# More weird cat behavior **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029 "2002-09-21T21:18:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/1 "2002-09-21T21:18:35Z")
Our cat has a shoe fetish. We tend to leave our shoes lying around the house, and she makes a point of rubbing her face all over them, then lying down next to them and using them for pillows. Doesn’t matter if they’re leather, vinyl, or cloth, she always lays her head on our shoes, not matter how uncomfortable it looks. 😕 Cats are the craziest peoples. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/2 "2002-09-21T21:45:13Z")
Kobii wants to know what is weird about THAT? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/3 "2002-09-21T21:46:23Z")
My cat does the same, except: When an ex-boyfriend used to take his construction boots after a 12 hour day, the cat would go and _stick his head in them_. Forget shoe fetish; death wish would be more accurate. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/4 "2002-09-21T21:46:25Z")
She’s marking them with her scent glands, so any other kitties out there know you **her** people. As for her sleeping on them, your shoes probably carry your scent stronger than anything else you own, so of course she wants them nearby. Cats are perfectly straightforward. It’s men that are crazy. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/5 "2002-09-21T21:55:45Z")
Oh, by the way, Maggie and Eponine both say “Pththththbbbb!” They’re currently alternating between glaring at the monitor and licking their asses, so I don’t think they agree with you. ---
**Author:** ![elshatan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@elshatan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elshatan)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/6 "2002-09-21T22:51:32Z")
How can anyone call anything “weird cat behavior” when your cats plotting an elaborate conspiracy to kill you in your sleep would be considered normal? ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/7 "2002-09-21T23:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrazyCatLady \* > \*\*She’s marking them with her scent glands, so any other kitties out there know you **her** people. As for her sleeping on them, your shoes probably carry your scent stronger than anything else you own, so of course she wants them nearby. Cats are perfectly straightforward. It’s men that are crazy. \*\* So why doesn’t she like to sit on our laps or sleep in the bed with us? She’ll sleep in the bedROOM, but not on the bed. Actually, she likes to sleep on my dirty uniforms. We keep them separate from the rest of the laundry, since I work with pesticides. Fido loves to lie on the laundry bag when it has uniforms in it. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/8 "2002-09-21T23:54:28Z")
Because then you might think she likes you or something. Don’t you know anything about cats? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/9 "2002-09-21T23:56:01Z")
My cat puts those little jingle balls in our shoes. You know, the little balls with a jingle bell inside? He plays fetch with them (really!), and when he tires of it, he’ll hide the ball in a shoe. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/10 "2002-09-22T00:04:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrazyCatLady \* > \*\*Because then you might think she likes you or something. Don’t you know anything about cats? 😃 \*\* Why shouldn’t she like us? I mean, we bought a house with a screened-in porch just for HER! ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/11 "2002-09-22T00:34:21Z")
Well, if she does like you, she certainly wouldn’t want anyone to know it. She’s a cat and has a reputation to uphold, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/12 "2002-09-22T04:21:30Z")
My smart cat ignores shoes. My dumbass cat is a pheromone junky. She’ll rub her face on shoes, various bits of laundry and just LOVES sweaty t-shirts waiting for the wash, and my GF’s and my bra’s. She is also affectionate to the point of being exceptionally annoying. So we figure the “loving our smelly work clothes” is some kind of way of saying “I love you dearest humans and wish they bottled your scent in a perfume!.. Whee!..” ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/13 "2002-09-22T05:30:47Z")
Cats is just weird. One (only one, fortunately) of our cats has an armpit/socks/shoes/pheromone fetish too. You cannot lie in bed, on your back, arms thrown up across the pillow over your head, in this house. Should you do do, he’ll come running from whatever weird thing he’s doing elsewhere (usually sleeping soundly with his face jammed into someone’s shoe), and groom your pits for you. If you try this stunt whilst wearing a t-shirt, he’ll just bury his face in your armpit hard enough to cut off the blood supply to your arm, and go to sleep. And if for some reason he’s otherwise indisposed (like, say, there’s a particularly interesting blank spot on the wall that needs some good hard staring at), he’ll send in his backup. Our other male cat is a kneader. He’ll lay his 20lb butt on your chest, then knead your throat for you, for **hours** , if you let him. The only saving grace here is that whoever owned him before us had his front feet declawed. I’m thinking I can figure out the logic behind this one without a lot of mental calesthenics. The two females simply have a chronic case of the midnight crazies. I swear it sounds like we own elephants instead of cats, some nights. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/14 "2002-09-22T05:31:18Z")
I once had a cat that used to lick my toes. No, she used to _clean_ my toes, including thoroughly licking between them, starting at one end and working her way across. She would only do this at bedtime, after they’d had a full day to “ripen” - and if I showered before going to bed she wouldn’t touch them. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/15 "2002-09-22T05:41:42Z")
My friend once tormented her cat by making him chase a laser pointer dot. She aimed the dot into one of her shoes, and FIVE YEARS LATER, the cat still will not pass a pair of empty shoes without thrusting his paws into them to see if by some chance, he might be able to find the dot he saw there last. If we did not have three cats (as well as two rats and a dog) I would bet our entertainment expenses would be WAY higher. As it is, we hardly ever have to leave the house to have fun. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/16 "2002-09-22T14:58:03Z")
I have a cat that loves to chase fuzzy balls, the little fabric or foil pom-poms you can get at craft stores. When she’s done chasing them, she drops them in her water bowl. It’s not uncommon to see three or four fuzzy balls floating around in there. If you take them out, a few hours later they are back in there. ---
**Author:** ![Skerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Skerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skerri)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/17 "2002-09-22T15:44:46Z")
Feh. My cat likes socks. He will sit there, for 20 minutes or so at a time, with a sock in his mouth. It looks like he’s trying to eat a sock puppet. He will hold the sock, and make these god-awful half-growl/half-mewing noises. As soon as he sees you looking at him, he’ll drop the sock and walk away. This morning, he was raising an awful ruckus. Turns out my roommate’s girlfriend had put her socks and shoes on top of a chair, and he was trying to get at the socks. He sat in front of the chair and meowed at them, as if they were going to magically jump off the chair and into his mouth. He wouldn’t shut up until I gave him another sock to play with. He’s just a big ol’ freak. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elshatan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@elshatan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elshatan)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/18 "2002-09-22T16:06:26Z")
My ex-roomie’s cat used to love pouncing on my head. I’d be stretched out, half asleep, and feel this warm, furry THING slam into my head and clamp on. Damn cat. ---
**Author:** ![Becky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@Becky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/19 "2002-09-22T22:34:22Z")
My gray cat likes to stalk her water dish. She flattens herself out onto the floor a few feet away from it, and then dives at it with her front paws. Then, she puts her head against the side of it and repeatedly jolts it across the floor, sloshing the water out all the way. It never fails to crack me up. ---
**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029/20 "2002-09-22T22:39:13Z")
**Dave** , Fido likes to sleep on your pesticide-enriched uniforms because the residue kills any fur-borne parasites she may be harboring. (Okay, I made that up, but it sounds good.) [rabbit hijack] Nightfall the Wonder Bunny, King of Ghosts, also rubs his chin on everything in the back yard, where he lives. He is doing the same thing, marking his territory, to let the cat next door know that this is **his** yard and she can stay the frak out of it. [/rabbit hijack] (musta been a jackrabbit) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-weird-cat-behavior/129029.md?page=2)