My girlfriend recently brought home one of those floating, mylar Valentine’s ballons–heart-shaped, about three feet in diameter. The cat suddenly freaked out and started racing around, completely terrified. He ensconced himself under a piece of furniture and wouldn’t come out until the next day, after the balloon had been put away in a closet. However, he can still smell it when he gets near the closet, which he avoids. Otherwise, however, he’s not a particularly spooked cat.
My girlfriend said other cats she’s had have reacted the same way, even to smaller balloons. Can anyone explain this behavior?
Some cats are frightened of aggressive birds, so I guess this is possible. Most of the cats I’ve had were frightened of Kookaburras and Australian Ravens, but I suspect that the fear was a learned behaviour - the result of having been attacked.
Having said that, though, cats are pretty strange and unpredictable.
One of my cats years ago wasn’t frightened of swooping birds - it would actually try to leap up and catch them. Once, it attacked an enormousMasked Owl, and successfully took away the turtle dove that the owl had just caught.
That same cat, however, was frightened of thunder and would hide under the lounge whenever there was a storm. Every other cat I’ve ever had would want to go outside and watch the rain and lightning.
Same with vacuum cleaners. Some cats are frightened, some don’t care, and some want to attack and kill them. Weird.
D’oh! Left out the obvious answer. Cats like to chase things and play with things, and they also learn fast. They learn real quick that balloons explode.
When we brought five pounds of cat home, we had a helium balloon on a long string. He adored it. He would take the end of the ribbon in his mouth and drag the balloon from room to room. We had to put a stop to that because we feared that he would somehow hang himself with it.
Actually, since he didn’t have the strength to pull the helium balloon down, we were afraid that he would get tangled in the ribbon, and that strangulation was possible.
I’ve got a 25lb. Monster of a red cat who has no fear. He’s popped balloons many times and seem to enjoy the destructive results. (He’s also terrorized various dogs of all sizes and still holds a grudge agains my fox terrier for biting him when he was 6 Months old - he’s 2 1/2 years old now!)
The smart cat owner certainly does deny a cat string; you thought wrong. See, a lot of cats like to eat string, ribbon, thread, etc. (God only knows why; it can’t possibly taste all that good), and it can kill 'em deader than a mackerel. It’s not a pretty death, either; linear foreign bodies slice up the intestines, so the cat tends to die of a combination of blood loss and peritonitis. It’s a slow, painful process that tends to involve a lot of screaming in agony and shitting blood and intestinal lining. Cats can also strangle themselves with blind cords, etc. pretty easily, so sugaree’s decision was doubly wise.
As for the balloon, some cats just don’t take well to stuff like that. My cats, however, love anything that’s crinkly, and would probably adore mylar balloons.
My cats loved the dangling string the few times we’ve had a balloon in the house – and yes, we only let them play with it while we’re watching for the reasons mentioned above.
One of my cats, OTOH, is afraid of the Swiffer. He must have heard the hissing sound it makes, and now as soon as I take it out of the closet he panics. For the rest of the day he watches me suspiciously, too, to see if I have that horrid thing out again.
Since it was a 3-foot mylar balloon, is it possible that the cat saw his own distorted reflection in it? He might have thought that some horrible monster had invaded his home.
