We had a very similar experience with our cat Buster - nearly 20 years ago now (sniff). Only with him, it was his hind leg. So he tried to exit the nice paper cave, and the cave CHASED him. He was a nervous kitty to begin with, and adding an apparently self-propelled cave to the picture did not help his mood. I saw him running hell-for-leather trying to escape this demonic THING, all through the house. I tried to catch and rescue him, but he was running too fast and I was splitting a gut laughing so I failed to catch him. Eventually the poor fellow tore loose from his pursuer, then bolted upstairs and hid for hours.
This is the same cat who used to chase shadows (even his own). Great fun for us having a remote-control kitty. We had to keep our bathroom door closed at night or he’d be in there playing in the shadows he cast from the nightlight. Never did figure out that he would never catch that mysterious moving shape.
I’ve had numerous cats in my life. One of my favorites was Pub, my first Siamese. He would sleep on top of the TV and if we turned it on, he would lean over the top and watch the show upside down. And he’d lean a little farther…and a little farther…and WHOOM, he’d fall off the TV. Without fail.
And SphincterPuss, who was the absolute most lovable cat in the world. Every lap available was hers. She would jump into the first one available, make herself comfortable, purr up a storm while getting ear sckritches…and then proceed to fart from sheer happiness. Loud, smelly catfarts. They would clear your sinuses faster than fresh horseradish.
And Bamboo, The Spastic Siamese. He was owned by my buddy Wally, but thought he belonged to me. Every time I was over there, that cat would launch himself onto me so that I would carry him around, draped over my shoulder like a dishrag. One day, we were in the kitchen and I dropped something. I bent over to pick it up just as Bamboo went airborne, aimed at my shoulder. He flew straight over it, landed on the kitchen table, skidded over it and crashed onto the floor on the other side. Wally and I promptly soiled our skivvies laughing at him. Bamboo got pissed and went sulking out of the room, only to return about 10 minutes later and successfully make it onto my shoulder.