Why do cats want human company all the time?

[tigressbythetail]

Sometimes I don't think they recognize us as living beings like them. We're just part of the furniture. I should say we're special furniture designed just for them. We're warm, have appendages to stroke them and even dispense food. However, they don't like their furniture to move. It annoys them.

[Straysmommy]

Alpaca, there's a cat in the street here that I'd love to adopt, and I still hope to if the landlord agrees to Prince to start with, and it's exactly for that reason. She always has this fearful, bitter, anguished look that I'd love to see change.

Fatandgreedy, a journal is a wonderful idea!!

Librarychick, my strays are just like Nicole described it: forced to live together and hating every minute of it. I spend hours with them and I never saw absolutely any play or nice interaction between them. Only fear from each other, and competition for being near me or the biggest pile of kibble.

Nicole, beautiful post. The first time I read it in passing before going down to the supermarket, and I was really moved. Then, when I arrived downstairs, the 3 that follow me the most appeared from out of nowhere and surrounded me, wouldn't let me go (I had spent about 2 hours with them just an hour before, feeding them and giving each of them attention). I feel miserable for them now... One of them followed me to the supermarket and waited for about 40 minutes till I came back out. Someone sitting in the street asked me if she was my house cat. Today she washed in my presence, which is a huge sign of trust from her, which I had waited for during 4 months.

Cats are originally from the Middle East, and to this day their number is a lot bigger here than in the rest of the world. The statistic is that there is 1 cat (almost all of them strays) per inhabitant here. Which means there are no shelters here (they wouldn't be able to cope with the amount of strays), and one in a few thousand cats gets adopted into a home. Not even kittens get adopted. So socialization is actually considered a bad idea here, because it makes them too trusting. On the positive side, they don't live in harsh conditions because it's never really cold and it rains only about 5-10 days (half-days) a year. And many people leave food for them, even if not regular meals. The real problem is, as I understand from you now, that we've bred them for a household and they don't have one... Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I've just now, as I write this post, taken a photo of Prince (who is sleeping at my feet) to illustrate exactly what you say about the "huge difference". You'll see the photo in my album in a few minutes, with the caption "Belonging".

[catloverami]

Wow! I think this has been the most fascinating thread since I joined CF. Over many years of many cats owned, I find them entirely fascinating, and love to try to understand their behavior. Just when you think you have them figured out, they prove you don't! Congrats Pawsitvely Nicole, Straysmommy and others for such interesting contributions.

[Pawsitively Nicole]

Thank you for the kind comments everyone

And Straysmommy I very much respect what you are doing for your strays. They are so lucky to have someone to love and who treats them kindly in return. Don't feel sad!

[NinjaCat]

I agree with Pawsitively Nicole. I've observed these things in my cats.

Rocky is constantly following me around and meowing for attention or wanting to be held and petted. He doesn't like sitting in your lap.

Princess seems to be the most "adult" to me. She doesn't like being held, hardly EVER sleeps in your lap and doesn't really follow anyone around unless it's meal time or the rare occurrence that she actually wants attention.

Penny HATES being held. Nobody has ever held her for more than 10 seconds. She's extremely skittish and high-strung and doesn't like being on the main floor unless it's evening, when it's more quiet. She loves cuddling in your lap though! She kneads every time before napping or sleeping and I catch her suckling in her sleep a lot. She was the runt of the litter.


Rocky and Princess always sleep on my parents bed and Penny will pick one of three other beds to sleep on. Either my sisters, my brothers or mine.

[Lieke]

Kudos for StraysMommy and Pawsitively Nicole. Amazing job and amazing insight! <3

[paperbacknovel]

I'm loving your posts, Pawsitively Nicole. It's so true. Allegro especially thinks I'm his mommy. He lies on his back in my arms like a baby and kneads my, er, chest...or my arm or stomach, with his paws and just purrs so loud. His eyes roll back and are half open and he starts to drool a little. And then he'll crawl up to try and sit on my chest and put his head under my chin, and he has the most adoring, reverent look in his eyes. You can totally tell he's thinking "Hiiiiiii Mommmyyyyyyy". And then, bless his soul, he purrs himself to sleep.

And my husband must be his "littermate", because he likes to cuddle with him, too, but he does it differently. He likes to lay down on top of Jake when Jake's laying down on the couch and groom him by licking his hair or his arm repeatedly. He never tries to groom me- just Jake.

[Straysmommy]

Maybe the cats are wondering the same about me - why I follow THEM. Because sometimes I can follow a cat for an hour with my little bowl of kibble if I believe he's hungry but too afraid to eat because of the other cats. Maybe in the end they eat just to get me off their backs LOLOLOL