was a target and swiped her every time she came near, nowadays said madam curls up on her lap truce called

[tabulahrasa]

Dogs are much more predictable than cats - massively different body languages and way of approaching people, and much more boisterous, but I find cats much more unpredictable.

My BIL is scared of my cats - He's 6 foot, my cats are 3 kgs each, they don't bite or scratch and one's terrified of people who don't live here and hides behind the couch, the other mostly sleeps, yet he still spends visits watching them warily...I'm not quite sure what it is he thinks they're going to do? Some sort of tiny coordinated sneak attack?

[sashh]

Maybe it's a cultural thing not liking/being scared of cats.

I was shopping a few weeks ago and at the till there was an African lady with two small children distributing her shopping between them to walk home. The smallest one had to hold the carrier bag level with his chin to stop it dragging on the floor so I asked if they wanted a lift.

It was only two streets away but when we pulled up there was a black cat on the wheelie bin and she said something about hoping it would go.

I told her black cats are lucky in England and she could not understand that at all.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

My first posh arrogant boy came to me from a family who said he was going to eat their children needless to say he didn't eat a single child in the years he lived with me.
More seriously DD had a friend who was frightened of the cats I explained to her that if she ignored them they would ignore gradually over about 4 years she became more comfortable with them and now actively seeks them out.