Lap Cats

[meep]

Something I'm quite excited about, and don't feel I can share my joy over with anyone else except Catsey folk, but Minsky sat on my knee for the first time ever last night!!

I know that may sound a bit silly, but all the cats I've had in the past just haven't been lap cats. And Darcy and Minsky seemed to have taken a strange aversion to the couch. They don't not like it, but I've tried to entice them up onto it with treats; they'll jump up, get the treat, and jump off. They'll walk round the back of it along the top but just not sit or sleep on the couch.

They do go EVERYWHERE else; and quite often sleep on me in bed; either on my lap or on my chest (with their little kitty chin tickling my collar bone!) So they are affectionate cats who love being close, but Ive never had them on my lap. I've tried once with both to pick them up and put them on my lap, not held them there, and they've jumepd down; so I simply accepted they weren't lap cats.

But two nights ago I was playing the xbox (haha I'm a geek!) and Minsky jumps up on the couch and just looks at me. I was in shock at this alone, as like I siad, they've never ventured onto the sitting part of the couch before. Then he attempts to curl up on my lap. Keeping in mind that he's a 6 kilo cat and weighs 1/7th of my body weight, my wee lap wasn't quite big enough for him. It was quite cute watching him curl up again and again only to fall off, so in the end he spread himself across the couch and then had half his body, and his head on my lap. So he effectively was on my lap

And then he fell asleep. I gave him a good head rub, lots of chin tickles and cooing, and he stayed there for a whole hour. I was amazed! Completely unprompted, I wasn't even paying attention to him at the time.

And last night he lay himself out across the arm of the couch, like a wild cat would sleep on the branch of the tree.

So some mysterious barrier has been lifted and it seems he is an occasional lap cat! My OH has a much bigger lap than me so maybe Minsky will have more success than him

Sorry for the very long post, I just wanted to share my excitement at this new revelation! It was so nice having him all big and warm and furry and purring on my lap

Anyone had a break-through lapcat before? I'd always thought a cat was either a lap cat or not, end of

[angieh]

I love your threads meep! Your attention to detail and descriptions of discovering your boys makes me feel I am discovering them too!

So glad Minsky has decided to be an occasional lap cat! Merlin always used to be on my lap if I was sitting on the sofa, or on the arm of the sofa next to me. But now he prefers my OH or MIL. I feel a bit rejected. But MIL can't move and OH has to struggle to get up - his leg often goes to sleep with Merlin stretched out on it! So perhaps I'm being let off lightly.

Merlin does however seem to like to sleep on me at night. I like to sleep on my left side, so he settles himself either on my ribs or on my legs and I can't move without a bit of a tussle! This morning my OH said that he didn't think I'd moved all night and Merlin was still where he was (on my ribs) when we both went to sleep. I think I am quite glad that he is not as heavy a cat as yours, or as he was when he was a younger chap! (Merlin that is, not OH you understand!)

[meep]

Thank you Angie, that's very sweet of you to say I was worried I'd be boring you all with my self-indulgent posts! Like I said, I keep forgetting I've got a lot to discover about my boys and it's so nice to know you enjoy discovering it too!

I can appreciate your feeling toward Merlin migrating to OH and MIL lap, but I don't think cats do it according to emotions! Your lap maybe just isn't quite as warm as the others', or he knows you're more likely to get up and shift him It's very sweet he still sleeps on you in bed My boys never stay there all night, they like to play around 3am (we normally half-wake up to the sound of kitty claws scarpering on the wooden floor in the hall). It is so sweet when they fall asleep in the most inconvenient of places, they must do it on purpose knowing we're too much of a big softie to move them

Last night I was in bed first. Darcy fell asleep right in the middle of the bed at the bottom, but Minsky had a good 3 minutes of pawing the bed and purring (you know, the whole claws out, pawing, turning round in circles thing they do) until he settled about a foot in from the other side of the bed, round about chest height. He looked so comfy, OH didn't have the heart to move him so he squeezed in beside me and was squished up my side of the bed, with his feet going in the opposite direction to avoid Darcy. And then Darcy rearranged with a comfy stretch to have his little head and chin resting on OH's foot so he couldn't even turn over he wanted to!

Thankfull we were both shattered and fell straight asleep, but there wasn't any room in the inn that night!

[meep]

As for the heaviness thing, it can be very comforting to have a big soft lump on you, but occasionally I get a big kitty coming to explore who occasional steps on my throat or my chest (read breast!!) and it's SO sore! I can't help but laugh at them though, as when I open my eyes they're always wide-eyed and purring.

[angieh]

Ha ha meep - my OH and I have done just the same to avoid unsettling Merlin! And he's only one cat on the bed. Perhaps I'd better think very hard before getting two!

Please don't every worry about boring us - we're all "cat people" here and love hearing about ........ well, CATS!!!

[meep]

What's this, you're thinking of getting another kitty companion?! Do tell! I wonder how Merlin would react? How exciting! Manoeuvering your way around 2 can be tricky it has to be said

[angieh]

Oh no - I won't be getting another cat whilst I have Merlin. It would not be fair to him at all. After all, he is 22 and although he did used to live with my girlie Smudge who was pts in Sept 2005, they were never friends.

I am thinking of the future - my ideal would be 2 cats most likely llitter mates and a dog! My OH would really like a dog.

[meep]

Ah I did think about that for wee Merlin's sake. Best to have him as King of the house hold for now

I would so recommend two cats from the same litter, it's just a joy to watch them groom each other, talk to each other, play fight and so on. The cats we've had in the past were:
- mother and son. Again, adorable interaction
- two rescue cats, brought in 5 years apart

The latter didn't work out so well. Sophie was 4 years old at the time and when we brought Chaska into the house as a 3 day old kitten, she looked at her with such hatred we thought she'd eat her! (So we kept her in an old hamster cage over night!) As much as Chaska wanted to play with Sophie, and was friendly, Sophie was having none of it. Understandable really

Two cats and a dog would be wonderful, any idea of breeds?

[angieh]

Now that's the question! I understand that mongrels are not easily come by any longer. I rather have a fancy for a Patterdale terrier type as I have a friend who had one and she was a complete poppet, or a fox terrier type or border terrier type. Just really depends on the animal - you know whether you know you could make a good friend of it, but those are the "types" that I prefer and I do like ones with hairy faces!

[meep]

Border Terriers! They are my favourite dog since child hood! I just love their old man faces They are so so lovely. I agree with the 'hairy faces' thing

I didn't realise mongrels were hard to come by nowadays? My OH's parents have who's about 4 years old; a total sweetheart. Personally, I've always wanted a Border Terrier or a mongrel; whilst a lot of pedigrees are stunning, I love the rough appeal of a mutt