Nice story, thanks for sharing...although I'm sorry about your dad and what he was/is like. Not cool at all. My female cat does not like hard petting on her butt..she grumbles/growls and then will hiss if you do it more than a couple times. Her brother LOVES it, though. Both like being pet hard on their sides as they roll around on the floor. My cats HATE it if you try to wrap them in a blanket, or even put one over them...they hate it and they just freeze up and won't move...they'd sit under a blanket forever if you didn't remove it from them. I adopted them with the requirement that the two kittens I adopted be the last of a litter so as not to separate the last two. Cheers!