Why does my 2 year old only let me touch her....

JagdReaper

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Mar 10, 2020
Messages
1
Purraise
1
Location
Blue Ash, Ohio
My first post so hi all :) , im curious as to why my almost 2 year old "Fancy" mix Lizzy will only let me touch, pet and or cuddle with just me. She's not aggressive at all. I sometimes visit my mom who has two cats of her own and after a few hours of a little hissing/growling she's playing trying to chase them and even rolling over showing shes not a threat....though she does love to fight off her back lol....But if any "human" tries to touch her besides me she leans away and will run away if necessary. The only time other people can touch her is if she's laying in my lap, i'm holding her or they have food lol.....

I'm not a super social person and really i'm a bit anti-social and i've been accused of making her the same, but i try my best to allow her to be social without really pushing too much. But as i said she observers and unless there's food involved there's no contacted happening....

Also i call her a fancey mix because my vet thinks she's likely a siamese mix. She's spayed but not declawed and she lives with me, my dad and a 12 yr old maine coon mix "Simba" whose pretty much a push over for her which is funny considering the significant size difference lol...

Backstory - i adopted her from my g/f at the time who was a bit of a cat hoarder lol, she was born in and lived in a junkyard for the first 6-8ish weeks of her life before being adopted along with her brother Samson & sister Witchy. I stayed 2 weeks with my g/f at the time while she was around 3-4 months and she immediately took to me and pretty much everytime i returned she was the only cat in the house that immediately recognized me and would loved on me right away. From then till now 90% of nights she sleeps with me and even during the nap a lot im her "cat" bed lol.

if my post seems jumbled apologies and the pic is her as a kitten, i know i need a newer one but i haven't got around to it....
 

Attachments

ArtNJ

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jun 1, 2017
Messages
5,508
Purraise
6,990
Its super common, even with other family members. Cats don't trust all at once. They trust one person first, or sometimes even one person in one spot or one situation. Your family members can keep working at it and should get there if they take it slow and let the cat set the pace. A lot of times, family members get jealous of the cat's preference for another family member and are like "well I'll put the cat in MY lap, hold her there a bit, and she will see that my lap is nice too," and that sets their relationship with the cat back. Have to let the cat set the pace with each member, and they have to ignore how the cat acts with "the favorite" family member.

Same with strangers. Cats in homes that don't get a LOT of visitors that are patient and respectful of the cat quite often stay skittish of strangers. If there is a time period where you have a lot of nice patient visitors and the cat is friendly with strangers, that can change if you stop having as many visitors -- I've definitely noticed this as my kids have grown. Anyway, its totally normal for a cat to not like strangers much.

So yeah, you have nothing to do with this. Don't feel guilty for being a bit introverted and not having dinner parties every night or whatever lol. Your cat surely prefers it this way!
 
Last edited:

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,435
Purraise
63,368
Location
Canada
Top