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Has anyone actually figured out what they want when they do this? (thelemmy.club)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/cat@lemmy.world
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He meows. Makes hard eye contact but if I touch him , he gets mad and runs off.

What? What do you want!?!?! Why are you staring at me and meowing if you don't actually want me to do anything?!

He also seems to get mad and run off if I just look back at him and not try to pet him.

If I try to ignore him he just rolls around and sometimes does this little ridiculous "tantrum" deal where he will stand up and dramatically throw himself down and then roll onto his back. It's always loud cause he's a big cat. It can't feel very good. But he does it all the time.

Idk. Maybe he just likes being dramatic.

Anyway. Any cat whisperers who have figured it out, let me know.

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[–] 12 points 7 months ago (1 child)

First part is correct. Second part not necessarily. Some don’t like having their bellies touched no matter how much they trust you. The show of trust is exposing their belly, going for he belly is usually taken as a betrayal of that trust.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Yeah, I've had good results just going for the chest instead of the chest and belly. Then they can interact with their front paws or head if they want to, and you avoid getting raked with the rear claws if they suddenly decide petting was ok up to then but must stop immediately.

    Also don't go from 0 to 100 instantly, unless you know the cat well. Ramp up the intensity more slowly so the cat isn't jolted around unexpectedly or feels out of control. Same thing if you pick them up. If they instantly start squirming around, they aren't comfortable. Maybe it's nervousness about being dropped, maybe they just don't want to be carried.

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