Lap cats: nature or nurture?

Grimbal

Just wondering really. Our little 2 year old Maisie is not a lap cat it seems. We brought her home only a month ago, so it could be that she's still a bit skittish, it could be her age, or it could be that she's just not people-orientated that much.

She loves company & will follow us from room to room. She also loves attention, but when she's standing. She seemingly dislikes sitting on a lap & being stroked/fussed over.


I'd love it if she would initiate contact whilst we're sitting down. At the moment, she will approach us when we walk in - and we go to her while still on her feet.


Will she change do you think ? Is it a settling in thing? an age thing? or just an inherent personality thing? I love her regardless, she's as cute as a button & very friendly & sweet, but would just think it wonderful if she'd just plop herself down on me of an evening.


Anyway, I'm using this question as a feeble excuse to be the proud cat-slave:

picklepick

I think it's probably a case of both. She's still getting used to you all, her personality won't be fully showing yet and as she relaxed more and more she may well decide she fancies the look of your lap one evening.
However, not all cats are lap cats and that might just be her way. My boy cat is very clingy, but my girl cat is much more independent and only wants a cuddle on her terms!

She looks lovely btw

NewKittenHelp

Probably both but more nature I would think. Aside from that, I love your flooring. What is it?

KateLiana27

Probably both. Our cat loves cuddles but doesn't particularly like sitting on laps. If you want to encourage her, give her some treats while you are stroking her, or place her gently on your lap and hand-feed her some. She'll learn to associate the lap/hand with good things!

PS She's gorgeous

KxMx

The first full day I spent with our Lily while we were moving (we did a swap and I was stationed at the new house where Lily lived already, we got her as part of the exchange!) she slept on my lap within a few hours, having only seen me once before.

Now she loves a lap, even in the heat of the summer she will have a look! And when I scrape my dinner plate she is at my feet waiting to come up- woe betide me if for any reason I scrape before I am finished!

Nature in this case I think!

She did start off as wanting a fuss when she wanted- no random fusses, but now she likes nothing more if you start stroking. She was never interested in a belly rub either but that couldn't have changed more now.

Mayflower10cat

Interestingly, most of our cats haven't been lap cats - but then most of our cats have been rescue cats, adopted as adults. The two cats we've had from kittenhood are lap cats. Our first ever adult rescue, Riff Raff, had a really bad dose of cat flu that we 'nursed' him through. Sat with him, on the sofa between us, blotting his litle runny nose and wiping his eyes for a whole evening - he recovered and after that evening, suddenly became a lap cat.

BillTrac

Well I have two Ragdolls. One is 7 and the other 5. Ragdolls are house cats and aren't really assumed to be lap cats.(Too blooming big to start with).

The older cat will sit on your lap if you pick her up, place her on your lap and stroke her. But the minute you stop she will jump off, but she is very keen to sit beside me on the sofa, or by my feet when I am working. The younger cat will jump on your lap the second you sit down!

Mind you, the minute a brush or comb comes out the older cat is there like a shot, whereas the younger disappears at great speed.

In reality I don't think it's either nature or nurture. More what the cat allows us humans to believe.

paddypaws101

I am currently fostering a cat who is at least 10, probably older and has seemingly lived as an un-neutered stray for most of his life without a home to call his own.
This big, muscly, scarred tomcat loves to climb onto my lap and snuggle up as close to me as possible, resting is head on my arm.
So....I think nature has a big role to play.

KateLiana27

BillTrac wrote: »

Well I have two Ragdolls. One is 7 and the other 5. Ragdolls are house cats and aren't really assumed to be lap cats.(Too blooming big to start with).

The older cat will sit on your lap if you pick her up, place her on your lap and stroke her. But the minute you stop she will jump off, but she is very keen to sit beside me on the sofa, or by my feet when I am working. The younger cat will jump on your lap the second you sit down!

Mind you, the minute a brush or comb comes out the older cat is there like a shot, whereas the younger disappears at great speed.

In reality I don't think it's either nature or nurture. More what the cat allows us humans to believe.

BillTrac, my cat is a Ragdoll too. If he sits on my lap for any length of time, my legs go numb.

SnowyOwl_2

I think it is according to the cat's own personality. My now deceased big soft fluffy cat Teddy who I rescued when he was about five or six years old was a lap cat through and through. A nice lap was his favourite. I have two other cats who I've had since they were about eight weeks old. Neither is a lap cat, though one will sleep on me when I am in bed, and sometimes begs to be picked up. He just doesn't do the lap thing. The other of the two likes to snuggle into my neck when I am in bed reading, and she likes a nice fuss, but that's about it. She has never lingered on my lap.

The two "left behind" kitties I recently adopted are coming on leaps and bounds. The little black female is definitely a lapcat, she can't keep her little bossy paws off me. The ginger and white boy isn't at all sure (yet) about being stroked, though he has let me and has enjoyed it judging by the purrs from him, but it's too soon to say whether or not he's a lapcat.

purple.sarah

We adopted 2 formerly feral kittens and while one of them is a lap cat the other one is the same as yours, she loves attention when she's standing but doesn't like to sit on us. Some cats just have different ways of showing affection but yours might adjust in time.