i have to be inspected each time before petting tinker

I've never seen this. but it's cute.

if I try to pet Tinker she refuses to let me. First she MUST have me put my hand out, and she will thoroughly smell all my fingers, palm, top and wrist. Only then can I pet her. even though she's coming to me to get petted . She's turned out to be very not cuddly. so I try not to bother her, knowing it would bug me if I didn't want attention. But she comes up to me and climbs on my chest for petting once or twice a day for about 5 minutes.

Oh, and if I go through this routine with my right hand and want to switch to my left to pet her? oh heck no. we have to go through the same routine.

Isn't that odd?

Sounds like you got a kitty that wants to be petted on HER terms! Do you handle anything odd, changed your soap recently or maybe been around another animal? Mine usually runs from any strangers that come in the house but with my brother she will walk up to him. BUT every time for the past 2 years she has to smell him for 5 minutes before she allows him to touch her.

Silly Tinker! Maybe she just wants to make sure you don't have any yummy food she could mooch, or that you don't have remnants of food that could get her pretty fur all sticky.

Ophelia does this with me too. Daddy is allowed to pet her any time, any place. But I have to be approved first.

Rosie does something simiklar. She has to smell my fingers before i pet her, otherwise she dips her back down and walks away as if to say "Don't touch me!!!" What a diva!!

Ha. That's funny. At least you know what she wants. Sometimes, my boys will come to me to be pet, and as I reach for them, walk away. What, was it something I said? Plus, if Raven is meatloafing on the floor, I can only pet him from above. If I get on level with him, he gets up and walks away.

Maybe she's just very discerning about being petted?
Freya's big on being loved on her own terms. She'll go through the whole motion of jumping into your lap and kneading the blankets, curling up and then leaping off the moment you move to touch her.

My Monster is the same way. She will sit and stare at me until I put my had down. It HAS to be like a limp fish so she can sniff and rub against it a few times before I'm actually allowed to move my hand and pet her.If I even move a finger before I get her "permission" then she runs away.

Of course, Monster also has health issues (she's our cat that has seizures and has to take phenobarbital every night), and we think that may have caused her to have tunnel vision because she doesn't seem to have much, if any, periferial vision. I think with Monster she's just trying to make sure we are who she thinks we are. Maybe Tinker is just trying to make sure you are "worthy" of petting her?

Johnboy too! Ever since he was a kit, he'll get this 'HOWDAREYOUTOUCHME' look on his face if we share affection without going through proper procedure first.

Sounds like we have some silly ones on our hands.

Much requires that she sniff the hand that pets her. If you start petting without the sniff, she will contort around to make sure that there is a proper sniffing. Once done, she will enjoy the petting.