They Love Me. They Love Me Not

Sometimes I wonder how my cats really feel about me. Am I just the food dispenser? Someone to rub their face against when they need to clean their teeth? Someone to clean the litterbox?

I wonder this because I have cats who hate (make that HATE) to be picked up. I cannot pick one up and walk around the house cuddling her and petting her. No. They will squirm and push against me till I let them go. Brie is the worst. Mia at least let's me pick her up for a second or two. Brie won't even let me do that. And since she's the bigger of the two at 12 pounds, she generally wins that particular battle.

I love a cuddle cat. I love when I have foster kittens who let me pick them up and kiss their heads and pet them till I'm tired of petting them. In fact, I figure this is one of my duties as a foster mom - to turn the kittens into cuddle cats. I have occasionally had kittens who resisted my attentions. But after a little while, I have been able to convince them that I mean them no harm and that human contact is actually a good thing.

Unfortunately, I was not successful in doing this with my own cats. I have two theories about why. One, there are two of them and they have primarily snuggled with each other. Two, when I got them, I was working full time and in grad school. I didn't have a lot of free time and I wasn't around much.

So sometimes I wonder whether they really love me.

And then I sit in one place for a while, as I am now. And I see the love. Brie is snuggled up next to my left arm. She's actually leaning against that arm making it quite difficult to type. It's her favorite perch at the end of the day. Mia, on the other hand, is curled at the base of my crossed legs. Not physically touching me but quite close. Her new favorite perch? On my lap when I'm working on my laptop. In typical cat fashion, it takes her 10 minutes of walking from lap to desk and back again before she settles down. But once she's there, she throws me quite dirty looks if I move.

So while my cats may not like to be held and they hate to be picked up, they do love me.

They love me? They love me not? Nah. They love me.