jen asked:
I have 2 persian cats and 2 mixed breed cats. The persians have a totally different personality. They love to be up on high things and just look down on the things going on around them. They are such a beautiful breed, but they don’t really like to be picked up and held if its not on their own terms. They seem to have the trait of just look at me but, don’t touch. What do other persian owners think?
I have 2 persian cats and 2 mixed breed cats. The persians have a totally different personality. They love to be up on high things and just look down on the things going on around them. They are such a beautiful breed, but they don’t really like to be picked up and held if its not on their own terms. They seem to have the trait of just look at me but, don’t touch. What do other persian owners think?
July 10th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I don’t own persians, but i’ve been doing rescue for 15 years and I’m also a vet tech, so I have contact with them frequently at work. I’ve noticed that everything has to be on their terms and they tend to be very independent. They are also harder to restrain for vaccines and other medical procedures.
July 12th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I’ve had Persians since I was a baby, along with other breeds of cats (tabbies, mixed, etc). Persians definately have a sense of being independent and hold an air of prissy to them. Mine never liked to be held. They’re not too much of lap cats but they take to one person only I’ve noticed. I believe they do believe they’re higher up in the chain of cats (maybe it’s all the furryness and their gorgeous looks).
I think it’s just natural for Persians. They love attention.
July 13th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
yes, they do have their own personalities. They are very nice cats though. Our persian is very very very friendly. You pretty much can’t get away from her because she loves the attention. We breed and raise himilayans and persians and our himilayan male thinks he runs the house. He has the look at me but don’t touch attitude. Unless you arn’t paying attention to him, then he’s all in your face and won’t leave you alone.
July 16th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Yep, I think there is a Persian Personality for sure.
I have one two year old Persian, and she also Loves being up high. She is not much a a climber or jumper, put if I pick her up and stick her in a high spot it fascinates her. She will sit in front of the book shelf and ask me to stick her in the top shelf, and when she is done she will whine at me and expects me to come get her down, when any other cat should be able to jump that far down on their own. When I hold her in my arms while I am standing up she is very interested in seeing everything from a new vantage point.
Mine will put up with far more holding and squishing then my others, or really most other cats I have met. I love this about her, she will let me hold her in my arms on her back like a baby. She is not a lap cat, and is fairly independent compared to my Abyssinian X who I can’t even close the bathroom door on without whining, but she likes being where the people are and will follow the action from room to room. She loves to snuggle in the crook of my arm in bed at night, but it does need to be HER idea and only for a short time. My Persian will give me grumpy looks when I pick her up if she rather be doing something else, but grudgingly puts up with it.
I find her much easier to restrain for grooming or at the vets, but I think it may have more to do with the fact that she needed to be groomed, bathed, and have her eyes cleaned every day since she was a kitten so is better trained for handling. When she goes to the Vet everyone wants to hold her and pet her and she will let them. You can see in her face that she is not crazy about it but she will not claw to get away either. She handles loud noises and lots of people very well and thinks all eyes should be on her. She loves petting and attention, but has no problem if you are too busy and ignore her, she just goes and does something else for a while. It takes a long time for her to start feeling ignored.
My Persian Girl defiantly thinks she is the centre of the universe and knows how to use her cuteness to manipulate people into doing what she wants. I got her at around six months old and she is very used to lots of attention, so now she expects everyone she meets to be interested in her.
I see now why people recommend Persians as a good cat for kids (as long as a grownup keeps up with the grooming) as they are so un-flapable, and don’t mind a busy house with loud people or dogs, and seem to put up with anyone picking them up, even if they really rather they wouldn’t. I could hold my girl upside down under one arm if I wanted(not that I do btw), and that is not something I could with any other cat I have had.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Each breed have tendancies toward certain behavior but that might count for 15% of their real behavior which is much more reflected by how they are raised and in which familly they are (both human and cat families).
I have cats for 20 years now and most of them were Persian, some Himalayan, and all of them had a different personalities because the women I’ve lived with were all different and the cats that came with them also had a profound impact on the way I raised them.
I’ve raise a beauty pagent Persian who, like you said, was very independant and “let’s look at me” and then my latest persian is all about playing and following my girlfriend everywhere like a dog all day long.
I think people tend to perceive Perisan as very “show off” cats because of the way they look but mostly because of the way they stand and sit. Contrary to a lot of other breads, Persian will almost always sit with both their front leg stick togheter with their feet a little bit pointed outside and well aligned with the tail wrapped around their body. That makes them look like they are showing off their beauty but it’s really only about instinct.