How My Cat Made Me Break My Toe

Yesterday afternoon on day 4 of my holiday weekend I was walking into the bathroom. I should have been prepared for what was to happen as it is not the first time my cat has done it, but I was distracted by 4 days of pie and an issue with my roommate. It was my own fault really.

Joey has learned that when I walk into the bathroom for any reason it means that I will turn on the faucet for him to drink out of for a few minutes which is one of his favorite things to do. If he hears me walking in there he saunters in and jumps into the sink and waits expectantly for me to turn on the faucet, but occasionally if he is really hyper he streaks by as if he is afraid that unless he is in the sink NOW he will never get to have another drop of water in his life. Yesterday was the latter.

I was walking into the bathroom and he streaks by me and causes me to veer to the right to keep from crushing him, at which point my foot slams into the door frame. I yelped and spun around only to find that my other cat Oliver was coming up behind Joey to see if he could also find something interesting to do while I am in the bathroom (why do all pets feel like they need to bond with you whenever you have to pee?) and since I was not expecting him and I had my right foot raised about 12 inches off the ground as I turned I accidentally kicked him and knocked him over. It was as much of a shock to me as it was to him and I felt horrible afterwards. He looked up at me with sad eyes and ran away and hid behind the couch. I limped into the kitchen and got the cat treats and sat beside the couch trying to coax him out so I could apologize with pettings and treats but he would have none of it. About an hour later he came out of hiding and seemed to forgive me.

Now two of my toes are swollen and bruised and it hurts to walk, and the cats both think I am super mean, one because I accidentally kicked him and the other because I never got around to turning on the faucet.

Awww, man, I’m sorry pbbth. I’m glad nothing worse happened. Your story did make me giggle a bit - kitties can make you feel so guilty!

Oh, poor baby. You, I mean, not the cats.

I feel worse for the cats, honestly. I mean, I understand what happened and know that my toes will heal. All they know is that I decided to kick them and deprive them of water. I can’t very well explain it to them so I just have to hope that they haven’t been spending the day planning my demise.

They’ll forgive you, eventually. Mine have forgiven Mr. Neville for shutting them in closets and drawers, and my Luna even forgave me for giving her a bath. My Katya has been tripped over and stepped on too many times to count (dark gray is not the best color for an underfoot-cat in a house full of klutzes), but she always forgives us.

Is Oliver out of hiding and walking normally now? If he’s not back to normal in a few days, you might want to take him to the vet to make sure there’s no damage. Injured cats will often hide (of course, so will cats who are just scared).

Oliver is just fine and dandy. He is running around and chasing Joey through the house just like normal. They both slept in the bed with me just like normal last night. They seem okay but I still feel bad about it. I guess maybe kitties don’t hold grudges or people hold too much guilt.

Thinketh pbbth, “They both slept in the bed with me just like normal last night.”

‘Ceptin’ of course, they are now taking turns trying to steal your breath while you sleep!

Well, I don’t know about stealing my breath, but they do knead my boobs with their claws pretty regularly against my wishes.

Is it possible they’re just protecting you against breast cancer with all the breast kneading?