What Strange Things Does Your Cat Do?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
81

@salinqmind:

My cats won’t play with any cat toys except the little rabbit fur-covered mice & they love those things. Regular fabric-covered mice get zero play. MamaKat will lay & roll on her mouse-baby, then she scrunches real close to it, nose almost touching it and cries MAOWWW! MAURRWW! MWOUWW! (repeat)…until one of the other kittehs snatches it away from her or she loses interest. I swear she sounds like a cat stuck in a tree; I can hear her from the other end of the house. It’s the reason I named her MamaKat, although she was spayed & never birthed a wee kitten of her own to love.

There must be some organic, gamey, dead rabbit meat scent that stirs the evolutionary carnivore hunter in them.

82

Samson has to sleep with me, greets me at the door every day with demands to be loved on, and has made a pink stuffed animal his hidden pleasure 'cause it only comes out at night and will always end up at the bottom of the bed. He magically makes it disappear during the daytime.

The craziest thing a cat has ever done has been when Delilah, who seems to think that every drawer in the house is hers to open and empty, first started the opening and emptying phase. I was taking care of something in the living room and just happened to look up and saw my little furball ('cause she is little) disappearing under the coffee table with a string hanging out of her mouth. After a chase I discovered that she had found the box of tampons which I keep in the bottom drawer in the bathroom, pulled one out, carefully unwrapped it, and proudly claimed her prize. And the little girl wasn’t going to give up her prize easily. I just had to shake my head. I could just see friends sitting down in the little room and she’d come strutting in with one of those things hanging out of her mouth…

I’ve since moved the tampons.

Now if I could just figure out how to keep her from opening up all the drawers.

83

Some strange cat behavior was on the local news a couple of nights ago.

84

I have to say while watching that, one solution to the cat stealing everything that isn’t bolted down at all the neighbours’ houses is to keep the damned cat inside. Gorgeous kitty, though.

85

Bubba the Wonder Doof has a washing fetish. For the first five years, it was just him and me so I was the recipient of this obsession. I would wake up an average of a couple of times a day to find a furry hulk sitting on my chest and vigorously washing my face. Proving that you can get used to anything, I eventually got to the point where I’d just wake up enough to mumble, “Dammit, Bubba, quit,” and roll over.

He also liked to wash the inside of my ears. That is one weird way to wake up. After a particularly enthusiastic cleaning, sometimes I’d get a little scab on my ear from his efforts. It would be a real low point at work when someone would ask, rather hesitantly, how I got a scab there and I’d have to say it was from the cat washing me.

And then I got Boo Radley and Bubba transferred his fetish over to him for the most part. Boo is four now and I could count the number of times I’ve ever seen him wash himself. When he wants a washing, he just presents himself to Bubba who will happily oblige him.

Then I got Bogey. Bubba’s nose was considerably out of joint at the addition of this pushy young upstart but eventually his need to oversee the cleanliness of others overcame his umbrage and he deigned to give the kid a bath.

To his considerable surprise, Bogey started washing him back. Bubba couldn’t have been more shocked if Bogey had suddenly transformed into a dancing rhino. He ran away but curiosity over this freak of nature overcame him and he had to repeat the experiment. Sure enough, Bogey washed him back.

It took Bubba a long time to get used to this. For a long time, he was surprised every time this happened. Bubba is, bless his little heart, well, he’s…not smart.It takes him a long time to catch on to things.

Anyway, after a few months, he not only learned to accept that Bogey was going to wash him right back but eventually came to enjoy the Mutual Cat-Washing Society. In fact, I’ve caught him actually just basking in being the washee a few times. It doesn’t last long before his compulsion to wash kicks back in but for those brief shining moments, he just gives in.

Obligatory cat pictures: Bubba washing Boo http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad300/SpinyNorma/B%20Boys/111810catsandVegas356.jpg

Bubba and Bogey resting up after a meeting of the Mutual Cat-Washing Society:http://i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad300/SpinyNorma/B%20Boys/31810235.jpg

86

None of my cats actually meow. Lucy has a soft purr-urp chirp. Mayme opens her mouth wide… and a teensy mrew may come out. Dot is very talkative, only in chirps. If you ask Dot a question, she will respond with a chittery chirp. If you ask Mayme a question, she’ll cock her head like she’s thinking of an answer, then peep. My sister has Mayme and Dot’s litterbrother and day-umm that cat meows.

Lucy has recently taken to watching TV. I’ve quit having the TV on in my room at night, and she hates that. How do I know she’s not pleased? She pushes the remote against the side of my head. If I take the remote away, she will hunt for it, bat it around, banging it against my dresser or door. I pick it up, she starts purring and throwing herself around in happy happy joy joy mode, until she realizes I’m not turning the TV on and she pouts. Her pouting consists of getting in my face and sighing. Push her away, back she comes.

Lucy has not figured out how doors work. The tiny terrors are just that - tiny. Lucy is, well, fluffy. I will leave the door cracked to the bathroom when I’m in there. Dot and Mayme will just slide on in. Lucy will sit on the other side of the door, put her paw under the door, and pull it closed. The concept of just pushing it open completely escapes her.

Mayme and Dot hate when I wear anything on my feet. They will attack my feet until I remove my socks / slippers / shoes. Dot will just take a sniff of my naked feet and walk away. Mayme will throw herself against my feet, licking between my toes and nibbling them.

Dot loves taking her toys, especially stuffed mice and sparkly stuffed balls, dunking them in their water dish, then playing with them. It annoys me a bit. However, it becomes a serious issue when she hides said sopping wet toys in my bed. Dot hates sniffing. I am a sniffer due to chronic sinus problems. If she’s in a mood, she will swat at my nose when I sniff. Me, being me, will then follw her around the house sniffing, just to drive her crazier than she already is,

They both have to be in the bathroom when I’m in there. When I’m in the shower, they both sit on the ledge of the tub. When I get out, Mayme hops up on the vanity and sits up until I come close to her. She leans her paws against my chest, sniffs my face and hair with a very serious look on her face (and she is a loud sniffer), obviously decides I’m okay, hops down and leaves the bathroom. She also freaks out when I’m not wearing my glasses. She will gently bat at my face until I put them on.

87

Loki our strangest cat can wave (he looks like a maneki neko so we taught him to), can open the cat door from the inside with a single paw, and he and his brother Odin share a bowl of food by pulling it with their paws back and forwards between the two of them. “Mine.” “Mine.” “No, mine.” Thank goodness he has no opposable thumbs or I know he’d have stolen the car keys by now.

88

One of my cats, a large economy sized orange tabby, loves to get washed. If he and Bubba ever met up, it would be a match made in heaven. Shadow (he came with the name) goes up to any cat he meets and demands to be washed. Except when Charlie (orange tabby and white boy) was a kitten. Charlie didn’t want to wash, he wanted to play, and he would pounce on Shadow and wrestle with him. Shadow didn’t want to be pounced on and wrestled with most of the time, so he got into the habit of just sitting on Charlie when he wanted some peace and quiet. I’d see Shadow just sitting in the middle of the floor, thinking deep thoughts, and then I’d see these little orange legs and socks flailing from under Shadow’s tummy, and Shadow would give me a look that clearly said “What else could I do? He wouldn’t leave me alone!” And no, I never managed to get pics.

89

That reminds me–Bogey, the youngest, likes to “play” with his brothers. Well, he thinks it’s play; they think it’s torment. Bogey’s the smallest of the three by a long shot. I doubt he weighs 10 lbs. Bubba’s about 16-18 lbs and Boo has to top 20 lbs. He looks like a very pretty bowling ball when he’s sitting.

The older boys don’t seem to realize they have the size advantage on him. When I hear one of them screaming for help to get that pesky kid to leave them alone, I often yell, “Oh, for God’s sake, just SIT on him!”. They never take my advice and I generally have to take after Bogey with the squirt bottle to curb his great and terrible enthusiasm.

90

Denver hasn’t done it for a while, mainly because we moved, but I’ll offer it anyway.

Denver, and our other cats, used to love playing with the bathtub plug. It wasn’t attached by a chain to the faucet, so we’d come home to find the plug in the middle of the living room, for example. So, rather than keeping the plug on the side of the bathtub, we took to just keeping it in the drain hole. The faucets didn’t leak or drip, so we weren’t worried.

But the cats missed their toy. One day, we spotted three of them in the tub, trying to figure out how to get the plug out of the drain. Two of them pushed and pulled at it, trying to get it loose. Denver watched the whole time. Finally, he stepped forward, extended his claws, hooked one in the metal ring of the plug, and pulled straight up. The plug came loose, and once again, the cats had their toy. He remembered the technique, and would use it to pull the plug subsequently, too.

I was surprised at the logic and reasoning Denver used in solving the problem. But he did, and he continues to observe and use logical solutions to problems he and my other cats face. The other don’t seem to be able to do the same thing, but Denver sure can.

91

Smokey goes thru a simiiar routine if I don’t rush into the kitchen first thing after getting out of bed in the morning
Also, she can be on the other side of the house and all I have to do is whisper the word “brush” nd within seconds there is a purring kitteh in my lap

92

What finally worked for us was getting another young cat. Charlie and Chaos are now the very best of friends, and play tag and pounce and king/queen of the chair. Chaos, being a bit younger, is more energetic, and will usually initiate the games…but Charlie enjoys the games too, and he’s not above pouncing on her when she’s asleep. She went into heat about a week after we got her, before her spay appointment. I’d watch the two of them. Charlie washed her face, then wrestled her, then started trying to hump her, then washed her again. I say that he tried to hump her because he’s been fixed when he was about two months old, and he had some vague notion of what he wanted to do, but he was fuzzy on the details. Well, he’s fuzzy all over.

93

I have a question about a strange things cats do. Well, kittens, actually:
I myself haven’t lived with a kitten for 15 years, so I’ve forgotten a lot about them. My best friend fosters them quite frequently, so I find myself around them now and again… When a kitten launches itself at you, and ends up dangling from your the knee of your pants, what was it *trying *to do? I assume that holding on to your leg for dear life wasn’t what it hoped would happen. Are they trying to scale you but tend not to get enough height to do so, or are they hoping to knock you down so it’s easier to walk on you?

94

IME, they are trying to get up to your face area, to make a point, such as Feed Me, Pet Me or whatever. Sometimes they do it just because they want to be Up - cats tend to like Up. So, if you don’t remove the kitten from your knee and it is old enough to have the strength, you may find it climbing up your body! Like this.

95

Made the bed last night and thought of another one of Nikki’s: when you make the bed, she has to be on/in it. When I flap the big flat sheet in the air, she’ll come running from across the house and before it’s landed, she’s jumped into the exact geometric center of the mattress and hunkered down, waiting for the sheet to land softly on her. Always, the precise center.

96

One of my cats rubs against the woodstove… While it’s going! Stupid cat is stupid.

97

Drinks olive juice. Green olives only. Begs for it. Not the olive, just the juice.

98

I was gone for a week, when I got back from the airport I washed up. The Siamese jumped on my dirty clothes and rolled around in a manner completely lacking self respect. Then he clutched them to chest and froze for ten minutes while his pupils dilated and eyes glazed.

99

I can sooo picture this. That was a lonely kitty.:slight_smile:

100

We adopted a stray who was separated from his mom too early. The only consequence we saw, was that he still felt the need to suckle. I would wake up to find him attached to my inner arm, little kitty hickies all over.

So I took a stuffed animal, snuggled it a lot so it smelled like me, and would give him that at night instead. He would nuzzle it, knead it, and suck on it.

Then we went on vacation, and left kitty at my brother’s for a visit. The first night rolls around, and my bro pulls out the toy and puts it on his bed. Kitty goes in for the snuggle. Stops dead. Looks at my bro. Looks at the toy. Looks at my bro. Looks at the toy. Attacks the toy viciously and kicks it off the bed. That was the end of the toy.