Is it normal that i find cats to be intimidating?

When I was a kid my parents were viewing a home open and I went and sat on a couch, startling a cat that had been hiding beneath it. It reached out and with both its claws scratched down the back of both my legs. The incident left me with deep shock and I felt unease around cats right up through my 20s and my family never kept cats; we were always dog people.

Then one day I was living with a mate and he had a street cat that used to come visit, he would feed it and sometimes it would stay the night. At first it was terrified of me - it would see me, it’s eyes would go wide and it’d piss bolt out of the room. Then one night it surprised me when out of the blue it jumped up into my lap and started kneading up against me.

Just this earned trust broke so many barriers and to this day I still miss and think about that cat and how it completely won my heart. I think maybe you confront the fear in order to move past it, stroke a cat sometime

I've always loved cats! 💓

Unless you are a mouse or are afraid of you cat eating you after you die you should be fine.

Cats jump on me. Idk why.

Some people are scared of certain animals (or even all animals), so I'd say it isn't abnormal.

In my experience, most cats tend to be on the more skittish side and run off if a strange human approaches them or makes sudden movements/loud noises. Even my own cats take a lot of time to warm up to the people I invite in my house (one will usually stay in hiding the entire time). As a cat lover who has been around tons of them, I've never had one attack me unprovoked. The worst I've ever dealt with was when I was holding one and something scared it, causing it to flail and scratch, but if they have the chance to run, they'll usually do that instead.

Domestic cats, no, don’t be stupid.

I saw a full grown tiger up close, intimidating isn’t even the word lol. Surprised me how much bigger it was compared to the lions.

Always loved that story “the ghost and the darkness“ as a child, true story. Basically there were these two defective lions, without a pack, that would kill all these people, dragging them out of the camp at night. They were working on a railroad I think. And when they found this lair it was filled with body parts the lions kept instead of eating. They have the bodies of the lions in a museum, one named “the ghost” and the other “the darkness”

Hence the story name.

cats will rarely ever attempt to attack someone, even ferals unless something is wrong with it like rabies. you'd have a much higher chance of being attacked by a dog as they're much more unpredictable and likely to show aggression. cats aggressive or wary of humans are typically skittish and prefer to avoid confrontations with humans at all costs compared to a dog.

if you're scared of cats in the streets just try to avoid them, usually they'll mostly avoid you unless they're friendly and use to humans. if they get too close ignore them and walk past them or just gently try to shoo it away with your foot, the worst attack you'll receive is it rubbing against your leg lol

Outside cats are actually quite dangerous. You're doing well to avoid them, but as predators they will answer your violent body language (fist clenching)

You should look at their feet instead of their eyes and walk around them. Cross the street if you got to. If they approach you then you need to run, fast

Make sure to carry cans of wet food so you can distract them if you need to!