The pet hating visitor!!

[Gemini]

How do you cope with these??
We have 4 cats. They are friendly creatures (unless you bring a small child into the house then only one sticks round!) Most of our friends like cats and all my family do.
We have small number of friends who don't like cats!!!
They are downright rude to my cats, telling them to go away!! The cats are family members, and I don't like it. I am not overly confident of dogs I don't know, but when I visit a house with dogs I am polite. I talk to the dog, make admiring noises about the dog, I certainly don't tell it to go away!
The cats live here, so I almost feel like banning these friends (and often threaten to, to OH!)
Have you any experience of this, how do you cope?

[Avo]

We don't really have friends that don't like our dog, but we do have a 'dog room' I call it Millie's bedroom , and if we think she is being a nuisance or is in the way then we shut her in her room. It is not a punishment this room has underfloor heating, a radiator, her grooming table and bed/cage, so is very comfortable for her.

[Oma]

My Sister doesn't like birds flapping about and when we had our bird if she came visiting he went into his cage and I would put him in the spare bedroom , he didn't mind he had everything he wanted , OH doesn't like cats at all but when we go to DD as long as they don't jump on him he ignores them , trouble is they always try to get on his lap its so funny DD keeps moving them but they insist on going back

[Daisy]

We have a couple of friends who aren't keen on dogs, and I just try to keep him out of their vicinity, but still in the room, if that's where he wants to be. But the friends have never been rude to the dog, or to us about him. As you say, Gemini, our pets are part of our family, but i can understand not everyone likes them. Not liking pets because of an allergy is totally different, of course, and I wouldn't hesitate to banish the dog in that situation. Do you think it may be that they don't want to get pet hairs on their clothes?

[Plantaholic]

I find that cats will make a bee-line for anyone who are not mad about cats.

[Daisy]

Plant, that's so true! Dogs tend to go to people who welcome them.

[WeeGranny]

MY OH is not keen on cats, neither am I for that matter, but we'd never hurt them. We've found that cats always seem to head for OH if someone has them and he grins and bears it!
Friends used to have a very spoiled Shitzu and we were at their's for dinner one evening with some other workmates.. The father of the husband was also there and this dog was under the table when we were eating. All of a sudden there was this loud yelp from under the table. father had 'accidently' knocked his foot into the dog. We all had to keep straight faces, because I think we'd all felt like doing it but as the host was their boss, no one dared

[Grauntie Mag]

I had to tolerate a man who dislikes cats in my house who 'removed' my cat from the room on the end of his boot! Needless to say he got the sharp end of my tongue. On the other hand I have a good friend who is scared of both dogs and cats. She tries really hard to tolerate ours and can now stay in the room with the dog but is terrified the cat will jump on her and of course, she is the one the cat makes a bee line for.I suppose the cat wants her to like her. I hate shutting the cat out of the room but it has to be done.

[Glammanana]

I'm afraid to say it is a case of visit me visit my dog,she is not a jumpy up type of dog and everyone is told this,but as mentioned if someone has an allergy that is a different matter altogether and I shall put her to bed in the bedroom with her toys, I do love cats but we don't have one here (we will when we move though) my eldest boy has 3 cats and they are the most anti-social cats I have ever met as soon as anyone goes to visit they all disappear up stairs under the beds they do not have a friendly bone in their bodies which I find very strange indeed.

[Shemadee]

I used to go to NWR meetings held at various members houses. There must have been about 20 people sitting around in a large sitting room whilst the house owner tried to keep the cat out of the room. Another member was just saying how she was terrified of cats but they always made a beeline for her - as she was saying this the cat slipped in to the room and jumped straight up on to her lap. Even she joined in the laughter! The timing was perfect.

OH's family used to have a cat that jumped out on women and gouged their legs - only ever did it to females. I used to wear leather boots whenever I visited. I find it very painful when cats put their claws in to my thighs because of the nerve damage. Despite this I wouldn't be rude about someone's pet but try to hold something on my lap which seems to keep the cats at bay. Perhaps because I am wary of cats and even some dogs, I used to put our dog in the garden or in another room if someone was nervous because I know how unnerving it is.

BIL has a Yorkie and often looks after a second one. They are allowed to jump all over the furniture and armchairs which I find unnerving when there are two of them snapping around my ears. Oddly he used to be quite rude about our retriever who was taught from an early age not to jump up at people. I was quite surprised when they got the dog as they didn't seem very keen on animals but now the dog is their surrogate child.

[Gemini]

Shemadee, I often suggest visitors put a cushion on their knee as protection if it is just the claws they don't like. They are sharp, but cat owners sort of get used to it

Grauntie, I think that man needed removing from your house by the tip of your boot!!!

[ZIZI]

I am afraid of dogs. Not petrified just not a real lover of them, more of a pussy cat person. My son and dil have a Parsons Jack Russell. He is quite old now but when he was younger they would bring him here and he would go bonkers sniffing at everything and upsetting my (then) two cats. Son and dil thought it was a great laugh until he chewed one my of VERY expensive shoes and I insisted they replaced them! I had asked them several times to control the dog and did offer to let him have the run of the garden but they never would in case he got stolen, never did understand what that was about. After the shoe incident they never brought him in again.

My last two cats, Mr Chips and George were both friendly cats but quite old so used to do a lot of sleeping. I remember when we had an unpleasant incident a couple of years ago and the policewoman was sitting on one sofa and I was on another, she had been here about half an hour, all of a sudden Georgie let out a big sigh and the policewoman said "what on earth was that?" I pointed to the cat and she said she hadn't even realised he was there! Of course by then he was a bit dotty and did a lot of sleeping when he wasn't wailing for food (even if he had just eaten!)

I would never dream of abusing another person's animals, I will say if there is a dog that I am a bit scared in the hope the dog will be put away but as long as someone from the home is in the room with me I can cope.

Oma I am another who is afraid of flying birds indoors. My sister had four African Grey Parrots once years ago and they flew freely around the sitting room (if you can call it freely) I hated it and eventually said to her I couldn't go to hers if they were out. Apart from anything else they pooped all over the place which I found extremely unpleasant. This particular fear comes from walking home from school down a lane when I was about fourteen and a massive raven attacked me and made my head bleed like mad. My parents didn't believe that it was a bird that had done it until a few days later when this bruddy thing dive bombed some kids at a nearby primary school, cannot be sure it was the same one but it was too much of a coincidence. In the end the authorities had to get someone to shoot the bird as it was trying to attack kids in the playground. Authorities thought it was protecting nest but couldn't find one.

[Gemini]

Gosh Zizi, that would make anyone afraid of birds!!
I think you were good to let your DS and DIL bring their dog into house with cats. None of our family have dogs. Our dog owning friends understand that we don't have dogs in the house due to the cats. One couple do bring their dog at times, but he goes for walk and a wee when they arrive, then stays in the car with a drink. He seems happy when we go and check on him

[ZIZI]

Gem, my cats always had a "nest" under our bed, this was where they went when there were fireworks or the bird scarer was on the runway - the shots are VERY loud, so the cats were well away from the dog when he was here. At the time of the shoe incident there were no grandchildren and the spare room was my office come dressing room and my shoes were on a rack. Trust the flipping dog to pick the most expensive pair to try to have for its supper!

[Daisy]

We have always been a dog family, but DS1 and his family have now got a cat. They got her as a kitten and they sometimes bring her down here, and we take our dog up to theirs. The cat will stand her ground if the dog gets too close, and the dog can't see well enough to chase her, so they kind of tolerate each other. But we do watch them quite carefully!