We currently have two cats.

Leo and Murphy.

Leo is a brown tabby and Murphy is an orange tabby.

Murphy is an incredibly mellow young man.  He has a lovely trilling voice.

However, he isn’t much for being held.

He mostly wants pets on his terms.

He has a few places in the house, where he will jump up and then start crying piteously until someone (usually Bill) comes and pets him.

Murphy is definitely a “Daddy’s boy”.

He adores Bill.

And he doesn’t have a lot to do with me.

But I started working on figuring out what Murphy wants when it comes to being petted.

He doesn’t like rough pets.  He mostly doesn’t like two-handed petting.

But the loves his ears rubbed, and his belly rubbed, and his neck rubbed.

So now, when I go to bed, he runs in front of me, and then he cries and cries until I pick him up and place him on his blanket on the armoire (one of his spots).

Once there, he just rolls onto his side and demands lots and lots of pets.

Of course, he’s an asshole too.  He’s a cat.  It goes with the territory.

He likes to stretch out on the dining room table (often next to Bill, while Bill is working there), and pushes everything off of the table.

When he wants more pets, he will reach out and try to grab you – claws out.

Asshole.

Usually when Bill is out of town, Murphy is heartbroken.

When I leave the house with Bill and then come back without him, Murphy is distraught, and generally wants nothing to do with me until I bring his Daddy back.

Right now, Bill is out of town.

And this time, Murphy is coming up on the bed, getting in my face, flopping next to me and getting lots of attention.

So while Murphy is still a Daddy’s boy, he is not, at least, willing to put up with having Mommy pet him – if there are no better offers.