Stray cat at your door
Among the Native peoples of the Rio Grande, a 1903 collection says, a female cat coming to the house was a blessing. A cat also picks a house carefully, so its choice can make you wonder what welcome you signal without words.
What it may mean
A cat that turns up on your step has been watching longer than you think. Strays size up a street from under cars and hedges, and they prefer to approach the house where things are calm, where someone moves slowly and does not stare, where food once appeared. Researchers have found that cats are more likely to approach a stranger who narrows their eyes in a slow blink, the feline version of a smile. So being chosen by a cat says something about the signals you give off without a word: your pace, your voice, the way you look at others. It is worth asking what those signals tell the people around you, too.
Depending on how you saw it
Waiting on the step every morning
A cat that appears at the same time each day has learned your routine, perhaps better than your neighbors have. Being counted on can be sweet and a little binding. What have you started that other beings, animal or human, now simply expect from you?
Keeping its distance at first
Many strays stay a few yards away for days before they let anyone close. Sitting low, looking off to the side and letting the cat take the last step helps far more than reaching out. Is there someone in your life who needs that same slow approach, with less pursuit and more patience?
A thin cat on a cold night
In winter a stray may come to the door for warmth and food as much as company. A box with straw in a sheltered corner can help more than a bowl of milk, which many cats do not digest well. What is the practical kindness someone around you needs, rather than the one that feels nicest to give?
A cat that visits several houses
Some "strays" are well-fed pets making a daily round of the neighborhood, with a different name at every door. You may be one stop on its route. In whose life are you one of several homes, and is that enough for both of you?
Why it happens in nature
A cat that appears at the door may be a true stray, a lost pet or a neighbor's cat on its rounds. Cats choose places that offer food, shelter and calm. A vet or shelter can scan for a microchip for little or no cost to find out whether the cat already has a home.
What folk beliefs say
Rio Grande, New Mexico
Among the Native peoples of the Rio Grande, a female cat coming to the house was a blessing for the family.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 595. View the page
To reflect on
What do your pace, your voice and your face tell people before you say anything?