cats

Yeah, it's risky business and you need to be careful, because as you you say you are in range of all four murder mittens and many cats don't like getting their stomach petted.

I usually start petting them in other places, then progressively try petting their upper belly, going down. At the first sign that it's not received well I immediately remove my hand.

Four paws and mouth. Cats love it for like x number of seconds, then suddenly part of their lizard-cat brain kicks. I swear this is some kind of instinct behavior carried over from evolution.

I used to have this very sweet very old cat, I had for years. She would lay next to me in bed and let me pet her stomach. One time she did the weird belly bite claw attack thing, or started to. Chompers at the ready around my thumb. But instantly stopped and froze in place. We were both shocked. I turned to look at her like “wtf just happened?” My hand still in place. And she’s looking back at me like “wtf just happened?” Like she didn’t even know. It was so bizarre and out of character. I kind of laughed, and I think she felt bad. Then we continued cuddling.

My neighbour's cat always came running up when he saw me and flopped on his back across my feet.