Cat's have the right to negotiate their own terms.

Be good to your cats, because at any moment they may decide to up and leave.

I recently read an article in Discover Magazine about the 100 scientific discoveries of 2007. One of them was the history of feline domestication. When Man first developed agriculture they created fields, to grow plants. These fields did much more than just that. They offered smaller animals, such a mice, a feeding ground. This eventually brought cats to the fields. After all they do love to eat those furry little rodents. Shorty the cats who were predisposed to tolerate people flourished, living in fields, then huts and villages. The cats had found a world where they could hunt to their hearts content, but sleep protected from larger predators by man.

So those cute little kitty cats who always act like they own the place, and their doing you a favor by allowing you to be in their presence, actually have a right to be proud. They are the only "domestic" animal to never be domesticated by man.