Hands and untouchable paws

It's taken what... going on 3 years? Persia hates her paws to be touched.
It's perfectly okay for her to drape her paws over my hand but for me to
attempt to caress or hold a paw - NO.

Well. In the last couple of days, not only has she let me hold her paws,
front or back... she's sort of placing them in my hand as if I'm negligent
if I don't try to hold them myself! Awww

I don't know what brought on this change. I really don't *care* what
brought on this change. I can (sometimes!) hold her soft little paws!

Occasionally she still reverts to the old behavior of jerking her paws away,
but this is after *she* has put one or more of her paws in my outstretched
hand. Then she says "oh well" and puts it back. G

I've gotten to experience the "I'm chasing birdies" dream with Persia, or
maybe squirrels. The paws twitch in my hand and I hear little mews in her
sleep. How cute!

My problem is, I love snuggling with the girl but I don't get my best sleep
when she's doing all that dreaming nor when I'm turned on that side. So at
some point I have to disengage and roll over, with pats and scritches to a
sleepy Persia, which (thankfully) evokes nothing more than a sigh and deep
sleep little purrs. She seems to be okay with that. (whew)

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote:

I don't know what brought on this change. I really don't *care* what
brought on this change. I can (sometimes!) hold her soft little paws!

Even some of the cuddliest cats I've met don't particularly like
having their paws handled. Betty was like that when I first got her,
but she's a lot better about it nowadays, probably because she gets
her paws touched so much, and I regularly clip her claws.

I've gotten to experience the "I'm chasing birdies" dream with Persia, or
maybe squirrels. The paws twitch in my hand and I hear little mews in her
sleep. How cute!

I call that one the "I'm playing the piano and singing along" dream.

Takayuki had some very interesting things to
say about Hands and untouchable paws:

I don't know what brought on this change. I really don't *care* what
brought on this change. I can (sometimes!) hold her soft little paws!
Even some of the cuddliest cats I've met don't particularly like
having their paws handled. Betty was like that when I first got her,
but she's a lot better about it nowadays, probably because she gets
her paws touched so much, and I regularly clip her claws.

Felix doesn't mind me handling his front paws, but really hates having
anything done to his back paws.

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL

Takayuki wrote:

I've gotten to experience the "I'm chasing birdies" dream with Persia, or
maybe squirrels. The paws twitch in my hand and I hear little mews in her
sleep. How cute!

I call that one the "I'm playing the piano and singing along" dream.


That's better than my name for it: the epileptic seizure dream. That's
what it looks like to me...

Jill, Persia's little mews in her sleep must be very cute!

Joyce

Jill wrote:

It's taken what... going on 3 years? Persia hates her paws to be touched.
It's perfectly okay for her to drape her paws over my hand but for me to
attempt to caress or hold a paw - NO.

Well. In the last couple of days, not only has she let me hold her paws,
front or back... she's sort of placing them in my hand as if I'm negligent
if I don't try to hold them myself! Awww

I don't know what brought on this change. I really don't *care* what
brought on this change. I can (sometimes!) hold her soft little paws!

Occasionally she still reverts to the old behavior of jerking her paws away,
but this is after *she* has put one or more of her paws in my outstretched
hand. Then she says "oh well" and puts it back. G
---------------------snip----------------------

What does she do if you try to play "The Paw Game"? My beloved Misty
and I could play this for quite a while with both of us talking to
each other and playing paw. When she's near you, place your index
finger on top of her paw. If she wants to play, she'll pull her paw
out and place it on top of your finger. Wait a second or two and then
repeat. Misty used to love this and would play it with either of us
whenever she was close enough for one of us to touch her paw.

Regards and Purrs,
O J

Seanette B wrote:

Felix doesn't mind me handling his front paws, but really hates having
anything done to his back paws.

I think everyone who has had a d*g has played "wheelbarrow", holding
the dogs hind paws and letting the d*ggie walk on the front two. I've
never met a cat who though that this was anything but an insult to a
peace-loving creature who will forget about the 'peace-loving'
business in short order if the human persists.

Regards and Purrs,
O J

"O J" wrote in message
...

I think everyone who has had a d*g has played "wheelbarrow", holding
the dogs hind paws and letting the d*ggie walk on the front two. I've
never met a cat who though that this was anything but an insult to a
peace-loving creature who will forget about the 'peace-loving'
business in short order if the human persists.

My cats love playing "wheelbarrow", I started training them when they were
small kittens, and they like it.

Touching their paws is really no problem, because they got used to have
their claws trimmed since kittenhood, and they see no problem in it. Anyway,
the basic thing is to start early, getting them used to have their paws and
legs handled and touched. It's a bigger problem if you try this when they
have already grown up...

Hans

O J wrote:
Jill wrote:

It's taken what... going on 3 years? Persia hates her paws to be
touched. It's perfectly okay for her to drape her paws over my hand
but for me to attempt to caress or hold a paw - NO.

What does she do if you try to play "The Paw Game"? My beloved Misty
and I could play this for quite a while with both of us talking to
each other and playing paw. When she's near you, place your index
finger on top of her paw. If she wants to play, she'll pull her paw
out and place it on top of your finger. Wait a second or two and then
repeat. Misty used to love this and would play it with either of us
whenever she was close enough for one of us to touch her paw.

Regards and Purrs,
O J

This "game" usually results in "Bap the Human with the Paw". It is closely
followed by "Toss the Mousie" or "Toss the Butterscotch" and then "Thunder
Like a Herd of Elephants Around the Apartment". After that, it's time for a
NAP

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
.. .
It's taken what... going on 3 years? Persia hates her paws to be touched.
It's perfectly okay for her to drape her paws over my hand but for me to
attempt to caress or hold a paw - NO.

snip

Joe hates his paws (and belly) to be touched. He's a big fuffy creamsicle
Maine Coon and his paws look like the white filling is leaking out - little
(uh, BIG) sugary sweet white ice cream paws I am just dying to hold and kiss
and cuddle.

But I don't dare touch.

'Cos I don't wanna bleed to death.

TBird ---- and that white fluffy belly....... if I ever decide to kill
myself, that's the way to go

On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 00:18:23 -0600, "jmcquown"
yodeled:

It's taken what... going on 3 years? Persia hates her paws to be touched.
It's perfectly okay for her to drape her paws over my hand but for me to
attempt to caress or hold a paw - NO.

Well. In the last couple of days, not only has she let me hold her paws,
front or back... she's sort of placing them in my hand as if I'm negligent
if I don't try to hold them myself! Awww


Awww.


I don't know what brought on this change. I really don't *care* what
brought on this change. I can (sometimes!) hold her soft little paws!

Enough cats don't like their paws being touched for me not to be
offended by it. Mimi would always pull her paws away (they were
teeeeny tiny paws), but Stinky loves paw massages (OK, maybe not as
much as Vino ). It's a bonus (as opposed to what Vino gets-- oh,
never mind :P).


Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com