TIL. Thank you for this. My mother-in-law has three cats, one that purportedly hates everyone. All three seem to view me as a cat goddess or something because they flock to me like I'm wearing catnip perfume. They've done this ever since the first time I met them. I grew up with dogs, so cats are a mystery to me.

Still, it's gratifying when the cat with no name who hates everyone rolls over on his/her back so I can pet her/him. When the noise in that house gets to be too much (the small great-grandson, the two yappy chihuahuas, the constantly talking husband (mine), the friendly but loud sister-in-law and the always turned up too loud TV) I go find a cat to brush. It helps keep me sane.

Now if I could find an answer to the question of the very happy purring cat who suddenly bites the shit out of me, I could perhaps avoid that pain.