How to create a lap cat

[eurochick]

We have two 7 month old British shorthair kittens (sisters). I would dearly love them to be lap cats but they are not keen. One will tolerate being picked up (briefly) but if you put her on your lap she will jump straight off. The other turns into a creature made entirely of teeth and claws if you try to pick her up.

They have come on enormously since we got them a few months ago - to begin with they would hide all the time and were very timid. They are getting friendlier but still won't sit on a lap. Any suggestions?

Obligatory photos attached.

[pictish]

We have three lovely, gentle, well mannered, sociable moggies but none of them are lap cats. They seek out our company and like to be near us most of the time. They graciously accept and even enjoy a good stroke and a scratch...but none of them want to sit on us. One of them will occasionally spring up on a knee and chirrup and purr over a fuss if her bowl is empty but that’s all.
I live in hope.

[Bluebutterfly90]

My cat is extremely picky and will only sit on my lap if I'm wearing a blanket and on her own terms. If I pick her up and put her on my lap she goes straight off.
She will, however, jump on my DPs lap purring away with no blanket while staring directly at me just to let me know I'm not the favourite. The little monster.
I do think it's just a personality thing.

[MrsPelligrinoPetrichor]

Fluffy blanket over your lap and pat it now and again and wave a treat around to tempt them. Don't pick them up them have to decide to come to you of their own accord contrary little so and so's

[Longdistance]

Beautiful cats 😻

My cat was never a lap cat. Even in old age. I wonder if warm blankets might tempt them in. Put them on the radiator to warm up and entice your kitties onto your lap with treats.

[Shannith]

My rescue a total lap cap. Nearly 10 months, had her since she was 4 months.

I never try to pick her up and she spends he life clambering on top of me. DD adores her and is always picking her up.

Cat avoids her!

[Coldemort]

They're cats. Best way is to make it absolutely clear that they are absolutely not allowed to sit on your lap. Never.

Then you wont get rid of them....

[EL8888]

@MinkyWinky 😂 l can relate to being their embarrassing "mum"!

Im not sure what the answer is but it takes time. Slightly bigger cat wouldn't have much physical contact for the first 9 months or so. I woke up one day to her sandwiched between me and the ex hiding from a thunderstorm. There was no stopping her after that. You can't get her off your knee now. She looks peeved if you have to get up to make dinner, do the washing up, answer the door etc! Little cat is purely on her terms, rarely me (usually Mr El8888) and will only consent to go on a duvet or her favourite velvet cushion -she's not spoilt....

[MrsPelligrinoPetrichor]

The second I get my knitting out the cat jumps on my lap

[DropZoneOne]

Ignore them and try to do something - watch TV, read a book, knit or crochet. Guarantee they'll stick their bum in your face, claws in your knee, flop onto you and fall asleep giving you a dead leg and no means of reaching refreshments.

Or is that just mine? Rescue cat, adored by husband and daughter, will tolerate both of them and makes a beeline for my lap the minute i finally sit down of an evening.

[HarrietThePi]

I didn't know you could train cats to do this. My cat jumps on my lap most often when I'm on the toilet or like pp's said, doing some vitally important, time critical work on the laptop or trying to read!

She does do it at more convenient times too, but she only does it to me in our family and only when she wants to. If I put her on my lap she'd jump straight off.

[something2say]

I think you will get there.

I adopted a 9 yr old blue who would not sit on you. I got it wrong with his water bowl, providing too small a bowl, so he used to jump up and drink from the tap, getting a wet head in the process. Hence he learned to tolerate me holding him every day because he needed his head drying, which was followed by a kiss on the head and a brief cuddle with his legs hanging down, then I'd put him down carefully and run bith hands over the length of his body until I reached his tail, as he walked off, and I'd tweak his tail. Not too long, little cuddle, back safe on the ground.

I even remember the night he 'asked' to get on my lap!

By the time he died, he used to lay his ears if he didnt get hus chance to lick me properly when I was stroking him and he regularly slept on me, we napped on the sofa, he followed me everywhere, was carried about, we did shoulder dancing, everything. He was the baby I never had. I have a video of us before he died, dancing the the War on Drugs, then I sat down to fiddle with the video and hes just lying on his back in my arms looking around.

And all from a cat who was pretty hand shy, plus not an easily adaptable baby.

Keep going, I say! I'd try hand feeding one treat at a time and giving one stroke each time. Not too much, building trust and letting them experience the fact that you wont hurt them and touching feels nice.

[NewName54321]

DCat is not a lap cat. It is important that her humans understand this.

She will sit on the arm of an armchair if the chair is occupied. Unfortunately, she can't possibly balance on it (even though it is wider than her ample backside and she can balance on a 6-foot high fence) for more than a minute and she falls off every single time, always by accident of course, and always towards the occupier's lap.
She conveniently lands upside-down, in just the right position for her tummy and chin to be tickled.

But she is not a lap cat, so don't even suggest that she might be.

[ClientListQueen]

Be careful what you wish for mine was on my chest within 15 mins of getting out the carrier (adopted from cats protection)
He never gets OFF me. Sometimes I'm touched out and will say look just sit next to me but no, if he isn't virtually wrapped around me, gazing adoringly then he will sit and howl mournfully

[JanuaryIsNotTheOnlyMonth]

You could try having flu, with a temperature over 100?

That did it for DH. Covered in our usually standoffish cats within minutes. 'Oooh, you're so warrrrrrm, purrr purrr tread tread.'

[Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]

Another warning to be careful what you wish for.
Lapcats can really encourage procrastination .
We do have lap cats. An old picture (but I feel an apposite one) enclosed.

[LittleMissnotLittleMrs]

I'm with ClientListQueen and Grumpyoldpersonwithcats. Mine is attached to me by industrial strength Velcro. To the point that he sleeps on my pillow so I move to the other pillow, at which point he joins me. I've been sat still now for 2hours, desperate for the loo, a cuppa and some cake but have been well trained and dare not disturb him. Oh, and he's an indoor cat and I'm off long term ill so boy does he let me know if I'm not where I should be! The grass isn't always greener.





Would be without him though! He has certainly become clingier since becoming an only 6 months ago and me being away for treatment for 3 months since then (left the week before he was an only, treatment was in two 6 week phases) 😻😻😻

[iklboo]

One of ours thinks he's my hat or scarf. The other is a foot muff. Usually while I'm in bed.

Both sit on laps too. They're long haired moggies. We think there might be some Burmese with their fur and vocalisation. Chatty catties.

[Fluffycloudland77]

NewName cat sounds AWESOME. I like her style.

[undercoveraessedai]

Just time and gentleness in my experience - fluffy Clover refused to be touched for months when she and her very cuddly sister arrived, and six years on she comes and asks for cuddles, but only when she feels like it. Feels like a massive win when she does though 😍 yours are absolutely gorgeous!

[FairyBunnyAgain]

It really does depend on the cat, I grew up with farm cats, who whilst happy indoors, by the fire and on the beds would never entertain being picked up or cuddled despite being with us from birth.
Then as an adult I had 2 rescue cats, both arriving aged about 2, first one didn’t like people, after 10 years she would sit close by, but that was it. Her successor was more of a people pleaser but again sat beside you on her terms.
A couple of years ago we found ourselves pet free, so rescued a pair of 6 month old kittens, day 1 hid in a box, but we were in the room with them on the floor, talking letting them sniff etc (or at least DD) was.
They seemed to really like human companionship, talking to us, and we’re soon following us around. We are 2 years on and if I work at home DCat2 will sit beside me all day, if it is DD working at home then she sits on her lap, or a least on a chair beside her with her head in her lap.

Come the evening there is always a cat or 2 on your lap.

My tip would be to be accessible, blankets are good as a temptation but cats will decide their own terms

[FenellaVelour]

I’ve had five British Shorthairs over the years.
One would sit on my lap, on my shoulders, on my head, anywhere he could be making contact with me. He was absolutely bonkers, full of energy, super intelligent and not a typical BSH at all. Sadly he died at 18 months from cardiomyopathy.
One would deign to sit on my lap sometimes, but only my lap, and only when he was in the mood.
The other three, never. Beside, but never on.
My current two regularly sit next to us but not once have ventured on to a lap (one is 10 and we’ve had her 8 years, the other is 9 and we have had her nearly a year). The 9yo is like my shadow, will follow me everywhere, sleep on my feet in bed, sits beside me wherever I am in the house etc. Lap though? No way. That’s beneath her (though staring at me in the bath is not).
I’m not sure if you can make cats sit on laps if they’re not that way inclined?

[MissConductUS]

As PP have said, it's all down to individual temperament. We adopted two litter mates. The female was cuddly from the beginning, the male took a year to really get comfortable with us and still hides when my MIL comes over, as she's been doing twice a month for years.

As a cat slave owner, it's not your place to mold their behavior unfortunately.

[BarbaraofSeville]

Have only skimmed the thread and have seen mention of putting a blanket on your lap.

We had one who would only sit on a lap if that lap was covered with a newspaper, which isn't helpful if you want to read said newspaper, but if you wanted him to sit on you, all you had to do was try to read a newspaper .

But at the end of the day, it's really up to the cat and some never will be lap cats, some will be occasional lap cats and some will be the type that, lovely as it is, they make a nuisance of their lap cat status because it stops you getting shit done.

I've also found that the latter type can also display psychic tendencies in that, if you are sat without a cat and think about getting up to do X, Y or Z, you will immediately have a cat jump up and settle down on you.

[octopusrus]

Do any of you think there's a particular breed which is more lap catty than other breeds?

[JaceLancs]

I have a Velcro cat
Any tips on how I can remove him occasionally?