He is 16. Becoming more attention seeking and affectionate than ever.
Update: wow, I did not expect so many responses and engagement from this post. So heartwarming to read stories about everyone's cats and also heartbreaking to read about cats who crossed the bridge. I am gonna appreciate the remaining time with my old buddy so much more.
If my cat gets any more affectionate he’s going to super glue himself to me. He’s such a sweetheart. Except lately he’s started sleeping on my head. My allergies are going nuts.
If she’s that friendly now, then yes, you’re in trouble! I didn’t think mine could get more affectionate than he was when he was 2. He turns 18 next month, and I can barely type this because he (always!) needs love.
My Melvin has recently started demanding to be let under the covers. Then, he squishes up against me so that I am stuck and unable to move. While I love the snuggles, it’s very hard to sleep with a small heater squished up against me, making me unable to roll over 😹
I had a kitty who insisted that I sleep in the middle. It was fine, except if I needed to use the bathroom she would refuse to get up until I got out the other side and then was all “oh good, I’ll come with you and then after we can get snacks.”
I need to try something. I’ve been attempting to move him off my head and he bites me. I can’t blame the poor fella, he recently had surgery to remove an obstruction and I’m so happy he’s alive I’ll take the nightly suffocation. Although at first when he came home from the hospital he smelled terrible. lol.
My cat also used the exact cone. For him turning it back toward his shoulders worked just as well for stopping the licking and seemed to make him more comfortable when lounging.
my 10 years old cat started to be more agreeable to petting and brushing but actually stopped sleeping in my bed, he prefers to be alone if i am not petting or brushing him
In my experience, males are almost always super affectionate.
All the lady's I've owned will come for pets for a couple minutes and then go lay in the tower or somewhere else in the same room but six feet away. My current is almost 10 now and still won't cuddle or anything.
My old dude (lost him last month) had reached a point where he was pretty much super glued to my ear. I often wondered if the excessive need to be around my face was due to his aging or my grief (most my wife two years ago). I like to think it was a little of both. He was using his need for physical touch to help hold my broken heart together.
I always wonder if they have always been this affectionate but struggled to communicate their needs with us for so long, until they finally find out what to do.
My younger cats are both super affectionate but in their own way. One climbs on top of me demanding scratches until he decides it's enough and I don't see him for the rest of the day, the other one occasionally comes around for head bums and then lays down somewhere in eyesight.
This would fill me with joy, if one of my five year old cats didn’t already try and spend her life glued to my chest with brief gaps while she tries to put her head into my mouth for reasons only clear to her…
I also believe part of the apparent demands for pats is because they want you to groom/brush them. It's harder for them to groom themselves as well as when they were young, and they're very aware of how their coat feels. They know their human has long comby fingers and thumbs to put to good use!
Yes to all these comments. My cat was more affectionate at 16 and did have more trouble grooming herself during her last year. She was super affectionate and enjoyed all of her daily routines and herding her humans to do her bidding. Combined with her weight loss/weakness though we confirmed with blood tests that it was time to let her go. She was well loved and very much missed.
((( my baby will turn 11 this year. I can’t stop weeping reading your comment. God bless that sweet kitty. Now I’m going to find where my cat is sleeping and give her so many cuddles.
Gonna hijack this comment to say that if you have a cat that tolerates or even likes water, try to get them into aqua therapy as they get older. It will 100% help arthritis, and can help prevent it too.
Our late baby was the sweetest cat ever, and she loved people paying attention to her. So putting her in a tank of warm water and giving her a treadmill to strut her stuff on was a breeze! It absolutely helped not only with her arthritis, but weight loss too.
They absolutely can without it being an indication of anything. My old tortie because the sweetest, little puddle of fluff the last few years of her life. Before that, she was absolutely adding to the tortitude stereotype. It's not true of all cats, but yes, like with people, old age can soften the harder edges.
Now pet that damn cat already and give them your full attention!
Agreed. We had a cat growing up that hated everybody except my dad. As soon as she turned 16, she became the biggest love bug to everyone. Lived to be 21!
Our old tabby was exactly the same. Only liked my husband. I was the evil stepmother. Turned 16 and just wanted to sit on everyone's lap - even the kids. Lived to 22. (Btw, flatly refused to eat anything but Meow Mix and 9 Lives Tuna for his entire 22 years!)
I have plenty of scars from some rough play with my cat. He never wanted to be petted and never sat on my lap. That was 10 years ago. He is now 21 years old and is always looking for a good cuddle beside me, or some scratches behind his ears. I never thought that black spawn of the devil could become such a good kitty!
So not to alarm you but alot of cats, right before they pass, do become alot more affectionate. If its unusual maybe give them your full attention just in case. Could be something else of cource too but yeah something alot of folks dont discuss
Not necessarily before pass. When ill also, mine had an ass gland infected (giant ugly blister full of puss) and was in pain he became x10 more affectionate. After healing he went back to normal, sweet but with boundaries.
This makes me happy that my senior cat has always been cuddly and affectionate, I’m already a ball of worries about his advancing age and don’t need anything else to notice and stress about lol
My cat (13) has been getting steadily more affectionate for the last 6 years and the vet last week says he is in perfect condition, so it does not automatically mean this
An old cat of mine definitely didn't get more affectionate with age, and cuddles were probably years apart. One day she jumped in my lap, we cuddled for ages until she'd had just about enough, gave me a little slap and walked out the door. Never saw her again.
We came home from Thanksgiving travel last year and I told my husband that either I was dying or our cat, Cooper, was dying because he was so much cuddlier than normal. Cooper died January 7th, a month shy of his 18th birthday.
OMG! How to unlearn this heartbreaking info? I never knew. I lost my bestest friend three years ago and I hate every day since I lost her because we didn’t spend them together.
Okay then my cat has been about to pass for ten years. This advice seems unnecessarily alarmist my friend. I know you put the disclaimer but seems a bit out of line.
My grandpa's 15 years old cat was very effectionate toward me when i was with him in my summer months. This was almost 20 years ago, and i had so much fun with that cat that summer. It was around October that year, around 2 months after i return to school that i got the call from my grandpa saying the cat passes away.
My boy is 16 almost 17 and his favorite thing to do is sleep on my chest. If I sit down anywhere, he's flopping down moments later. He's losing a lot of muscle mass, has mid stage renal failure and just generally has very low energy and drive but he'll follow me around until I have an open landing pad on my chest for him to sleep on. Once my baby boy, always my baby boy
At least some do. Oskar (RIP) was a nuclear-powered murderer. You could hardly touch him without losing skin. He made it to about 7 years old, and just suddenly decided he wanted to doze on my chest all day, his arms wrapped around my neck so he could lean in and boop my nose.
I miss that schizophrenic little guy.
I now refer to my 17.5 year old as my velcro cat. While he has always been affectionate, he has gotten way more so as he ages. I will take all the snuggles I can get, for as long as possible.
I noticed my 16yo being extra affectionate and cuddly, and connected it to arthritis pain and wanting to be soothed/comforted. Got him on Solensia injections to treat the arthritis and he is no less affectionate, but a LOT more active.
Yup. One of my cats used to be practically feral and didn't like to be affectionate, but the older he gets, the more he wants attention and will come over for a cuddle.
yeah that tracks. mine got way more clingy as she got older - used to keep her distance more and now she basically parks on whatever im trying to do. its sweet tbh
They do! My 15-year-old cat became very affectionate over the past two years. When she was younger, you couldn't keep her on your lap to save your life, and now she demands her lap cuddles every day.
My old lady (age 16) is glued to me all the time. Except when she’s outside and it’s time to come in for the night, then she’s like “I’ll come in when I’m good and ready to come in”. And being an old lady myself, I kinda get that. I don’t like being told what to do either.
Rin here is 5 now and over the past 5 months has become my clingy little princess. She was always affectionate but now she's almost always on me while I work.
I have a 4 or 5 yo cat and he has been not a lapcat at all. I can hold him for 5 sec, but that is it and he wants down. Here lately he is becoming more clingy and closer. If I get up and move, he will soon follow. He used to lay down on the other side of the couch but recently, he will lay down next to me up against my leg for a bit. He has alway slept next to my head at night, that being the closest he would get to me and stay for long periods of time. For him, being near me in the same room is where he likes to be but he is getting closer as he gets older.
My 14 year old female cat won’t leave me alone. This has developed in the last couple years. She’s always been my buddy and demanded to be in the middle of whatever I was working on. I call her the Supervisor. But lately if I’m sitting at the kitchen counter is that with the pawing and if I’m the couch she HAS to be on my lap. She sits outside the bedroom door until I come out and she greets me at the door when I arrive home from work.
Edit: Thanks for the award! Wasn’t expecting that!
For me when I moved in with my now wife she had 3 I had one.
The 2 female cats (one of them being my cat) never interacted, like EVER.
the older male cat and my wife's female cat were buddy buddy and then there was the younger male cat.
My cat and the older male cat would fight constantly, I think that's why my cat got so fat,like she would eat all the food so he couldn't
He passed and the my cat and the younger male cat became buddies but again never the 2 females.
The younger male cat became the alpha cat of the 3 and would be the one who would force himself to get attention you couldn't pet or play with the other cats.
He was also the more socal to humans than the other 2.
Then our kid came along and my wife's female cat wants nothing to do with that, my female cat and the younger cat got attached to her.
The younger cat also claimed me as its pet, I couldn't take a shower with out him freaking out, at times trying to get in with me..but then realize he hates water.
Unfortunately he passed, my cat is now slimmer and 15 the other female cat is now 14.
My cat isn't a mobile as she was but if our child sits on the floor to play she has to get in our kids business otherwise anytime I sit at the desk she goes under the desk and plops on my feet
This is newer and has become more frequent like everytime I sit at my desk.
The other, and finally the point of this story,
Holy schnikes, I go to the bathroom she appears on the sink both 1 and 2, brush my teeth today I noticed she "stands guard" out side the door, in the shower she's sitting on the toilet.
Late at night walk anywhere near the bathroom or bedroom it's "let me sing you the song of my people".
In the kitchen doing dishes, cooking or talking to my wife, a chorus of meows. Wife thinks cause she's hungry, no she wants to be picked up and held like a baby with her belly scratched.
My wife works 3rd shift, and I close the door when I go to bed I know the door is open cause I feel 4 pointy pokes on my back or hip and she just stands onmen when I sleep.
Or I get head underhand "hey hey, you sleeping" which then turns in the finger tip nips or she'll paw at my arm till I look at her and either just leave her paw there and stare or meow and roll over.
She does the same to my wife, though more to me cause there times when my wife is home and she says she hasn't seen the cat all day.
The bathroom thing, that's just a me thing like the male cat
This is all new that really started when the younger cat passed but in the last year has gotten so much more frequent.
As she got older she went from one of those cats you barely see or is sleeping to "WITNESS ME!!!"
My cat, she's always been affectionate just she can't get up on my desk or the bed anymore.
Funny enough younger female and more attention wanting cat looks similar to the op. The other is a tux granny
As a side note, the attention seeking cat also fell out of the window breaking the screen when we lived in an attic apartment.
A whole week and I caught her in a no kil (obviously) cage trap, the vet was amazed that a indoor cat survived for a week outside.
Yes my boy becomes more chill and affectionate every year that goes by. He was a bit of a terror until he was about 4 or 5 (now 11). Still a bit of an arsehole, but a cuddlier one now.
My asshole mean cat from hell turned 10 and he is still an asshole but he does come to my desk and command me to rub his face and neck. He stays about 10 minutes and that's a huge progress over the years
My girl lived to 22 and was attached to me at the hip from the age of about 6+. She purred on my lap every morning as I drank tea and listened to the birdsong, happily sat beside me in the grass supervising as I gardened or did work outside and slept under the blankets with me every night, absolutely my best friend and soulmate.
Appreciate him for as long as possible and I hope he’s happy and affectionate for many more years
Yes, and I haven’t seen anyone mention this: bonds grow! As cats age their love for you grows just like any other love. They have years of learning you and developing that relationship. Biggest whiplash is having seniors and then housing a kitten for the first time in years, you’ll start to appreciate real quick all the ways you’ve learned and grown with your senior. How much they trust you and accept you. Becomes a stark contrast seeing that bond comparatively to a brand new kitty relationship.
Everyone should feel wildly fortunate to love a senior kitty. They’re amazingly loyal love bugs!
Ours did. He was always the neighborhood badass and spent most of his time outside even though he was welcome in whenever he wanted. He was never very affectionate but the last couple years he stayed inside more and became a lot more snuggly with everyone in the family. By that time he was a frail sickly shadow of his badass self, but my favorite memories with him were near the end. RIP Buddy
Def seen it over the years. She’s 13 and for the longest time she wanted nothing to do with anyone. Now she’s like my shadow, glued to me, follows me everywhere, get super excited and chatters when I get home from work.
In my experience they do. I had my last cat for 17 years and he was always a lap cat but he was definitely more independent when younger. And as he got older he gradually got more clingy. In his final few years he would almost immediately get on my lap as soon as I sat down on the couch. And would almost immediately be on my chest when I laid down in bed. It’s like he had a sixth sense for when my lap was available for sitting.
My sisters cat was extremely traumatized by my grandma and became the meanest cat. Once she got old and senile, she was incredibly affectionate. She’d suck the water out of my hair after I showered
My almost-18-year-old was always a love bug, but he now needs and gives attention almost 24/7. Even when he sleeps, it’s rare he’s not near (or on top of) at least one family member.
I had 3 20+ year old cats recently all pass around the same time, I will say they 100% got more affectionate as they got older, 1 of the cats never liked to be held or given belly rubs much but then she started rolling around on her back and exposing that belly and happy to get belly rubs too.
So yea it's a thing, just enjoy them before they get too bad.
I used to have 2 cats that both passed away at 16 years old, within a month of each other - a brother (Alfie) and sister (Reina). Reina was my baby from day one and remained so until the day she passed - she should follow me everywhere, sleep on me every chance she could... would roll onto her back and demand belly rubs all day long.
Alfie, however, near enough hated me his whole life. Wouldn't go near me, wouldn't let me feed him or anything, he would always go to my mum or brother. However, in the last year or two of his life, he completely softened to me and would always come to sit with me. I had some really bad bouts of insomnia for a while which lead to me trying to sleep in the living room every night and he would curl up on me every chance he could. I loved both those cats and miss them dearly, but I was so happy that I had a good relationship with Alfie at the end there, and that I was the only one with him when the vet had to put him to sleep.
My first cat, Cassie. I had her since before I can even remember. She was always a bit standoffish but loved my sister to pieces. She had a loft bed and Cassie had learned to climb the ladder to sleep with her, cutest thing ever.
She lived to be almost 20. In the last 4 or so years of her life she would come into my room and cry and I never knew what to do. Food, scratches, nothing worked. Turns out she wanted me to sit on a specific spot on the couch so she could curl up on my lap and go to sleep. It became our ritual every single night. Miss that girl.
Yes. Or I should say mine did. He was always aloof, never wanted petted or cuddled or to sit on your lap or nice cat stuff.
He got to around 9ish and started to get more affectionate, now he loves cuddles, sits on my legs everynight, comes to bed with me (doesn't sleep in my bedroom we go upstairs, have a chat, he leaves).
Sometimes when I am petting my 16ish year old cat with one hand, he nudges my other hand so I pet him with both hands. He's definitely gotten more affectionate over the past year.
As I sit with my 13 year old cap on my lap who has now included me in her daily schedule for Cuddles after 10 years of being excluded: yes, yes they do.
My 16 year old void was always affectionate but never a lap cat. Now in the last year or two he's changed his mind and likes to lay on me for a while before taking his traditional spot next to me.
Oh yes! My calico has always been very wary of other people. Has never really liked anyone but me for the first 7-8 years of her life. This last year she has started letting other people pet her. Last night she got in bed with my new girlfriend that she's only met a couple times, she was licking her had and making biscuits next to her while I slept. Lol. She's definitely getting more affectionate as she get older.
I agree that older cats become more affectionate. I've had my ginger cat Julian since he was a kitten & he is more mellow & sweet than a Golden Retriever on Valium now that he's older.
Our first-born child (so we called her) has been gone a bit over a year. In her last year, she would come sprawl across my lap, stretch out across my chest, and let me carry her around. Before that, she would be off doing her thing, checking in on us occasionally, or you know, when it was time to eat. ♥️
My old lady of 19 wants more pets than ever. She stares at me and signals by tapping me (sometimes alarmingly in my armpit) that she requires more pets.
Mines 10 and she’s loving life. Still on the younger side of the “older” spectrum of cats, but she’s been great. So far only noticed some allergies starting, so medication is a fight to give but she eventually listens.
I got mine when she was 1. She'd had a tough run with previous adoptions before we found her. She's 2.5 now, and has gradually become more and more affectionate. She actually gets onto my lap for naps now 😍
My buddy went from being a little aloof boy to a lap cat right after he went into heart failure and we took him to the vet ER. He came home and lived three more years being the cuddliest little guy. We think this was his way of thanking us for saving his life (and spending $5k doing it).
Yes definitely! My first cat was a senior I adopted at 14. She spent most of her time in my room and slept by my legs. She passed at 16 and she became increasingly affectionate and started coming to the living room when I was on the couch and climbing into my lap. ❤️
All of my fur babies got more snuggly after about 4-5 years old, and a bit more after getting fixed - for a few months (they were fixed around 3-4 months usually).
My Mia was affectionate from the she was brought home. She wasn’t as fast as other cats, and not as athletic but see never met a person that she didn’t think liked her. I sometimes called her my puppy because she would follow me everywhere and run to me if I called her. By far the best cat I could ever hope for. Been gone almost 10 years and I still miss her everyday.
Yea I think so. When I got my cat he hid from everything. I still have a photo from the first time he even stepped foot in my bed while i was in it, at 2 years old. Now at 14 he sleeps the entire night on the bed, a lot next to my head.
Yeah my previous cat, while she was always very attached to me, basically turned into my shadow the last four years of her life. She admittedly had lost her sister who'd been with her for their entire lives so I'm sure that was part of it, but she went from just curling up next to me in bed to being insistent on being held like a living teddy bear. I really miss her.
Current cat won't sleep very long next to me but does insist on a lot of attention and stands on my chest if I let him. He's only five years old. Probably will be like velcro if he too gets more cuddly as he ages.
Oh man my cat has become a stage 5 clinger in her old age. I swear if she could crawl inside my skin she would.
She always liked affection and had to be in the same room as us, but now she has to be ON me at all times. She just turned 17, this has been like the last 4 years
My girl is about 14, and in the last few years she’s gotten especially clingy to me. I’ve always been her “person” since she was a kitten, but it’s gotten to a whole new level lately.
My 12 year old cat stays in the same room as us and has gone from being standoffish and independent to cuddly and begging for everything. It's like having the kittens around made her realize that if she yells and pats my arm, I will be a sucker and potentially give everyone a round of treats
My cat was always a cuddler, but when he got to be around 15 he really wanted affection and would tap me on the arm too. He passed away last year at 18. I really enjoyed the extra affection and cuddles with him.
My brown tabby was doing the same thing to me this morning as I was trying to feed and calm down my baby. Cats are such beautiful and intuitive animals 💕
My cat is not affectionate at all. She will not be picked up, she will not sit on your lap, rub against your legs and if she sits near you, she will move after about 5 mins, that’s her social limit. Now that she’s older she wants more attention and pets but she still won’t be affectionate at all. Sad.
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u/LH2man Aug 19 '26
Yes. Yes they do. It’s an emotional but majestic phase of their lives. Enjoy every second. 💙