Do Cat's Parents Affect Their Personality

[bluebirdy]

I've been wondering about this recently. My two cats parents were barn cats. One of my cats had been a door dasher since he was very young. The other has a great natural prowess as a hunter. My door dasher is cuddy and enjoys being held and cuddled but neither is entirely a lap cat. The other doesn't like to be picked up, but will follow me around the house so that I'm always nearby. She will sometimes crawl onto my stomach to sleep if I am napping.

I started fostering both cats when they were between 8 and 12 weeks old along with their siblings. The rest were adopted and we adopted these two. They always get lots of attention, affection, good food and so forth. I've clicker trained them as well. I expected that they would be more cuddly then they are (they are 15 months old now).

Could the fact that their parents were not house cats/pet cats influenced their temperament?

 

[weebeasties]

I think it just comes down to some cats are lap cats and some are not. Just because a cat doesn't want to sit in your lap, it doesn't mean that it does not have affection for you.
Rocky was an adult feral that we took in. Presumably his parents were ferals. He is DEFINITELY a lap cat. Jasmine was a pregnant feral we took in. She was still pretty wild when she gave birth a few weeks later. She is very sweet and affectionate, but not a lap cat. Her 3 kittens were not lap cats except for Sunshine in the winter. ( She hates to be cold ) One of the other kittens, Spike, just recently discovered she likes being on my lap. It only took her 8 years to try it, but now when I sit on the couch she's right there with me!

 

[TheCheshireCat]

Totally agree with weebeasties. I would also like to add that my love of 20 yrs Mr Gray (in the picture) who passed away this past summer, was never a lap cat for the first 15 yrs of his life. He became a lapcat as he moved into the gentriac phase as many senior cat do. Senior cats need more security as their senses begins to fade so they rely on their human companion to provide that security and hence they may follow you more closely and sit on or near you any chance they get. Kittens are balls of energy so I would give them some time.