Weird things cats have done

Managed to track down my picture of Alexander finally. Been a Very long week here.  He was maybe 1-1/2 yrs old at this point.

That is one batty cat... 😉

We had a cat who fished.  All the other cats caught the normal mice, rabbits, snakes etc.  But the one cat would walk out slightly over chest deep in the pond.  She would then stand there very still.  Then there would be a quick splash and she would walk out with a fish.  She never minded being wet and was very good at fishing.

Hi C

Fascinating. Some breeds do not mind the water.  Maine Coon Cats come to mind. The current thought is they originate from Norwegian Forest Cats and were brought here by the Vikings. This seems to be supported by DNA to some degree.  By any means, I find the fishing interesting because it implies they understand the refraction of light at some level.

C. Letellier wrote:We had a cat who fished.  All the other cats caught the normal mice, rabbits, snakes etc.  But the one cat would walk out slightly over chest deep in the pond.  She would then stand there very still.  Then there would be a quick splash and she would walk out with a fish.  She never minded being wet and was very good at fishing.

We had one that did this, she would stand in the shallows and wait for a fish, then grab it, jump out of the pond run into the house via the catflap and present us with her flapping catch, which would be grabbed and the human in charge would run out of the patio doors and return it to the pond. She knew that if she brought her catches in alive and unharmed and then GAVE them to a human, (she put them in your hand you didn't need to move furniture to retrieve them) she would get a treat. She particularly liked catching frogs but I refused to treat for the spiders she caught! Her sister was entirely different, she caught big things, baby rabbits, a stoat, an adder (venomous snake) They had another sister who lived with my aunt, she never progressed past potato peelings, worms and the occasional slow worm.

John you may well be right there, these were half maincoon cats. They had all the hair but not the size.

Some cats, regardless of breed, learn young that water is not horrifying, and have no problem with it. I had a random barn kitten that I taught to swim at an early age, he never had the hatred of water that most cats do, and was known to come into the shower with me when he was grubby. He also loved to ride in cars, and was a very social cat.

Yesterday our Master Mouser  was frantically pounding on the front door to come in. My wife opened the door for her.  She immediately galloped to our bedroom,  and, just as quickly, came out with 2 mice in her mouth and headed back to the front door.  She knows her job and does it well.

Hi Pearl
That was excellent! The part where you realised you'd inadvertently been stalking a policeperson on patrol, the wrong police car was the final straw for me. I was on the floor rolling with laughter! Thank you for sharing this endearing story. Very comforting to hear you still get some good police persons. Would you mind if I shared this story in my WhatsApp group and FB?
Take care
😁

Mick Lowe wrote:Hi Pearl
That was excellent! The part where you realised you'd inadvertently been stalking a policeperson on patrol, the wrong police car was the final straw for me. I was on the floor rolling with laughter! Thank you for sharing this endearing story. Very comforting to hear you still get some good police persons. Would you mind if I shared this story in my WhatsApp group and FB?
Take care
😁

Hey Mick, you missed the disclaimer at the top: that WAS NOT ME. That was a random story off the net that was posted to the jokes thread, that made me realize we needed a weird cats story thread. I have no idea who those people were. And yes, I attempted to read it out loud to my mom, and had a VERY hard time doing so! Now I know how to grease a cat....  

John F Dean wrote:Hi Pearl,

I had a cat go down our fireplace chimney.  No fire was going...fortunately.  I really thought I was going to have to go through the bricks to get it.  But I forced the draft open wider with a 2x4. It apparently saw the light and dropped down and crawled out.  No vet Bill's, but it did need a bath.

How did your cat like you giving it a bath?

Shawn Foster wrote:      


.

I haven't laughed that hard in years.  My family kept say "Mom, be quiet!"

One day I discovered a kitten in a stack of insulation in the basement. A feral mom had given birth to a litter there and this little black thing was first out, hissing at me and not giving ground. Her sisters and brothers all found homes, were easy to get along with and even affectionate. I didn't need another cat but "Speed bump" stayed, refusing to warm up to anyone.

She was quite reclusive and during a move I couldn't find her anywhere. I left my daughter with instructions to make sure that she had food and water until I could return and button up the house. Kids being kids she didn't do a very good job and when I got back I found Speedy not only approachable but personably begging me for food. I decided that we would have to fly to our new home together. I plied her with food and treats until I could get her into a travel carrier.

Off to the airport where, to my dismay, I was required to to remove her from the carrier for X-ray. Ha! The second I had her out she lept from my arms and was gone. I crawled under tables and behind couches trying to catch her but she streaked through TSA and I decided that she was probably going to have to become an airport cat, a black shadow haunting food courts after dark for unfortunate mice.

But by the time I finally got past the passport check, the baggage check, and the personal body scan, there she was. A couple of young and very fast agents had caught her! I yelled, "Put her in the carrier!" Whereupon the younger agent said, "She hasn't been through the X-ray". The older agent very cooley said, "It's a cat. Pat her down." And they did and she stayed in the carrier all the way to her new home.

We have a Maine Coon cat that is up in years.  It still maintains a certain quality of life, so we have frequent vet visits to keep it in the best condition we can.  We have tossed all the other cats but one outside so they dont bother her. The remaining one is our young Master Mouser who has amazed me all summer.  The Old Kitty was in the basement mousing with our MM watching her.  This is impressive in itself in that this has been going on for weeks. The Old Kitty has never been a very good mouser, so I am impressed at the patience our MM has shown. But I started to question why the MM was in the basement at all with the Old Kitty ...and down there so often.  I got my answer last night.  I saw the Old Kitty very shakingly and slowly climb the basement steps with the MM beside her.  The Old Kitty was leaning her body against the MM for support.

Hi Phil,

She was exhausted and traumatized.  She did not struggle at all.....not even when we used the hair dryer on her.  It took her a few days to get back to normal.    And, to the question no one has asked, yes I got up on the roof and stuffed chicken wire into the exposed chimneys. I swap out the chicken wire whenever I clean the chimneys.

I had to take the Old Kitty, mentioned above, to the vet for the final time yesterday.  When we returned, I told the Master Mouser, who was clearly caring for her. I explained that the Old Kitty had gone to be with Vito (a cat of ours who had vanished earlier this year). Never tell me cats dont understand English.   Her eyes grew huge. And she went on a 12 hour rampage.  I think she murdered every mouse we had.  When I woke up this AM, she glared at me ....and galloped off to the basement one again.  My wife has received dirty looks as well. I guess we all mourn in our own way.

I'm so sorry for your loss, John, and hope your very angry MM will quickly forgive you and your lovely wife. Hugs...

John,

Sorry to hear about Old Kitty. It's always hard to lose a pet, even when they have lived a full and long life. I've found that both our dogs and cats throughout the years have understood to some degree when it's time for one of the crew to visit the vet for the last time. They all respond differently too. Sound like MM had to do something and mouse murder is generally acceptable. The alternative might have been pooping in your shoes or some other smelly statement of dissatisfaction. We had a cat that showed his anger at me once by laying a nice, big pile of poo in the middle of the living room floor, then sat next to it, staring at me. The message was clear.

Hi Robin,

The amazing thing was that the MM was not catching mice as she normally does. There was a high level of violence. On the mouse end of things, it was probably better. She slammed into them. I am sure they were DOA.

John,

We've had a lot of cats throughout the years but never had one show such rage as MM did towards the mice. The best outlet for all that energy unless you're a mouse of course. How is she doing now?

Hi Robin,

She is getting more back to normal. Last night she was pressed tight against me all night.  I have kept her indoors (normally she patrols inside and out.  She spent a lot of time with my wife today.  

Glad to hear that she is doing better. I hope you both are too. You'd think it would get easier but it doesn't. It's still worth it though for all the good times and companionship. I can't imagine not having cats or dogs or both around.

Right on schedule, a young kitten appeared. So, of course, we took it in.  We had concerns about our MM, she was still pretty depressed.  Without hesitation, the kitten walked up to the MM and planted a kiss on her mouth.  The MM turned away and walked to the bedroom. Less than a minute later, she came out with her favorite pink ball and presented it to the kitten.

That is the best news I've heard in a while! Glad to hear that MM and your family have a new friend.

I have two cats.  I just used The Furminator to brush my black Siberian.

Now I have three cats.

Our cat, Ninja, escorts me every night to the bedroom. He sees me get up and walk to the hallway and so knows it's bedtime. He leads me down it and stops right in front of our bedroom door. He has a different weird thing for my wife:  he escorts her to the bathroom. He has to be in there when she... um... does her ’business.’

Oh is the human trying to check all the seeds are there? tough she can check my furry butt instead. The nice kitten under the monitor is called Tabs, the black and white terror on the paper is Bandit. Bandit is already showing she can mouse, Tabs has only shown he can eat Bandit's mice.

I don't have any stories as wild as these. But I cat I used to have in my youth... he came up to me one day, and I noticed a tiny bit of grass, no more than a centimeter, stuck in his nose. I took hold of it, very gently, to see if I could pull it out, but he did the job for me, yanking his head away -- and leaving me holding a six-inch long blade of grass. How he managed that, I can't begin to imagine.

A couple of years ago, I adopted a sad-looking little old tabby tomcat who had a very rough life before he ended up with me. He was picked up by Animal Control behind a shopping center, where he survived by foraging in dumpsters and begging for handouts from restaurant employees. He was tame, but unaltered, so I'm pretty sure he was dumped. The first vet he saw after being rescued guessed he was about 10 years old, but he was in such sad shape it was hard to know for sure; my vet said he could be as young as six, which would make him 8-12 years old now.

In the morning, when he's hungry, he could not be more affectionate. As soon as I'm vertical, he demands to get in my lap, where he sits up, throws his paws around my neck, and proceeds to purr and smash his face into mine, while accepting hugs from me in return. It's all very lovey-dovey until he's been fed--at which point he completely ignores me until he's hungry again. If I try petting him, he just gets annoyed and leaves the room.

Fortunately, I do have other cats who want a lot of attention, so I'm not left lonely by this little opportunist. He's made friends with the other cats, is well-behaved, seems happy enough, and since his health has never fully recovered from his time on the streets, I'm okay with giving him a home for whatever time he has left.

The weirdest thing about him, however, is that he loves a good fight (and has the shredded ears and scarred face to prove it). But he will not initiate fights with his buddies. Instead, he waits until two other cats have a squabble, and then plunges in and starts beating the crap out of whoever happens to be closest. None of my other cats are serious fighters, but this little dude is. He is fierce, and in the blink of an eye he just goes all-in. It's a good thing he only has two teeth left, so he can't do a whole lot of damage, but every few weeks or so I have to forcibly pry him off one of his friends because he's in full Fight Mode and won't let go. And of course, fifteen minutes later, he and the friend he was trying to tear apart are settled in on the couch, grooming each other, with no hard feelings at all.

The one exception is the high-strung princess kitty (a weirdo unto herself), who is the only girl in a house full of boys who adore her. She will block his path, and stand there and make the most irate and threatening noises at him, while glaring at him and stamping her feet, and he just sits there and calmly waits for her to finish. He has never once attacked her; for some reason, he tolerates her dramatic "scoldings," which I doubt he would do for any of his bros.

Cats are weird, man.

I think my weirdest cat moments have been:

1. Walking into living room to discover my cats butt hanging out the chimney as he attempted to climb up it.
2. Discovering that the cat that refused to drink clean water from a bowl was more than happy to drink dirty water from a plant pot, or risk drowning to drink from the toilet.
3. Waking up to loud yowling from my car eager to show me his kill. He had thoughtfully brought the dead mouse onto the pillow next to me, and proceeded to wake me up so I was conscious when he started eating it right next to my ear. The crunching sound those bones made 🤮....oh and he left an organ and a foot on the pillow for me to clean up too.

We used to have a Maine Coon cat—a huge, gentle soul of a cat.  He was 20 pounds but his voice was never louder than a tiny “eek”.

We would go to the farmers market to get peaches and set out any that were still slightly green so they would finish ripening.  If one of the peaches rolled away from the rest, our Main Coon would jump up on the counter and sit on the errant peach like a chicken on an egg!

What a wonderful cat—he is missed.

Eric

Hi Heather,

If he doesn't report the kill, how can he receive credit for it?

Hi John,

I’m not sure if he was trying to teach me how to properly behave with mice he brought home with him. He’d previously observed me releasing his prey back outside after he brought them in and let them loose in my bedroom at 3am. 🙄 Gotta love those crazy cats!