You can’t pet Cece in the yard. You can’t pet him in the kitchen even if you have cheese. And you will never see CeCe the part of the house that has the dogs.
You can’t pet him anywhere except on the bathroom counter. If he’s there you’re allowed to pet him as deeply and vigorously as you can and he will purr the whole way with a very loud purr that lets you that he tolerats you.
Once took care of a stray who only allowed you to pet and scratch her, as long as she didn’t see you / make eye contact. As soon as she looked she got startled, ran away, waited a few secs and returned to repeat. She definitely enjoyed the touch but she didn’t want to know where it came from :D
Cece showed up as an untameable feral. Yet here we are.
There are two feral cats in this household that I do avoid eye contact with because they will immediately bolt for the cat door.
Thats super bittersweet, glad you’ve found ways to be mutually understood to mutual benefit :)