My male ginger tabby cat just loves to come curl and sleep on my lap while I work on my desktop which is heart-warming most of the time. But I've read that many cats prefer to stay/sleep at a certain distance from their owners. So I'm wondering how common is this lap-loving behavior among cats? Is it more prevalent among certain cat breeds?
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It's definitely at least partly progressive training/negotiation. "I'll pay more attention to you if you come within easy reach", "if you sit next to me", " if you are in my lap". Be aware that the cat is also training the human. At this point if I'm not paying enough attention Hazel may actively try to climb between me and the phone or book she's competing with.– keshlamCommented Jun 5 at 22:26
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Going from my (admittedly small sized) sample: 100%.– jwentingCommented Jun 20 at 15:18
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2 Answers
I doubt anyone's actually bothered to actually figure out numbers on it, but it's certainly a common enough behavior that even people that have never owned a cat are aware cats do this. The other thing about sitting on laps is that it's partially a learned behavior. Cats that want to be near humans are obviously going to be more predisposed to it, but they might also decide the better place is next to the human, or top of their keyboard, or wherever. Or they might be encouraged by a human to do it when it wasn't their first choice.
Sitting on laps definitely seems to be more common among certain breeds, as people commonly make lists of cuddly cat breeds, and certain breeds are just about always on it. Some of the breeds that are commonly mentioned, but by no means exclusively, are the Ragdoll, the Scottish Fold, the Rex, the Siamese and it's cousins the Burmese and Tonkinese, the Maine Coon, the Persian, and the Sphynx.
Me and my family have had cats for a large portion of my life. If you're talking about cats that like to be in a lap, then I'd say probably half. Virtually all of the cats I've been around want to be near their humans most of the time, whether that's touching or not varies by the day.
I will say that, in my own anecdotal experience, the stereotype of "cats are angry murderers and only tolerate humans" is only true for cats of bad/weird owners or cats that have past trauma.
