Owner’s theory about how to win over people who don’t like cats is going viral

Anyone who has ever been around a cat knows that they are not warm to every person they meet and that people often have to work for their love. But the owners will most likely agree that it’s worth it once you gain their trust.

A woman recently shared a video showing how people who don’t like cats can win them over, and it’s as easy as knowing how to pet them. Using her two cats as models, the woman demonstrated how to pet a cat. The show has since gone viral, garnering more than 1.4 million views on TikTok (@figgythefeline).

Newsweek discussed the clip with the caption: “Cats aren’t ‘mean.’ Maybe you only pet them when they want to be left alone!” with an animal expert who agrees with the woman’s technique.

In the video, which has over 191,000 likes, the woman advises against going up to a cat and petting it right away. Instead, she suggests reaching out your hand and letting the cat sniff it, as seen in the clip.

After smelling her hand, the cat named Juliette looks at her and she says, “This is a cat that doesn’t want to be petted right now, so let’s say goodbye and go away.”

But after a while, the woman goes back and does the same thing, but this time Juliette nudges her hand with her head, essentially giving her the green light to make a fuss.

She then ends the clip by doing the same thing to her other cat named Figgy, who won’t engage so she leaves him alone. She concludes the clip by saying, “Cats know exactly what they want if you know how to read their body language, and if you think it’s weird to ask an animal for permission to touch them, then “You have to re-evaluate yourself.”

The woman’s method was supported by pet expert Axel Lagercrantz, who explained Newsweek that people might be tempted to let themselves be petted when they see a cat.

“However, you may notice that when you do this, your cat turns his head to sniff your fingers and investigate,” said Lagercrantz, CEO of Pets4homes, a U.K.-based pet boarding site. “That’s because by entering directly you have bypassed one of the first stages of polite cat-human interaction.

“Unlike dogs, cats do not moderate their behavior or adapt it to communicate with humans — which means you need to take steps to greet your cat in cat language,” Lagercrantz said.

“As the TikTok user says: Hold your finger out for your cat to sniff before you start petting them, and wait for the cat to rub your finger before you start petting them, and your cat will Feel like you have impeccable manners!”

“The idea is to simulate what it’s like when cats greet each other for the first time. You will notice that when cats meet, they stand face to face and nose to nose and sniff each other before greeting each other. This is a polite form of introduction for cats that allows them to get to know each other.

TikTok reacts

So far the video has almost 2,000 comments, and the top video alone has 20,000 likes.

It said: “Cats are a lesson in consent. Some people don’t like boundaries.”

“If you can’t communicate with a cat, you won’t be able to communicate with me,” another user wrote.

A third commenter wrote: “My theory is that cats don’t like children (loud, rough, unpredictable), so people have bad childhood memories of cats and never give them a chance as adults.”

Newsweek I emailed @figgythefeline for comment. We were unable to verify the details of the case.

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