I had a similar experience. I was about 12 years old and was babysitting these 2 little kids. They were asleep and it was about 11 p.m. I was in the kitchen talking on the phone, and these people's cat jumped out at me from behind the kitchen window curtain! I almost had a heart attack because I did not know these people even had a cat!!! Sneaky little thing!
My sister had a cat for years---and one day she got out of the shower, and it attacked her! It bit her so hard that she had to have stitches and an antibiotic. She had to call animal control to get the cat out from under her bed. They put it to sleep because it was wild! This was her pet that had slept in her bed for years!
We had a cat once when I was little, but it ran away. I haven't had good experiences with cats, have I?
Oh well, they make me wheeze and sneeze! And my eyes swell shut when I'm around them, so I just avoid them like the plague.
I agree with you about them roaming the neighborhood. That drives me nuts! My biggest fear of moving into a townhouse is that my neighbors will have roaming cats that end up in my tiny little courtyard space! I don't want cats in my yard!
And my sister's cat used to walk all over her kitchen countertops. Do all cats do that? That seems very unsanitary to me.