Can stroking your cat stress it out? My cats seem to love being pet

I’ve never really been a cat person. As far as I’m concerned, if you own a cat, all you’re doing is giving yourself the privilege of paying its food and vet bills with no guarantee of anything in return. It’s my husband who insists on having them in the house and we currently have a pair of Siamese, brother and sister. When we met, I had a beautiful Somali, who I bought to keep my rather neurotic dog company, and he was the daftest, most affectionate animal I’ve ever known. He’d even insist on coming for walks with the dog to make sure that we all stayed out of mischief.

Over the years, we’ve had various feline companions and since it’s always been clear that the cats were the ones in charge, it came as a complete surprise to learn that stroking cats can stress them out.

Since I’m not a massive fan of cats, I’ve never really initiated strokes with ours and yet have frequently had them wanting me to pet them and stroke them, right down to having them butt or even bite me whenever I’ve stopped. I can understand their not wanting to be stroked by children. Although ours all know to be gentle with animals, small children still take a while to fully appreciate that so the cats wisely avoid our younger children – apart from those times when they want to be petted that is, and it’s surprising how often the cats seek out their preferred child when they feel in the need of some affection.

When I went to meet my Somali, the breeder had a son who was around three or four years old. Watching this laid back kitten being held in what looked like some very uncomfortable poses but not even attempting to get away is what convinced me that I could cope with a cat in my house after all and over the years, Rupert only became more laid back and loving. What’s more, he was always great with the children. Somali are known for being very dog-like in behaviour and he certainly seemed to appoint himself the guardian of the household where some of our other cats have been a lot more aloof.

It seems an obvious thing to say that if an animal doesn’t enjoy being petted, it’s going to stress them out to have someone insist on stroking them anyway and closer examination of the recent study seems to suggest that it’s more cats who only tolerate being stroked who will be the ones that find it stressful. This is why we’ve never allowed the children to force themselves on the cats – that would seem to be common sense even without a scientific study to confirm it.

As it stands, we’re just going to continue to treat our cats the way we always have, with respect and love and give into their demands whenever they’re in need of a cuddle. We don’t need a study to tell us that that’s the best way to get along with them.