Respect their boundaries and stop touching them if they don’t invite the approach.
Cats are more fickle than that. For example, my cats will literally approach me seeking attention and do this the moment I try to pet them.
I will be laying down and my cat will walk up, lean against the bed, poke me a few times then just…walk the fuck away.
Yeah no, cats will do this after they invite the approach regardless. They will plead for pets for minutes and dodge when you try… And then mine circles around, slams her head into my hand and repeats the process
Love the super aggressive headbutts, mine puts his entire body weight into it like it’s an attack.
for real, learning to speak cat language has resulted in most random cats i meet on the street to actively approach me and stick around for a couple of minutes of petting and headbonking.
i mostly avoid it to be polite both to the cat and their owner, but i’m pretty sure i could pick up most any cat and they’d be pretty alright with it, the trick is just to hold their rear paws with one hand and wrap the other around their body so the cat doesn’t feel like they’re gonna fall.
alternatively dump them on your shoulder, but then it’s harder to shower them with smooches.
“Your hand smells like greasy poo-poo”
-Cat
Our new cat needs every part of her body in contact with me.
Cats are cute, but I have dog person energy. I just want to play and go do stuff with doggy, and dogs enable that!