circa Sun, 02 May 2004 15:29:05 GMT, in rec.pets.cats.health+behav,
Geoff (gergath@telus.net) said,

Either have more people over more often, or live with having
chickens**t cats. I went with the latter approach, myself. :-)

Time. Let her hiss. It's normal, and it's instinctive, and you're
never going to "stop" a cat from hissing to express feeling
threatened. Let her do it. Eventually, she'll get used to the dog. Or
she won't, and she'll continue to hiss at the dog. Either way, that's
just the way cats are. :-)

Laura

Well, cats is cats.

We had two cats who just weren't social AT ALL unless they really got to
know you, and our two girls right now just love anybody who comes in.
Lina doesn't mind being picked up, Zel can't stand it (yet crawls under
the blankets at night to snuggle with my wife or myself - or both).  

So I'm going to pretty much echo Laura R's comment.  They gotta get used
to the people, or you gotta get used to the quirks.  Hopefully they'll
come around.

Hi Geoff,
   You need to let the cats settle and get used to the shock of a
puppy living with them before you try to tackle the visitor problem.
They won't be in the mood to accept visitors and might associate the
puppy with them and be even less receptive.
  Its difficult with cats of nervous disposition and those that
haven't been socialised as a kitten.   As Karen says,  you need to
have a vistior(s) willing to work with you on a regular basis and get
down on the floor. First you need a room they are relaxed in, where
can't run to hide under the beds but where  they  have somewhere to
climb to feel safe (cat trees are useful ). Don't let the visitor
knock or ring the bell as this is a signal to run and hide. Put the
pup in another room and hope he doesn't cry or whine as that increases
tension.  I would ignore the cats and not even look at them to start
with, just sit and chat with your friends to give them(the cats) a
chance to relax a bit and be less tense. Try leaving out some tempting
treats like tuna in the hope it will lure them out . Also, if they
start to relax , try playing with them with string toy that they can
chase. Let the cats approach the visitor and not the other way around.
You want the cats to associate the visitors with nice things when they
are in the room not after they have left.  I expect it would take a
good few visits before your cats start to relax and not want to run
away .

The principles are the same with the pup.They need to associate him
with good things. Don't let him  chase them or even approach them
until they are more used to him , you might need to keep him on a lead
when the cats are in the same room. Distract  him with a toy if you
can.  Having somewhere high where they can watch the pup but he can't
get to close will make them feel safer. I think you should work on
getting them to accept the pup before he gets too big .
You need to encourage your cats to not want to run away but not over
do it by  flooding them and increasing their fear. A step at a time is
best.
Alison