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Quina Baterna

Introducing with scent, greeting properly and other ways to make cats like you

2020-12-08

While the inherent wildness of cats is the reason why many of us love them, it can cause trouble when they don’t like us. When in the presence of a person they don’t like, cats can exhibit negative behaviors that can include aggression by hissing or scratching, peeing in the wrong places, and even running away.

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Some cat owners are lucky enough to find affectionate felines that like them away. However, many people will agree that they have had to earn our cat’s love. Getting a cat to like you isn’t easy. Thankfully, years of cat parenting have taught humans a thing or two about making the process smoother.

Whether it’s to get your significant other’s cat to like you or finally be friends with the new one in your home, here are a few tips to get a cat to like you:

Socialize Your Kitten

If you have the privilege of raising a kitten, you will have the opportunity to mold their personality as they age into a friendly cat. In 2008, a study on cat behavior found that shelter kittens that were socialized more often were less fearful, affectionate, and trusting in adulthood than those that were not.

Ideally, the most crucial period for your kitten’s socialize is when they are between two to nine weeks old. To socialize your kitten, you must do a combination of allowing its mother to teach them how to interact with other cats and have regular exposure to humans. It’s best to leave kittens with their mother cats until they are eight weeks old.

However, if you’re trying to get an adult cat to be on your side, the approach will be very different. By the time a cat is an adult, they would have formed stronger personalities and preferences. While this does not mean that you can’t get older cats to like you, it will take a lot more work.

Here are a few ways how to get an adult cat to like you:

Create a Stable Household

Innately, cats are creatures of routine. They feel safest when life is predictable. With this, it is necessary to commit to maintaining a stable home. By giving cats less to be afraid of, you will make them more trusting of you.

You can do this by making sure that you do not keep moving furniture around, feed them on time, and clean their litter boxes at the same frequency. Additionally, make sure to introduce any new member of the family with care.

Be Mindful of Your Scent

Scents play a huge role in whether your cat recognizes you as part of its family or not. When you are trying to make a cat like you, you must smell the part as well. To make scents work in your favor, you should eliminate those that your cat dislikes and increase the scents that they do like.

Common scents that felines generally dislike include perfumes or room sprays scented with rue, lavender, eucalyptus, or peppermint. Avoid handling citrus-based food or cleaning materials. Additionally, do not pet or play with other animals before you interact with the cat you are trying to appease.

Lastly, you must increase the scents that they like. Several commercially available cat sprays deter aggression that causes relaxation. Other than catnip, there are also several other plants such as silver vine, Tatarian honeysuckle, and valerian root, that cats like.

Greet Your Cat Properly

Unlike dogs, most cats will not jump in excitement as soon as they see that you like them. However, greeting them is the first step to them enjoying your general presence.

To properly greet a cat for the first time, there are three elements: eye contact, stance, and sound.

Eye Contact

The best eye contact for greeting a cat for the first time is no eye contact. You can look at them but make sure to look away before you approach them. Look towards the floor or to the corners of your eyes while you slowly come closer to them.

Stance

When meeting a cat for the first time, your stance must be submissive. Avoid making yourself look bigger by getting down on your knees and slumping your posture. Also, you may enlist the help of a person who the cat already trusts. Sit next to this person to show that you are not a threat.

Sound

To associate you with calm, you must avoid external noise such as dogs or loud music when meeting the cat. Make sure to talk gently, quietly, and preferably with a higher pitch.

When you have met these conditions, you may cautiously come closer to the cat and offer the back of your hand or finger to sniff. Let the cat initiate the first contact. Should the cat like you, they will offer to rub your hand with their head. If not, back off and try again at another time.

In the early stages of getting closer to your cat, never touch them unless they have permitted you. For cats, permission to touch them comes in the form of them approaching you themselves.

Never touch them unless you have already won their trust or they have permitted you to do so. If you are not sure what areas they like to be touched, safe spots to do so are behind their ears where their mothers used to lick them.

Bribe Cats with Treats.

While this is not necessarily the most elegant way, bribing a cat with food, treats, and playtime is one way to build trust up quickly.

Use cat teasers or catnip toys to engage with your new friend. If you would like to play it safe, use laser pointers instead. If the cat you are trying to befriend will be a housemate, show them that you are refilling their water or food bowls. Alternatively, you may also leave various treats for them within a safe distance.

Bear in mind that this method will only work if the cat is already on the fence about if they like you or not. Some cats will refuse to play with someone they do not trust just yet.

Don't Give Up.

Cats are very human in the sense that it takes time for you to earn their trust. Be patient, understanding, and respectful. When it comes to liking people, every cat is different. Cats, especially older or senior cats, have plenty of experience dealing with various people, and you need to prove to them that you are one of the good ones.

It may take anywhere from a few minutes to even a few years to get a cat to like you. The foundation of a cat’s trust relies heavily on respect and consistency. However, once you have a cat trust you enough to show signs of affection, the level of satisfaction you will receive is immeasurable.

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