From the "nice cats" article:
My cat doesn't spend every minute of the day with me when I'm around. More often than not, he's skulking around or chilling out on a sofa. But he's friendly with everybody and we have our moments. Honestly, I wouldn't want to spend every waking moment with the person I live with, either. And for the people who think cats are standoffish—are you immediately open and friendly with random humans you meet?
Well put! (although I was taken aback by the last line in the article: "You cat loves you. Love
it back" (bold/italics emphasis mine)... now, why couldn't they have used "them" instead of "it"? I guess I just have this thing about using "it" to refer to any sentient being when their gender is unknown, and it's always bothered me even more when people refer to a very young (human!) infant as "it".
Anyhow. I've known cats value human affection just for itself for quite some time; I just thought that people tended to regard cats as aloof or overly-independent only because dogs are so much
more interactive with their human "pack members". I thought that since cats aren't pack or herd animals, their social interactions with each other- and us- are more loose and fluid.
My sister's two dogs lived with me when she was staying at my house, and I must admit that they seemed quite noticeably more responsive to her and me than my cats and rabbits have been. Her second dog even
knew my sister's name!!!! (Seriously). He and I were home alone one time, and for some reason I asked him, "Where's Kathy?" His ears perked up, he got up and looked out the window toward where she would have been walking toward the front door... I can only assume he was so attentive toward people around him that I guess he connected our repeated use of her name with situations when we appeared to be interacting with her. Still, it amazes me that he could figure this out without anyone actually teaching him her name, as near as I can tell.