- Joined
- Dec 7, 2023
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Such a melodramatic title, I know, but I wanted to hear some people's experiences with touch-neutral cats.
Not touch-shy. Not touch-adverse. But touch-neutral.
I adopted Maisie about a month and a half ago. She's anywhere from 4-10 years old depending on which vet you ask (I'm guessing in the middle, 6-ish). Little is known about her history; she was rescued off the streets with a single kitten late last year, and then spent three months confined with her kitten in a bathroom before being brought to a shelter. The shelter spayed her, adopted out her kitten, and then moved her to my local SPCA to give her a better chance of finding her forever home. I adopted her a week after she arrived at the SPCA.
It's been wonderful so far. She and my other cat, Rory, had the most drama-free adult cat introduction possible. I would actually go as far as to say they're already friends. She LOVES to play. When I first got her, I thought she must be very old because her muscles were so weak; turns out they just needed some time to regain their strength! If allowed, she will play for hours without rest. She also LOVES to wrestle Rory, which is shocking to me! I was so nervous a girl cat would hate Rory's love of wrestling, but she's actually the more persistent one.
She is not fussy about food (except she always wants more), she has immaculate litter box habits, and she is generally a very easy cat.
The only issue--if we have to call it that--is that she... doesn't seem to care about being touched.
She was very snuggly with me when we first took her home, as is natural for some cats in a new environment. But once she became more comfortable with her surroundings, she has stopped seeking any sort of physical attention from me whatsoever. She will occasionally come over to head butt my hand, but she doesn't seem to care either way about being pet. She doesn't mind being brushed (to an extent) but will walk away with a little chirp if I pet her more than once. She doesn't seem scared--she doesn't hiss or anything--but just indifferent to being touched.
In fact, when I give the cats their nightly Churu, she will climb on top of me in bed to reach it. But if I pet her while she is eating, she just doesn't seem to register my touch at all.
If this is how she is, it's totally fine. But I am so used to cats who love to be pet, who purr when touched or scritched. However, all my other cats are/were former bottle babies, while her history is unknown. She does have fairly bad teeth and we have a dental scheduled for August, which may help her a bit with feeling comfortable being touched on her face. But I mostly just wanted to know whether or not other people have had similar kitties in their past, and if they ever decided that being touched was awesome, haha. I have zero expectations, but am trying to temper my hopes.
Not touch-shy. Not touch-adverse. But touch-neutral.
I adopted Maisie about a month and a half ago. She's anywhere from 4-10 years old depending on which vet you ask (I'm guessing in the middle, 6-ish). Little is known about her history; she was rescued off the streets with a single kitten late last year, and then spent three months confined with her kitten in a bathroom before being brought to a shelter. The shelter spayed her, adopted out her kitten, and then moved her to my local SPCA to give her a better chance of finding her forever home. I adopted her a week after she arrived at the SPCA.
It's been wonderful so far. She and my other cat, Rory, had the most drama-free adult cat introduction possible. I would actually go as far as to say they're already friends. She LOVES to play. When I first got her, I thought she must be very old because her muscles were so weak; turns out they just needed some time to regain their strength! If allowed, she will play for hours without rest. She also LOVES to wrestle Rory, which is shocking to me! I was so nervous a girl cat would hate Rory's love of wrestling, but she's actually the more persistent one.
She is not fussy about food (except she always wants more), she has immaculate litter box habits, and she is generally a very easy cat.
The only issue--if we have to call it that--is that she... doesn't seem to care about being touched.
She was very snuggly with me when we first took her home, as is natural for some cats in a new environment. But once she became more comfortable with her surroundings, she has stopped seeking any sort of physical attention from me whatsoever. She will occasionally come over to head butt my hand, but she doesn't seem to care either way about being pet. She doesn't mind being brushed (to an extent) but will walk away with a little chirp if I pet her more than once. She doesn't seem scared--she doesn't hiss or anything--but just indifferent to being touched.
In fact, when I give the cats their nightly Churu, she will climb on top of me in bed to reach it. But if I pet her while she is eating, she just doesn't seem to register my touch at all.
If this is how she is, it's totally fine. But I am so used to cats who love to be pet, who purr when touched or scritched. However, all my other cats are/were former bottle babies, while her history is unknown. She does have fairly bad teeth and we have a dental scheduled for August, which may help her a bit with feeling comfortable being touched on her face. But I mostly just wanted to know whether or not other people have had similar kitties in their past, and if they ever decided that being touched was awesome, haha. I have zero expectations, but am trying to temper my hopes.
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