How Does Your Cat Greet You?

Every day, when I walk into my house, my cat always comes up to greet me. He doesn't do it right away though. He first looks at me for a couple seconds, I personally say hello to him, he then comes close to me and scratches on the post, and then says hello. Every day, it's the same thing over and over again. Even when I open my door after a good nights rest would he say hello to me the same way. And typically, his meow gains volume. So he always starts off soft and then he pushes his volume to loud. It's always funny to hear!

How does your cat greet you?

When I first open the door to my apartment, my two cats are sitting in front of it. As soon as they see me they dash into the kitchen. When I take off my coat and put my things away I go into the kitchen and see them both waiting by their food bowls. When I look at them, they meow for attention and look at the cabinet which contains their food. The longer I take to feed them, the louder they meow at me. Sometimes I like to wait because their meows are so cute and funny. Their loud meows are almost like screams saying "Hey feed me!". I finally feed them and they eat away. When they are done they lick themselves and go back to sleep lol. I guess they only love me for the food.

My cat was orphaned, actually, she was only a few hours old when I rescued her. She weighed 3 oz. I hand-raised her and expected that she would be very loving to me. Ha! She does what she wants, when she wants, but never, ever has she wanted to "cuddle." With her personality described, now I want to tell you about the time I went away for two weeks to visit my grandchildren.

My son's family has two cats and one dog and two very young children. While visiting, the cats loved to lay inside or on top of my huge travel purse. I knew their fur and scent would remain on my purse, luggage and clothes when I would go home, but I did not think it was going to be a problem. And I still do not think that was the problem. I think my kitty did not want me to come home! And here is why...

I used an airport shuttle to drive me home because of the ease. I walked in the front door, laid my luggage on the dining room floor, said "Hello" to my two Labs and then made my way over to "my" Lazy Boy recliner where my cat was resting. I approached her and she just looked at me like, "Who do you think you are?" And with one quick and angry "HISSS," she said what she wanted to say and looked away! That was it! She ignored me for the rest of that evening, but I am happy to report that life was all back to normal the next day.

Maybe she did not want to give up her spot on "my" recliner? Who knows. I love her, love her, love her, even with all her quirky ways.

My cat usually runs to within a couple feet of me when I come home, stares at me, then goes crazy scratching the carpet (his claws kind of get stuck and he ends up just tugging and not doing any real damage to anyone who's concerned), then comes over and headbutts and rubs against my legs. Once I've gotten my shoes off and walked further in, he runs to a particular patch of carpet, flops over, and waits for tummy rubs with his mean-ish commanding eyes. And I'm forced to obey. Well, no, not really, but when he's lying there all soft belly exposed for me to rub, I can't resist. He does something similar when my parents come home from work. It seems, like my previous pet dog, he's learned to hear when someone's car has pulled up in our driveway. He then waits to see if it's one of us or a stranger, and acts accordingly.

As soon as my cat hears the key in the door she runs right over and as I open the door to my apartment I have to get low so she doesn't try to run through my legs. Once I manage to get her back into the apartment she will literally walk figure eights through my ankles a few times and spends a good deal of time sniffing my ankles, she must be trying to figure out where I have been and why I left her. We then have a few minutes of intense head and chin rubs and then she knows it's time for dinner so we trot over to her bowl where she gets fresh food and water. I then have to stand and watch her eat, otherwise she will come find me, and then it's time for her to nap--generally on my bed. The whole process can be very long winded but I enjoy her company and would rather feel needed as opposed to her not caring I am home.

So many lucky people with a loving cat that greets them at the door! Mine is not as affectionate, sadly. He has a very independent spirit, and will actually reject petting whenever he doesn't feel like being petted. Greeting is no exception. Usually he just sticks his head out of a doorway to check who's coming, then goes back to doing whatever he was doing before I came in, usually napping.
The only time he actually comes up to me is when I come back after going for lunch at my sister's house. She has 8 cats, and when I pet them my cat can smell it in the air from very far away. Then he spends some time sniffing away at my hands. He even does the Flehmen response, commonly known as that incredibly goofy opened mouth expression.
The first month or so I had him I used to be a bit disappointed in his lack of consideration. I also tried to do the nose to nose greeting cats do among each other, but it didn't work. Now I accept it and love him anyway!

Every day, I arrive from work at around 5:30 P.M. Whenever I walk through the gate, my cats would come meowing like crazy. They're not hungry though because my mom makes sure that they are fed on time three times a day. I guess they just miss me, and it's really touching. There are some days though that my cats are very indifferent. They would just look at me and continue cleaning themselves. Sometimes, they would even swipe their claws at me!

I guess humans don't show their affection to their cats. Their cats show their affection to the humans instead.

It actually depends how long we are gone for. If we go away for the weekend they are directly at the door when we walk in through our garage. Sitting there crying waiting for us to come home. That is short lived however and usually means they want a quick loving and then wants their food bowls topped off.

It we leave for just a few hours, one cats goes upstairs and the other stays downstairs, so the one downstairs is usually on the counter crying when we walk in... again... waiting for more food.
The one that sleeps upstairs will shortly after saunter downstairs for some food and love.

Danyel