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- Mar 8, 2018
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Primrose (Prim) is almost 4 years old, I got her at around 9 weeks and brought her home to another female, Katniss, who at the time was around 4. Like all kittens, she wanted to play with Katniss, who slowly accepted her. Katniss was a sweetheart to everyone, Prim was always more picky. She did not like other animals, only Katniss, and she was slow to approach other people, except me. When she was almost 2 my (former) girlfriend and I moved from TX to my home state of WA. She had a male kitty, Calvin, and I could only keep one of mine. I chose Prim because she's the first cat I've ever gotten just by myself, not in a relationship or roommate situation, just one "parent". I think she got super attached to me, because whatever room we're in together, she hisses at anyone who comes in, but she rarely hisses at me (and when she does it almost seems like a knee jerk reaction before she realizes it's me), she's putty when I'm petting her. Anyway, we had Calvin and Prim and we (she) decided we needed a kitten. I disagreed, so we got a kitten, Graycie (she's gray...I'm original). Calvin was in heaven, he loved having a little one to snuggle. Prim seemed happier too, since Calvin wasn't bugging her so much anymore. Couple months ago, we broke up and she took Calvin back to TX, while I kept Prim and Graycie. I sorta anticipated that, with no more stress from "mommy and daddy" arguing all the time, things would be a lot calmer and Prim would start to accept Graycie more. I wasn't entirely wrong, she allows Graycie to snuggle her and occasionally will jump up and snuggle Graycie, sometimes they even play, but Prim is short tempered. Having them around during the breakup was a life saver, they knew something was up and they came to the rescue. I refuse to be ashamed of admitting that I talk to them. Kitty talk mostly, but they're great for just having a living creature around when something is on your mind, you know.
![IMG_20171223_111240_738[1].jpg](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg' width='400' height='225' viewBox%3D'0 0 400 225'%2F%3E "IMG_20171223_111240_738[1].jpg")
Anyway, Prim isn't necessarily protective of the room she's in, it seems more like she's protective of the room I'm in. She's never physically lashed out at a person, at least as long as they're smart enough to not reach to touch her while she's hissing. She will swat at the dogs in the house, but they're mostly smart enough to leave her alone by now. She hates my roommate, a mid-50's, very loud and boisterous woman. I'm not sure if something happened in the past that makes Prim distrust her, or if it's just because she's loud and obnoxious, either way, she hisses and growls whenever she's within earshot. I've also noticed over the last 6 months or so, that Prim's eye's change color, seemingly based on her mood. I've never managed to get a good picture of her eyes, but they're normally a yellowish-light gold color. When she's upset or agitated, they get darker, more copper or orange. When she's happy, like when she's upside-down in my lap and I'm petting the top of her head and neck (her favorite spots) I've seen them go full on brilliant green. It happens consistently, and the effect is much more pronounced when seen under bright light like the sun or the 500 watt halogen shop light over my workbench. Sometimes I can actually see the change as it happens, like if I'm petting her and the roommate comes out to let the dogs out, as soon as she hears the roommate, she goes on full alert and the eyes go orange.
With Prim, I was financially irresponsible/had a bout of bad luck and wasn't able to get her spayed until she was almost 2, so she'd had several heat cycles. I think this is why she got so very attached to me. She's very much a daddy's girl. She's not needy or desperate by any stretch, she rarely begs for my attention or anything, she just absolutely loves when I do give it. She'll jump up on my lap, snuggle/get petted for 30 seconds, then jump down like she's had enough, but other times I'll be petting her and go to pull my hand away and she'll try to grab it with her front paws. No one else, even the ex girlfriend I was with for over 2 years, was ever able to pet Prim like I could without getting hissed at or simply run away from. The ex was also the only other person that Prim allowed to pet her on her head, anyone else tries and she hisses. Anyway, having observed that, I allowed Graycie to go through heat once before getting her spayed and I'm seeing attachment, though not to the same level. Of course, Graycie isn't even a year old yet, so we'll see. The entire reason I signed up to this site was because I noticed Graycie's eyes changing color too and googled it, but I didn't find anything that talked about variable eye color (as opposed to one-time or one-way changes) except a post on here from more than 10 years ago. I was petting Graycie, she hopped in my lap and started wandering for a stable footing, all while rubbing against me as much as she could. She climbed up and stuck her face right in mine, which was adorable, and I noticed her eyes. They're normally gold around the edges, with a tinge of green around the pupil. She was clearly very content, and I noticed that her eyes were now green around the edges with tinges of light blue around the pupil. After admiring them and pampering her for a bit longer, I removed her from my lap to adjust my legs and write this post. Looking at her eyes now, they've gone back to normal gold/green, I haven't petted her in 15 minutes. I've always adored cats with green eyes, my very first kitty was a tuxedo with green eyes. My ex-wife still has him. When I got prim she had regular "cat" yellow eyes, and Graycie had dark gray that turned into gold later, then the gold/green more recently. I'm sure I could look way too deep into this, so I guess I'll just consider myself lucky that both my cats tend toward green eyes when they're happy.
Sorry if this came across as more of a blog post, and I know I have a tendency to go off-topic so I won't be offended if this is moved, I originally intended to just write about Prim's behavior, but I honestly kinda like that she's very protective of and attached to daddy, pretty much exclusively. I guess since I'll feel better posting a question, anyone have any ideas on why Prim is so incredibly attached to me? Does it have anything to do with having gone through heat, or is it more a function of me being a constant in her life for as long as she can remember, whereas everyone else has been relatively fleeting. She just straight up does not like people other than me (a sentiment which, if I'm honest, I share with her). She'll warm up to visitors, when I have friends over, as long as they let her come to them and don't move too quickly toward her.
![IMG_20171223_111240_738[1].jpg](https://thecatsite.com/data/attachments/221/221804-c91b67de9eb06bbfc8e877373cf63690.jpg "IMG_20171223_111240_738[1].jpg")
Anyway, Prim isn't necessarily protective of the room she's in, it seems more like she's protective of the room I'm in. She's never physically lashed out at a person, at least as long as they're smart enough to not reach to touch her while she's hissing. She will swat at the dogs in the house, but they're mostly smart enough to leave her alone by now. She hates my roommate, a mid-50's, very loud and boisterous woman. I'm not sure if something happened in the past that makes Prim distrust her, or if it's just because she's loud and obnoxious, either way, she hisses and growls whenever she's within earshot. I've also noticed over the last 6 months or so, that Prim's eye's change color, seemingly based on her mood. I've never managed to get a good picture of her eyes, but they're normally a yellowish-light gold color. When she's upset or agitated, they get darker, more copper or orange. When she's happy, like when she's upside-down in my lap and I'm petting the top of her head and neck (her favorite spots) I've seen them go full on brilliant green. It happens consistently, and the effect is much more pronounced when seen under bright light like the sun or the 500 watt halogen shop light over my workbench. Sometimes I can actually see the change as it happens, like if I'm petting her and the roommate comes out to let the dogs out, as soon as she hears the roommate, she goes on full alert and the eyes go orange.
With Prim, I was financially irresponsible/had a bout of bad luck and wasn't able to get her spayed until she was almost 2, so she'd had several heat cycles. I think this is why she got so very attached to me. She's very much a daddy's girl. She's not needy or desperate by any stretch, she rarely begs for my attention or anything, she just absolutely loves when I do give it. She'll jump up on my lap, snuggle/get petted for 30 seconds, then jump down like she's had enough, but other times I'll be petting her and go to pull my hand away and she'll try to grab it with her front paws. No one else, even the ex girlfriend I was with for over 2 years, was ever able to pet Prim like I could without getting hissed at or simply run away from. The ex was also the only other person that Prim allowed to pet her on her head, anyone else tries and she hisses. Anyway, having observed that, I allowed Graycie to go through heat once before getting her spayed and I'm seeing attachment, though not to the same level. Of course, Graycie isn't even a year old yet, so we'll see. The entire reason I signed up to this site was because I noticed Graycie's eyes changing color too and googled it, but I didn't find anything that talked about variable eye color (as opposed to one-time or one-way changes) except a post on here from more than 10 years ago. I was petting Graycie, she hopped in my lap and started wandering for a stable footing, all while rubbing against me as much as she could. She climbed up and stuck her face right in mine, which was adorable, and I noticed her eyes. They're normally gold around the edges, with a tinge of green around the pupil. She was clearly very content, and I noticed that her eyes were now green around the edges with tinges of light blue around the pupil. After admiring them and pampering her for a bit longer, I removed her from my lap to adjust my legs and write this post. Looking at her eyes now, they've gone back to normal gold/green, I haven't petted her in 15 minutes. I've always adored cats with green eyes, my very first kitty was a tuxedo with green eyes. My ex-wife still has him. When I got prim she had regular "cat" yellow eyes, and Graycie had dark gray that turned into gold later, then the gold/green more recently. I'm sure I could look way too deep into this, so I guess I'll just consider myself lucky that both my cats tend toward green eyes when they're happy.
Sorry if this came across as more of a blog post, and I know I have a tendency to go off-topic so I won't be offended if this is moved, I originally intended to just write about Prim's behavior, but I honestly kinda like that she's very protective of and attached to daddy, pretty much exclusively. I guess since I'll feel better posting a question, anyone have any ideas on why Prim is so incredibly attached to me? Does it have anything to do with having gone through heat, or is it more a function of me being a constant in her life for as long as she can remember, whereas everyone else has been relatively fleeting. She just straight up does not like people other than me (a sentiment which, if I'm honest, I share with her). She'll warm up to visitors, when I have friends over, as long as they let her come to them and don't move too quickly toward her.
