Pet cat
A cat has its own signals, and the fur is not always welcome. A flicking tail, ears pinned back, a movement that looks soft but is not. The pictures below show both the cat and the hand.
♂Pet cat
A person petting a cat.
About this visual support
Petting a cat looks simple until the cat draws a line. Fur can feel pleasant or prickly to a sensitive sense, and a cat moves faster than the soft pictures suggest. That mix, sensation plus a willful animal, loads the moment more than adults often realise.
Visual support lets a child read two things at once: the cat’s body and their own hand. A flicking tail is not the same message as a still one, and a hand approaching from the side is received better than one from above. With both visible, the meeting becomes something the child can prepare for.
One concrete tip: hold a soft, closed fist at a low distance and let the cat step forward to sniff. The cat sets the pace, and the pet that follows is welcomed rather than stolen. In Routined you can pair the petting steps with feed the cat, so the whole animal moment gets a small routine of its own.