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.
Violence
My adult cat wants to be pet when he does that. The kitten does it mostly when she’s in trouble for something. Almost seems like asking for forgiveness when she does it, but I know it’s a lie.
Try getting a feather on a stick type toy and pulling it out when he does this. I’d say he wants to play, but doesn’t want to engage your actual huge ape body when it comes down to it. In any case, it’s a sign he considers you his human. He’s really a beautiful cat.
My cat does this when she’s happy. She’ll fall asleep like that with a literal little smile on her face in the sun and when I see it I explode because it’s so damn cute. She’s also an old girl so I have to kinda make sure she’s breathing these days and didn’t literally go belly up and give up the ghost on me 😭😭
Pets really nailed down the manipulation through cuteness
My Siamese Mama Bear always wanted me to give her a really rough, all-over rubbing. She could take as much as I wanted to give. I always surrendered before she did.
They’re apologizing. Or belly rubs.
Put on a thick leather work glove and wrestle him.
Every cat is different. One of ours demands belly rubs like this.
Another one cannot tolerate being touched in any way. You go to pet her and she’s like:
hes telling you he likes you and is happy youre here and doing whatever youre doing.
not all cats showing belly want belly touched, simple as.
Attention. Purely you just talking to him and staying around him is enough usually.
Some head and ear scratches might also be acceptable.
Belly rubs might be interpreted as an attack.
With my cat, it’s an invitation to play fight.
So I put on an oven mitt, tickle her belly and she clamps down on it and tries to kill it.
But she doesn’t extend her claws or actually bite down, and when I remove my hand she goes back to the position on her back. Which tells me she seems to enjoy it.Cats will often show you their belly as a sign of trust, as it makes them vulnerable. Some cats love to have their bellies rubbed, others view it as a breach of trust and will shred you, even though they flopped over. If it’s a cat you don’t know, the best thing is to just reach down and scratch the top of their head around the ears. If you want to see how far you can push it, give them scritches under the chin, move down to the upper chest, and inch your way lower to see how far they’re okay with going.
give them scritches under the chin, move down to the upper chest, and inch your way lower to see how far they’re okay with going.
This quickly turned into cat fan-fiction
If I even approach with my hand he gets mad and runs off before I even make contact. He is generally fond of cheek rubs. But he won’t even let me do that when he’s on his back.
To me it sounds like it could be what some littermates do to eachother, he’s calling you to play. Our cats will do this same thing, but to each other: Jade will first go groom Ciri’s face for a bit, perhaps a little stranglehold here, or she flops down in front of her sister, asking her to jump on top and wrestle, a lot like what you’ve described in the post. YMMV obviously, you know your cat better than a stranger online etc., but my two cents from my experience with a lot of litters in the past, I’ve seen this before many times.
It can also be what comment above said, he could be just showing his trust to you, but since it’s such a high stakes thing, he could be a little overstimulated and doesn’t know what he actually wants, and just reacts like his instincts are telling him.
Some cats, even cats that know and trust you react much better if you pet them with a hand they dont see approach. Sometimes I distract a cat with one hand and start stroking with another. I think laying on your back is a very vulnerable position for a cat, most cats I had did it but only one stayed in that position while I was approaching.
I think you might be right from what I can gather without a video to check the body language and a longer term observation.
Spot on, but I would personally go for slow horizontal approach to cheeks if you don’t know the cat, a lot of cats freak out about things above them, so going directly to top of head is a bit risky, and has gotten me bit before. I would offer a scent mark target first, just stick a (tucked in, hard to bite!) knuckle out for them and if they rub their cheek against it, you’re golden. After that I would move to chin and then top of head/behind ears.
Touch but don’t touch.
Pls pet?
No touch! Only pet!
Hes just like me fr
One of my cats is not a lap cat on most ocassions but does actually want belly rubs. I just have to join them on the floor if he flops over like that.
The other doesn’t like belly rub but will try to sleep on me whenever I sit down.
So, depends on the cat!
My old cat used to love belly rubs, and would never attack. Miss her so much.
My new cat doesn’t offer. I don’t think she understands the concept. She was a stray and still pretty young. Maybe she will grow into it.
