Weirdest thing you REGULARLY do for your cat

[syzygycat]

Thought this would be a fun question.

Every cat has unique quirks. What's the weirdest thing you do with or for your cat on a regular basis. Something you've been doing for so long that you don't think about it but any guest would be weirded out.


I have 2 examples:
My 6y/o, Cyrus, doesn't clean his own butt. Most nights we use a wet paper towel to wipe dried bit of poop off his butt
(before we lift off the bed covers and have cat poop fall on the pillows)

My 9y/o, Molly has to knead my stomach daily, will howl nonstop and try to climb me until she does. Everyday before dinner I sit on the couch and let her do it for 5min so we can eat in peace.

 

[fionasmom]

When I rescued Jamie, he was a tiny dying kitten who had apparently spent almost no time with his mother or siblings; hence, he had no manners and was a very sweet, but aggressive biter, ripper, shredder, and kicker. Nothing stopped him and people would approach me and ask what had happened to me. So we got a pair of rose pruning gloves and trained him that he could only play rough if someone had the gloves on. We would call him by saying "let's go to the fight club" and he would jump in the ring (a table) and get it all out of his system. He still asks to fight once in a while by walking over to where I keep the gloves and meowing loudly. Cats should never be trained to play with hands, but he is a smart boy and figured out that if the gloves were not in place he could not play rough.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Hekitty was dropped off to me at barely five weeks, and spent some time as a bottle baby. As a result, she's a smurgler (that nursing, kneading thing they do). We refer to it as "Rootling." Every night, I put a big, fleecy throw in my lap, push my sleeve up past my right elbow, and she rootles away, kneading and purring like a fiend. ALWAYS the right elbow, that's the only spot she wants. As a result, the skin on my right arm looks like I have some obscure disease, but no...it's just all the tiny pin-pricks from her claws! OH, and I have to sing to her while she rootles.

 

[syzygycat]

Hekitty was dropped off to me at barely five weeks, and spent some time as a bottle baby. As a result, she's a smurgler (that nursing, kneading thing they do). We refer to it as "Rootling." Every night, I put a big, fleecy throw in my lap, push my sleeve up past my right elbow, and she rootles away, kneading and purring like a fiend. ALWAYS the right elbow, that's the only spot she wants. As a result, the skin on my right arm looks like I have some obscure disease, but no...it's just all the tiny pin-pricks from her claws! OH, and I have to sing to her while she rootles.

I think the the singing part needs some more explaining.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I download games on my Kindle for Remy. I often fall asleep reading my Kindle and he wakes me up by pawing at the screen because he thinks that is how his game will come on.
I also regularly have to trim his butt fur because he gets clumps.

 

[Tik cat's mum]

There's a lot of thing's that people who don't have cat's wouldn't get. Like before he goes to sleep he suckles my shoulder but my arms have to be out of the covers. In the mornings he sits looking at me until I move my dressing gown off my legs before he will jump on my knees he doesn't like the feel of it. I also follow him when he meows asking what he wants.

 

[MissClouseau]

This is mostly for the street cats of the condo but also for my Hima as well. You know how there are street cats everywhere in Istanbul? Some of them choose a place and live there for years. The condo I live in has their own street cats as well. Two female and one male are under my control, and my door neighbor's. Like they spend the most time in front of our building and we feed them daily. There are other visitors that come and go during the day but... they come and go. And that's much better this way because, 1) More cats in a small area, more likely they will catch a health problem from each other. Including my Hima as she also hangs out in the yard. 2) More cats lead to fights, 3) When all cats wait for food from the same people, they don't get to eat enough. Everyone else feeds the kitties too, they should split the buildings.

I have a water gun that I use on (more like near) male cats to break their fights, to stop them stalk my Hima or one of the female street cats. Most of my neighbors don't realize this though and as one of them once told me laughing, what I look like from outside is a woman who carries a water gun who sometimes calls cats to feed them, then sprays water near them to shoo them away. He said, "Do you want them here or not just decide!"

 

[di and bob]

Every morning my cats line up outside the bathroom door and come sauntering in with their tails waving side to side, back and forth to receive their "good morning" and a rub on the head. They will actually fight for first place in line!
The weirdest though is my getting cut up deli chicken from the fridge at least 10 times a day by the urging from my little 'chicken monster', who lets everyone in the house know he is ready for some chicken by his weird Yamaha trilling. It has to be skinned fried chicken from the deli, NOT chicken nuggets, or chicken filets, or any other kind of chicken. (although he WILL accept Kentucky fried) He eats other regular cat food too, of course, this is just a 'treat' to pamper my little long-haired red boy because he has Leukemia and I need to keep his weight up. He's so cute doing this you can't deny him!

 

[Krienze]

I stopped giving the cats water in their bowls. They wanted it in the huge tub the dogs drink from and it HAS to be filled all the way up. So I basically over fill this darn thing and have to mop way more than I should xD

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I think the the singing part needs some more explaining.

FIRST, we sing, "Hush little kitty-cat, don't say a word, Mama gonna buy her a 'mockie' bird." THEN we have a story about Mama going to the market and bringing home the "mockie" bird in a basket, and kitty-cat chasing it all over the house, and EATING IT ALL UP!!! Except for the beaks. And the feets. And the "fevvers." "Fevvers" are not tasty. And GOD HELP ME if I leave out ONE SINGLE WORD!

Since you asked.

 

[Jemima Lucca]

Mamanyt1953, your singing is hilarious !
There’s a couple of things I do that people (who don’t own cats) will find odd. We save the pull part of the creamer bottles for Jemima, she loves them. We warm their food. I wave “good buy” because Jemima and Lucca watch me from the window when I leave for work. I leave my shower door open at the far end so they can watch me getting wet lol

 

[syzygycat]

I stopped giving the cats water in their bowls. They wanted it in the huge tub the dogs drink from and it HAS to be filled all the way up. So I basically over fill this darn thing and have to mop way more than I should xD

I have a friend who doesn't use cat bowls either, he leaves the sink at a fast drip all day, they use it like humans use a water fountain. When he turns the flow up (like when he gets home from work) the cats go crazy trying to get their turn to drink from it.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I have a friend who doesn't use cat bowls either, he leaves the sink at a fast drip all day, they use it like humans use a water fountain. When he turns the flow up (like when he gets home from work) the cats go crazy trying to get their turn to drink from it.

Hek would be quite happy if I did that, but since the water bill in our area is as high as the electric bill, the budget won't allow it! HOWEVER...I do filter all of Hek's water with my Brita pitcher!

 

[vince]

Chesterfield is fussy about how he wants me to sit on the sofa. He refuses to sit with me unless I have long pants on or a blanket covering my legs- no skin! I also must lie on my side with my legs bent, and only on my left side. He's quite insistent about all this.

 

[syzygycat]

The more of all your comments I read, the weirder I feel about the the things I do with my cats. Molly's kneading, wiping Cyrus butt daily from my OP are the really odd things, but still off things I do:


-Luke has to be fed offered food in one of the plates I use (not one of the cat bowls), he has to be given the food before the other cats get food, and when the food gets quashed down, I have to reshape it into a mound. If any of these things don't happen he won't or will stop eating.

-Luke couldn't handle moving in with my wife and her cat, pees on the walls, after 2 vets and a cat behaviorist gave up, we finally gave up too, we have a stack of puppy pads clipped on Plexiglas in his favorite pee spots, we peel them off the stack like post its every time he pees.

-About 2yrs ago I transitioned the cats except molly to all wet meals. Molly was starving herself so I locked her in the bathroom with me, let her eat as much dry she wanted for 10min.
Now, the others only eat dry as a last resort I leave some out in the morning just in case I get stuck at work, BUT when Molly sees me pour the food she runs into the bathroom and meows til I bring it to her in the bathroom. The other cats make her nervous and she freaks out if shes locked in a small room alone, so I still have to sit with her in a locked bathroom and wait for her to eat.

 

[Mer.kitten]

When Honeybun gets the zoomies i make a certain noise to egg her on. She'll zoom through the house a couple times and then run and stop right in front of me and stare up at me, at which point i make a loud whispering noise kind of like "whhhshhhhwhhhshhhwhhhscchh" and she'll TEAR OFF through the house for another couple laps,.. repeat 2 or 3 times. Its like the sound ratchets up her zoomies.

No other sound or word works, ive tried saying go honeybun or pss pss pss, she just looks at me, but whhshhhwhhshh sets her off to go careening around the house. Im sure if a stranger saw theyd be like why are you making that weird noise at your cat?

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

I have a particular spoon for Neko-chan food. After I dish out her wet food I let her lick the spoon.

 

[bengalcatman]

If you know anyone who doubts that cats and their owners are all nuts, just have them read this thread

Makena:
Our rugged hiking partner.... Once a month or so gets on the bathroom counter and begs my wife to clean his ears with Q-tips. He holds perfectly still as she patiently cleans all the junk out (for some reason, those big ears do get very dirty)

Lilia:
Gets really mad if I feed her dinner. I can feed her breakfast, or a lunch, or a snack.... but mom is supposed to give her dinner. She will refuse to eat, stare at me and yowl until I lose patience with her and yell "your mom is not here shut up and eat your dinner" (in truth this generally has a few uhhhh...."colorful" words added in that are not fit for a family friendly forum.) Lilia then suspiciously glares at me, and starts eating

June Bug
Wants to be chased. She will look at me with her big gold eyes, give a little meow, and race a few steps looking back at me. This is the "chase me like you are going to kill me if I get caught" signal. I stomp after her, yell at her, make a lot of noise... and she runs for her life for a minute or so. Then she whirls around, races back to me and flops down on her side to get petted.

We have multiple Alexa devices in our home. People often ask if we are concerned about someone "listening in" through these devices. I have no concern at all. If you are so bored that you want to listen in on the nonsense that goes on in our our home, go right ahead!

 

[Docs Mom]

bengalcatman please have Makena EXPLAIN what Q tips are for ? My cats think that I am torturing them with one of their favorite toys

The worst is when someone takes off with one of the dirty ones !!! Roxie will take off with a clean one, then come back for more til they are all gone...

I save the fur from grooming to make a fuzzy play ball for Roxie. Take a handful, put water in your hand and roll it up in a ball. Lots of rolling with a little more water. She can HEAR me rolling one and instantly appears for playtime. The wild part is she knows where I hide the fur, behind the phone. If she starts grabbing at it I know what needs to happen!

 

[susanm9006]

As I have done on a number of nights, last night before bedtime I lined up a dozen different cat toys in the back of the sofa and at the end of the cushions for Willow. In the morning they are all knocked off and onto the floor. I will also set out treats under little plastic cups in various places so that she has to hunt them down. It just gives her something to do during the night and keeps her entertained.