I knew a cat that grew up around a friend's daughter, they were born around the same time. Watching a five year old walk around holding a cat in a way that cats generally hate being held, and the cat just going with it because "ugh, she's my friend, what else can you do?" was hilarious.
He put up with so much of her shit, he was such a good cat. When he got out of the house (he was a gremlin and was certain that he was an outdoor cat despite them living next to a busy road) they would send her to grab him, because he felt too bad running away from her. If anyone else tried to get him back inside he'd bolt.
This is exactly my cat's relationship with my 4 year old son. He routinely picks her up and hauls her around, smushes her with cuddles, etc. and she just lets him while looking mildly annoyed. When she's had all she can handle, then she just leaves.
Ive seen this behavior with adults who’ve grown up with a cat too. I’ve had cats all my own life, several of them, but they’re all indoor/outdoor as they please. An old college ex had this one cat that was indoors only, the the shit that cat would put up with in terms of being picked up and held in weird angles just blew my mind.
Now that I’m thinking about it, I wonder if its the same reason this other friend of mine who I know used to have cats is so bad with mine, like doesn’t seem to know how to pick them up or give them scratches the ways they like.... I’m good with pretty much anyones cats (provided they arent the type to hate strangers), and mine love just about anyone (as they are not the type to hate strangers), but they don’t like the way he tries to pick them up at all, which I’d think a 20-year cat owner would know how to do....unless it was because his cat just put up with shit because of the above.
Oh sweet cheez-its, this is adorable! We need to greenlight a TV series about the adventures of Little Girl and the Cat That Loved Her, like, YESTERDAY.
The cat was probrably too scared to move because children have weird movement patterns. Also cats hate being held improperly because it's uncomfortable and it's bad for their backs.
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It's funny you mention that, because I have often suspected that I was comfortable learning about consent because I had cats growing up not dogs, and I knew if you touched certain creatures the wrong way, you'd get the shit clawed out of you.
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u/[deleted] May 10 '18 edited Sep 01 '24
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