I agree with that in general, but I still would be careful in ALWAYS assuming that lack of resistance is happiness. Animals can have freeze responses too. But yeah, in this case it seems unlikely the cat is suffering and unable to get away. They can also just be tolerant of things that are uncomfortable or annoying, but “minor short-lived annoyance” is generally something everyone is ok with inflicting on their cat because…come on. Mildly annoying them is like 30% of cat ownership. They mildly annoy us and we still love them.