How to Keep Your Cat Safe When Strangers Are Over
When people are coming and going in the house, your indoor cat needs a safe space — or even a room — of their own. Here's what you should know.
I couldn’t find Bub.
Now, this is not generally a big deal — he's extremely shy and takes his time putting in an appearance during my cat-sitting gigs. Bruce, his housemate, is the far more sociable of the 2 Maine Coons.
But this time, not being able to find Bub was a big deal. The cats’ humans had just put their condo unit on the market, and real estate agents were popping in and out with their clients. A quiet, quick-moving cat could slip out all too easily.
After 1–2 days, Bub showed up at the top of stairs, and I tracked him down to the master bedroom.
Apparently every time he heard the real estate contingent arrive, he would slip behind the waterbed and into the “tunnel” between the drawers. And there he would stay until the unfamiliar presences were gone.
He felt -- and was -- extremely safe there.
It got me thinking, though. How do you keep your cat safe when strangers are over?
How to Keep Your Cat Safe When Strangers Are Over
Even the sweetest-natured cats retain some of their primal wildness.
“God has made the cat to give man the pleasure of caressing the tiger,” novelist Victor Hugo wrote, and he was more accurate in his assessment than he probably realized.
Cats play a dual role in the food chain: They are both predators and prey, and we see some of both behaviors when strangers enter their home.
An indoor-only cat views their home as theirterritory. Cat trees -- or the tops of refrigerators -- take the place of real trees, giving them a way to safely scope out intruders.
Although there are no caves, a timid cat like Bub can improvise by ducking under or behind a sizable piece of furniture.
There are, however, other possible reasons your cat disappears when they hear an unfamiliar voice, according to Best Friends:
- "Lack of experience with visitors when they were kittens” may play a role, the animal society says. “If the cats were not introduced to people during their socialization period (3 to 9 weeks of age), they may be more apprehensive as adults.”
- Or your cat may just be timid by nature, as Best Friends suggests: “Studies have shown that kittens born to fearful fathers are often fearful themselves.”
- There's another possibility, and it’s a strong one if your cat spent any time as a stray: feline post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
A few months ago, my Magwitch managed to slip into the unfinished part of the basement, where the hatchway steps were being rebuilt. When I found him, he was crouching on a high shelf, terrified beyond belief. With some help from my handyman’s teenaged son, I got Magwitch out of there.
Later, I found him resting on a chair in my room, his blue eyes shining. The change in him was nothing short of miraculous -- he actually looked grateful.
You see, Magwitch had been found at a construction site. His mother, spooked by all the commotion, had taken off and never found her way back.
Somewhere in his Snowshoe Siamese brain, he retained a memory of that place and her unintentional abandonment -- things that the noises in the basement brought back to him in a frightening rush.
A Word About Repair People
Most repair people, I’ve found, are extremely mindful about not letting your cats out if you tell them.
But, remember, they’re lugging toolboxes, buckets of paint and shop vacuums, and it’s very easy for a cat to slip past them.
So here's what you can do to keep your cats safe when repair people visit:
- Put your cats in a separate room with food, water and litter boxes. Close the door and hang a “Do Not Open” sign on it.
- If you can’t get everybody into the room (there’s a reason people compare difficult situations to “herding cats”), then play security guard and watch the doors.
- “Stress, noise and a constantly opening front door can provide the perfect combination for pets to run out and get lost,” says Niccole Schreck of Petfinder. She advises people to make sure that both microchip information and collar tags are “completely up-to-date.”
Moving With Cats
Moving is one of the most stressful things that a person can do. Moving is even less fun for cats— who don’t understand why their world is disappearing into boxes.
That’s why some real estate agents suggest boarding your pets -- with a friend, at the vet’s or at a reputable boarding facility.
This shark "cave" looks like the perfect hiding spot for a cat in need of some mellow time:
- Toukhee, a former rescue cat, could have easily slipped out.
- Yvette, the Abyssinian, was “very friendly,” and Weed feared that somebody might steal her.
By the time the bulk of the furniture had been moved, the cats had been in their new digs about 6 weeks.
"I just didn't feel that it was all about me," Weed explains. "I needed to get them here. I had to plan, to the extent possible, for my cat companions' ease in such a huge transition.... I had to troubleshoot for them as their guardian and safe keeper. That was the emphasis on overlapping the 2 dwellings -- that they could settle in before [I experienced the stress] of the big uprooting."
Final Thoughts
Whatever the situation, know that your cats desperately want a safe space away from strangers and stressful situations.
So be sure to provide it for them.
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T.J. Banks is the author of several books, including Catsong, which received a Merial Human–Animal Bond Award. A contributing editor to laJoie, T.J. also has received writing awards from the Cat Writers’ Association (most recently a Certificate of Excellence in 2019), as well as from ByLine and The Writing Self. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Single Parent’s Soul and A Cup of Comfort for Women in Love, and T.J. has worked as a stringer for the Associated Press, as an instructor for the Writer’s Digest School and as a columnist.
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