I've noticed over the years that my cat always seems to take up position at the door/ fence post outside a few minutes before someone comes home.

I witnessed it again today when I went outside to the garden, saw her sitting at the gate looking up through the posts to the driveway as if waiting for someone and sure enough a few minutes later someone came home.

How do they do it?

Maybe she just sits there all day

My little tortie I had when I was a girl used to come to meet me on my way home from school I never worked out how she knew, it'd be interesting to know.

Cats hearing is a lot better then ours, so are there other senses. Maybe that has something to do with it.

I have a car park outside my house (so a lot of cars come and go) but Benji cat always knows when my gf is driving up. Perhaps he can tell the sound of her car. For an idiot of a cat he is very good with things like this.

Our cat used to appear throught the catflap within five minutes of my husband arriving home from work, even though I was home all day.

Don't know about cats, but twice a week my dog has a professional dog walker and on those days only, he sits on the footstool from early morning staring out of the window. He goes mad the moment her van turns into the top of our road - five minutes before she drives down to the turning space and then comes back and parks.

I do get him out at other times, but she takes him out for three hours and with other dogs - so a very special time for him.

My oldest cat knows the sound of my car, when other cars stop in the same spot it does not respond at all

Wish I knew - its a real mystery. I would watch my ex's cat go and wait at the front door, approx 10mins before he came home, almost without fail! There's no possibility he could have heard the engine as it would have been much too far away and the time of arrival varied wildly, due to nature of ex's job, so he couldn't have been roughly judging the time.
I can only conclude they have some sort of extra sensory perception

a few years ago we had four cats and around 15 minutes before my mum and stepdad came home from work they used go and sit on the front garden wall in a line and wait for their car to pull up, they even did it in the rain, they would then run up and greet them when the car doors opened ,

One of them used to follow my mum when she took the dogs out over the field for a run . it was quite a funny sight to see my mum plus three old english sheepdogs going down the road with a cat following behind them

Got home about half an hour ago from a long day out. Put the key in the lock and before I had turned the key there was an annoyed meow from the other side. I don't know if she had been sat there since about 11 when I usually get home or heard my car parking and rushed down the stairs to give me an ear bashing about being late.

haha bless. So many lovely anecdotes on this thread

Another thing my cat does is try and push in front of you when you're unlocking the door so when it opens she's first in. She has the advantage ofcourse because she's small so can get in closer to the door.

Smart little buggers

My cat too recognises the sound of my car. She got a bit confused when I replaced the car but is now used to the new car.

I work from home, but my cat has an internal clock where, 90% of the time, come 6pm -- it's dinner time. He's surprised visitors with his timekeeping.

Yes, you can set your watch by a cat's dinner instinct -- I come in at 6.30 from work most nights -- even when I'm off they'll starting asking at pretty much exactly 6.30.

Creatures of habit. I think that explains most of this.

No idea but my wife tells me that our two dogs are the same. Half four every day...off to the chair by the window to wait.

I can debunk the theory about the hearing bit, as my cat is completely deaf, yet he still knows when I come home.

Is this your cat?

http://spaceweather.com/swpod2005/17...ves1_strip.jpg

I think mine recognises the car noise as I pull up. I come home at varing times of the day but she's almost always behind the door meowing. Mine you she's usually looking sleepy and doing her leg stretches so I know she's been snoozing somewhere rather than sitting there waiting

Mine do - by running out and 'death rolling' in front of the car. Honestly, one day it probably will be a death roll....

Mine does the same funny leg stretches and meowing making me feel like she really cares

Could he possibly have been picking up on subtle differences in your behaviour? That's if you knew exactly what time you ex was due home, of course.