How to make the cat like me??

@apickett (123)
United States
May 16, 2012 8:06am CST
Hi mylotters. My husband and I just recently moved into a home that we share with my cousin. My cousin has a 12 year old cat who is very much a one person cat. She lays on my cousins lap during the night and she will not let me hold her. I don't even try because she has hissed at me before. Now, there have been a couple of times when she walked and stood on my lap and I was able to pet her, but other than that I just pet her when the opportunity arises. I know this question is probably silly, but I just don't know anything about cats, but I want her to like me because I like her.
2 people like this
11 responses
@ryanong (9665)
• Vietnam
17 May 12
Oh, it is easy i think. Cats love who often feed them. So that you should do feed her...and for sure after a short time, the cat will love you.
17 May 12
Yeah, do what cats love most. They love to be feed and feeding them will make them come to you.[b][/b][i][/i][u][/u]
@ryanong (9665)
• Vietnam
17 May 12
Ya, my cat loves food a lot. She wanna to eat more anytime she sees me going to her place. She thinks i may feed her more then she goes to see her bowl...
17 May 12
Feed the cat the caress the cat then feed the cat then let it be then overfeed the cat then caress the cat show the cat how you truly feel think like a cat smell like a cat growl like a cat move like a cat talk like a cat and be a cat..study the cats mood :)
@Janky23 (54)
17 May 12
I think she was a kind of feral cat because you said she is a one person cat. If you want to pet her understand her personality like what's her like and what makes her mad. You should make her used to you also even without trying to touch her like sitting in the sofa near her. You can give her food also while calling her name so that she will recognize you. You should always do that giving her food until you can touch her. If she doesn't like the food or she run away from you don't chase her she will getting madder at you. Hope this advice will help you. Good luck.[b][/b][i][/i][u][/u]
@apickett (123)
• United States
17 May 12
Thank you Janky. I appreciate your reply. She is indeed a one person cat, but I think I'm learning from here that most cats are. I will have to try to give her cat treats. She's so cute I just want to cuddle her!
@apickett (123)
• United States
20 May 12
Oh yes, she has already slapped at me and hissed before, but I think she is starting to get more use to me. I think she likes men better though, because she will get on my husbands lap every once in a while. lol
17 May 12
You are welcome but be careful because sometimes cats are so hard to tame. They might scratch you if they don't like what you do to them.
• United States
16 May 12
You said you've just recently moved into your cousin's home. The cat is probably uncertain of you because in her opinion you're a stranger. It takes time, sometimes several months to even a couple of years before a cat will accept a person. It's not something to rush, but I do know what helps is patience. Two years ago I adopted a stray mother cat and two of her three week old kittens. One of the kittens passed away unexpectedly about two weeks after I took them in and the remaining one nearly succumbed until I pumped him full of protein. While I was caring for him, he'd often run and hide from me, and I would have to put his protein meals down where he'd get it. As time passed, he grew and was still afraid of me, though the mother was extremely affectionate. Even when I separated him from his mother at eight weeks of age, he was still quite afraid of me and hid often. It took to nearly a year (every so often he'd hide from me) to see him become affectionate toward me. Now at two years of age, he is more apt to come around me and want to be petted. Though occasionally he has his days where he becomes scared and wants to hide. If you were to come to my house, you wouldn't see him unless you were lucky. A friend of mine has the same problem you do. He wants my cat to like him, but the cat always evades him. During the months my friend has been here, he has only been able to lightly surprise-pet the cat before the cat hid. But like I said it takes time and a lot of patience.
@apickett (123)
• United States
17 May 12
Yes, we actually moved into a house together at the same time. Myself, my husband, and my cousin and his cat. It makes me sad that she won't have much to do with me, but the more responses I get helps because I now realize it has nothing to do with me, it's just how cats are I suppose. I just got her to play with me with a stuffed mouse a minute ago! I was so excited, then she hissed at me and jumped off of the couch..lol I understand now that it will take time. Thanks so much for your reply. Oh and Princess (this cat I'm talking about) will also hide when company comes over. I guess it's just a cat thing.
• Canada
16 May 12
Your best bet with a cat like that is to ignore her chances are she will wonder why you are ignoring her and suddenly want to be your friend the other option is to give her special treats every time she does let you pet her it can take cats a long time to warm up to someone new in there lives expecially with an older cat who is already set in there ways
• Canada
16 May 12
Let me know how it works as it has worked great for me in the past
@apickett (123)
• United States
16 May 12
Thank you for your reply. Yes, I have noticed the more attention I try to give the more she stays away, so I'm going to try the ignore approach.
@apickett (123)
• United States
16 May 12
I sure will let you know..thank you!
@NailTech (6874)
• United States
16 May 12
My neighbor's cats came over here at times long ago, one of them we ended up keeping as they didn't even seem to mind and he was probably happier over here too. The other one was a mean Siamese type of cat who really wasn't going to let us pet her. So, one day while she came on the back porch, I decided I would start toplay with her abit with some catnip toys. She started playing and would actually let me pet her abit too. My mom got mad at her one day and shooed her off with abroom and the next thing I knew was how I saw her sad face sitting across the street looking over here as if she missed us terribly and wouldn't come back. She looked so sick and lonely kind of though and that was the last I remember of her. :( She was actually coming around and feeling like we are a friend, and this happened with my mom. I felt so bad for her, they might have ignored her over there too like they did with the other cat I kept. They knew we had kept him too, & before they moved the lady tried to come over here to talk to us but we wouldn't open the door, ha! Mom and I were so scared they wanted to take the cat with them. He had already decided he loved it better with us. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is try to play with her, feed her, and just bond with her over time and she might try to come around too. My current cat is friendly with me and all but she will only sit on dad's lap! I brush her, feed her, put medicine on her, and other things but she won't sit on my lap. MY cat Joe from across the street was a total lap cat, he loved sitting in my lap. But as I have had several cats before, they do seem to choose one person in the household that they are closer with, you can't really change much it if you tried, it's their choice.
@NailTech (6874)
• United States
16 May 12
And not only won't she sit on my lap she won't cuddle up with anyone or sit with anyone on purpose. If she is cold at night sometimes she will sleep on the bed but only on the bottom of it and not close to my face or head. She is a stray and sometimes lets me pet her tummy, but be careful if you so that, some cats are very protective and they can even scratch/bite you if you touch them on their tummy. It is their nature, they were born this way and it can't be trained to stop. It is just something to accept about cats.
@NailTech (6874)
• United States
16 May 12
was* a stray
@apickett (123)
• United States
16 May 12
Thank you for your reply. Awww..that is so sweet that you all were chosen by the cat from across the street. I'm sorry that your mom shooed the siamese cat away. Siamese cats have always seemed mean, at least that is how the television shows have portrayed them. I hope the siamese cat lived a long happy life like Joe. I am just going to keep trying to warm up to Princess (the cat) and hopefully someday she will lay on my lap. I know what you mean though, cats are totally different than dogs and I have to get use to that. I would get my own kitty cat but Princess doesn't like other animals my cousin says. :(
• Philippines
16 May 12
I used to lure any cats to like me by giving them food. I am not sure if this is applicable to all cats but it seems to work for every cats I have fooled into liking me. Cats are basically kind and sweet by nature, I am sure that you will be able to get that cat to like you eventually.
@apickett (123)
• United States
16 May 12
Thank you. I am going to get some of her cat treats and try to get her to come to me..
• United States
16 May 12
Feed the cat and smell like cat nip. Also, be very calm around the cat, if you are not calm, then that cat can sense fear all over you. Whenever there are cats around I try to be as calm as possible. Also, let them sniff you, if they can't sniff you, then they won't like you.
@apickett (123)
• United States
16 May 12
Thank you rogue13. I will do this. I am always calm around her now. I wasn't at first because I was afraid she would bite me. I am getting use to her, I just hope she starts getting use to me. I appreciate yours and everyone's suggestions.
@bellis716 (4799)
• United States
21 May 12
Ask your cousin if you can be the one to give the cat it's food. Other than that, y ou should just wait for the cat to cop me to you. At age 12, the cat is probably pretty well set in her ways.
• Indonesia
16 May 12
I have cats in my house. Have you try to pet it's neck? My cats love it. You can try to attract them with move around your fingers, your hands, or maybe something like plastic or paper in front of their face.
@apickett (123)
• United States
16 May 12
Yes, I have been able to pet her neck, but she kind of moves away from me. I don't want to scare her so I guess I will just keep my distance from her for now. I will have to try to get a cat toy and see if she enjoys that. Thanks for your reply!
• United States
19 May 12
Cats can definately be finnicky. I noticed that my grandma's cat didn't necessairly like me until I stayed over at my gma's house and fed the cat breakfast and dinner. The cat liked this, and now is very friendly with me.
• Philippines
17 May 12
Sounds like a very grumpy cat. ^^ It's cute. Well, I'm very much a cat-lover and my sister who's renting her own room in a different city just bought a cat recently, so when she visit our house she brought her cat with her. I've actually had a little trouble to make Nee-chee (her cat's name) like me as well, so I did little things for her to eventually soften up to me. I was pretty successful because after one and a half day, Nee-chee had been following me almost everytime she's out of her cage or when my sis doesn't pet her. One of the things I did is to play with her constantly, with a yarn string with a paper ball tied at the end of it. Sometimes I would tease her with the paper ball but I know she appreciates the other end of the string more. Cats were always curious creatures and they also like those sneaky little things like strings. I've played with her most of the time, and I would take charge of feeding her as well. I would also sometimes just hug and pet her even if she doesn't want to. ^^ Cats like being caressed under their jaws and near their ears so that's where I usually rub her, they love belly-rub too but you should also be careful because there's tendency that the cat would attack and try to scratch you. So those are just few things I did with Nee-chee, just take time bonding with them, although maybe that also depends on their age, Nee-chee is just few months old so she's very playful and I don't know to what extent does a 12 year old cat would like to play with us. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck form warming up the cat with you. :D