Cats are adaptable particularly young cats

Cats are more adaptable than people give them credit for. Dr Bradshaw (Cat Sense) says that during the first year of their lives 'they effectively tailor their personalities as much as they can to suit the particular household in which they find themselves'.

A guy called Spencer with his cat Cuddles. Screenshot of video.

He then says that if a person has an intensely emotional relationship with their cat, the cat is likely to be happy when picked up and cuddled. He believes that this is the cat adapting to the demands of the owner.

I can confirm this from first-hand experience. Domestic cats do learn to accept the preferences of their human caregiver in how they interact with them. Although they might not particularly like being petted in a certain way, they accept it after a while. They even learn to like it. This will only happen, in my view, if the relationship is great because the cat's caregiver is excellent.

Under these circumstances any interaction with their caregiver is welcome provided it is essentially pleasant even if the method is not the sort of interaction that pleases the cat.

I like to handle my cat a lot. He likes to be close to me which gives me the opportunity to pet him multiple times a day. He was a bit twitchy in years past as he was born feral but he now fully accepts and likes it. This adaptation should not surprise people because it is replicated in human-to-human behavior. They say that the success of a marriage is based on acceptance and adaption. And the husband saying 'Yes, dear'. :) 

It is also worth mentioning that cat caregivers do a lot of adapting too! The more you think about cats being adaptable the more you realise that it happens in any sentient being relationship.

It is an example of how domestic cats live in the human world, which is essentially unnatural to a domestic cat but through basic socialisation and adaption cats learn to live in it. There is also a lot of acceptance. Domestic cats are very accepting and stoic of the situations in which they find themselves. They put up and shut up. This can be a recipe for abuse.

They don't complain, do they? But this is not helpful for them. It allows them to be neglected in the misguided belief that they are independent and are fine being left alone. Cats need interaction from their owners. This is another reason why they adapt to their owners' demands.