Olli is the youngest of my cats at 3 years old. When he was 6 weeks old he was hit by a car and brought in to the animal hosptial where I used to work. He spent the next couple of months in a cage while his back legs healed from a break that had left him temporarily paralyzed. I ended up adopting him. Because he spent his formative time in a cage being prodded by a vet, he is scared of a lot of stuff. The vacuum cleaner monster, the dryer buzzer monster, the doorbell monster, the husband monster. Yes, all my husband has to do is say, “Olli!” and the cat runs away like he’s been shot out of a cannon. The only person he’s not scared of is me, and he can be quite the love muffin at times.
Two days ago I was checking out a compilation that I had made, of Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong. I put on Louis’ version of “Mack the Knife”. It begins with him saying, “Dig, man, there goes Mack the Knife!” and then the music starts. I was sitting on the floor in front of the boombox, and Olli was walking over to me. When the gravelly voice started coming out of the boombox, Olli froze in mid-stride, eyes huge. He lowered his head a little bit and stood there staring. I thought, “This is curious”, so I started the song again. Louis’ voice came out of the speakers, Olli’s eyes got big again, his whole body lowered a little bit, and then he turned and ran down the hall in a crouch. Needless to say, I was laughing.
I wanted to see if he was really scared of Louis’ voice and not just being a freak, so the next day I pulled out my Louis Armstrong Christmas tape (with lots of groovy songs like, “Zat You, Santy Claus?”). One of the selections is of him reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. It starts with him saying a little introduction. When I started it, Olli was looking out the sliding glass doors. He turned and ran behind me until he was right by the doorway of the living room, paused, staring with big round eyes. His body went low to the ground, and he crept slowly towards the boombox for a couple steps, then he turned and ran away. I told my husband that we’d better shut Olli up in the bedroom if we ever rent the movie ‘High Society’, because Louis Armstrong has a speaking role in it!
The part of me that is scientific and interested in behavior says, “It’s fascinating when animals respond to noises from the tv or music, because normally it doesn’t affect them.” (ALL the cats got freaked out when I was watching a program on wolves one time, when all the wolves were howling.) The rest of me is just LMAO because I have this weird little spaz-kitty! 