I have one of those loner cats myself. She's a three year old calico who barely tolerates being touched at all, let alone petted. If I'm standing up, bent over, and nearly standing on my head, then she loves being petted, at least for a few moments. As long as I'm going out of my way just for her she doesn't mind the attention one bit, but if I'm comfortable and I decide I want to pet her, forget it, evil human. She has two ways of telling me that I'm done giving her attention... she will lick my hand first... kitty kisses, you know. Then if I still continue petting her she'll sink her teeth in as hard as she can. I get one warning and that's it. So, I've learned to pay attention to that one warning and respond quickly by pulling away. Touching her tummy is allowed only on an as-needed basis. She tolerates that for a few seconds and then I'm done, but the toes are completely off-limits. It's the same situation with the tail. Touching that is a no-no, but everything else is allowable as long as I'm quick about it and don't get any ridiculous notions about picking her up or something. She's kind of like me in one way though. She doesn't tolerate excessive heat well and gets a bit sensitive when it's too hot in our home. When she's like that she wants more attention but even less cuddling, so holding is absolutely out of the question at those times and I can understand that completely. At times like that, she will lie next to me looking like a pile of limp laundry, pressed as flat to the floor as she can get and just look like the sad, hot little kitty she is.
