Sims can't interact with stray cats and dogs

I've got a similar problem. My sims can interact with strays however it takes a LONG time to do so and doesn't always work. I have a cat hangout house for one of my families in Strangerville. My strays come by and spend about 30 minutes to an hour ingame time just whining about food according to their thought bubbles. Thay won't eat from my pet bowls. Whenever my sims try to interact the strays won't stop what they're doing until they're finished it seems and may even move on to another action like napping or jumping on a table or counter. Usually that prevents the sim's interaction from working because you can't for example pet a cat that's on the counter or sleeping. And as I've already stated the strays won't stop until they're done. Usually that means the sims just stand there until the stray's supposed action quene ends with them on the ground or the sims drop it from their action queue or the strays decide to leave the lot. I'm not having this problem with the household's two cats. This is frustrating as I'm trying to complete the friend of the animals aspiration with them. I'm also having difficulty mating my cats with the strays much like I read in another forum. Any ideas or people having similar issues?