If you’ve adopted a lot of cats over the years as I have, you know how different each of them can be. Some of them develop very interesting habits and ways. Olivia loves her morning treat, but there’s a ritual she insists on before she’ll accept it. First she walks into the room where the treat-man is. Then she stretches, walks closer for petting, rubbing back and forth against his legs. When she’s had enough petting, she sits down, looks up at him, and sweetly mews letting him know she’s ready to accept her treat.
Sometimes Olivia will sit across the living room and 
stare at me until I pat the sofa next to me, then she’ll run to me, jump up onto the sofa, and curl up next to me. Doesn’t she know she doesn’t need an invitation to cuddle?
She loves an open window (with a sturdy screen behind it, of course). On a nice day I’ll call, “Window, Olivia. Want window?” and she’ll come running.
One habit that many of my adopted cats have had is hiding from visitors. Some never got 
over their fear of other people. Olivia is learning the difference between someone coming here to visit and a delivery person simply dropping off a package. She no longer hides when she sees the Amazon or UPS trucks pull up. She watches the delivery person trot up to the house and drop the package, then rush back to their truck. No fear. It’s a start—and then, sometimes the package is for her, so maybe that’s why she’s 
now interested in the delivery people.
When Olivia wants canned food, she waits until I go into the kitchen, then she joins me, mewing and mewing. I’ll get out the can and she disappears, but I always find her waiting at the spot where we first started feeding her.
We had a cat once who always checked his kibbles bowl 
when he saw us preparing for bed. If he was low on kibbles, he’d wait at the bowl for someone to walk past and notice that he needed a refill. He wasn’t always hungry at that time. As soon as we filled the bowl, he’d often go on to bed with us. He was just planning ahead. This is the cat who drank water with his paw. And that was all the 
time. We never did see him lapping water from a bowl, he’d dip his paw and lick the water off it.
Cats enjoy different types of petting. Some like it rough, others want gentle hands. Some enjoy a tummy rub and others adore having their head or chin scratched. Some love to curl up in a lap, while others want to be near, but not touching. I’ve had a couple of cats who wanted to be close to me, but not on me. They’d lay next to me with a paw on my leg. One of those was a lovely Himalayan and she used to adore curling up with me on my pillow at night.
Cats are so similar with some very different ways. What are your cats’ most unusual and charming habits or likes and dislikes?
