What irrational thing is your cat afraid of?

[cassiopea]

*Shamelessly stolen from iheartcats on Facebook*

Bijou and Phryne (Sisters) really don't like anything that sprays or squirts; Hairspray, Febreze, Windex, water for the plants etc They see a spray bottle of some sort, smell it and hear the noise and be like "OH HELL NAH" and scatter. The other kitties don't care. And things like vacuum cleaners or blow dryers don't bother anyone either.


Keep in mind they have never once been sprayed by anything, not for punishment and not even by accident! But in context I guess it is ingrained in their system since many cats don't like it lol It is, after all, also a sudden sploot of funny smelling stuff. In any case, I definitely try to be careful about it around them.




Tintin on the other hand, is easily spooked by feathers.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

Remy is afraid of a lot of random stuff that's completely unnecessary. I sprained my ankle on Saturday and was given crutches, so Remy has been afraid to be around me when the crutches are out. He also was freaked out by my limping around the house. He freaks out if I'm carrying something large, it doesn't matter what it is, it could be a large pillow and he runs off terrified.

Maisie is afraid of being touched.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

Running out of laps or food!

 

[neely]

Carleton is afraid of the vacuum cleaner but not the dustbuster. Neely was fearless, there wasn't anything she was afraid of, not even our German Shepherd. But our daughters were afraid of her.

 

[Margot Lane]

Loud rain on the roof.

 

[Margret]

Jasmine apparently thinks blankets eat kitties.

Margret

 

[Margret]

Bijou and Phryne (Sisters) really don't like anything that sprays or squirts; Hairspray, Febreze, Windex, water for the plants etc They see a spray bottle of some sort, smell it and hear the noise and be like "OH HELL NAH" and scatter. The other kitties don't care...

Keep in mind they have never once been sprayed by anything, not for punishment and not even by accident! But in context I guess it is ingrained in their system since many cats don't like it lol It is, after all, also a sudden sploot of funny smelling stuff. In any case, I definitely try to be careful about it around them.

Sprays hiss, which cats do when they want to threaten another cat. My Pretzel used to run to my defense every time I opened a bottle of soda, because it was hissing at me.

Margret

 

[Neko-chan's mama]

Loud thunder
the vacuum cleaner
the sound of pots rattling as I prepare to cook. All three send her running to the bedroom to crouch down between the pillows.

 

[muffy]

Buddy would run under the couch whenever he heard thunder.
Tiger would run and hide whenever he heard me using aluminum foil.
They were my two big brave alfa cats.

 

[Jem]

Chester gets nervous and tends to go hide when I'm doing "fast busy work" around the house. If I keep it casual, he's fine but if I'm trying to hurry he'll hide. He also hides from the vacuum and when people come over.
Bynx and Lily...they don't really have any fears.

 

[susanm9006]

Willow has a laundry list of things she is afraid of - people, loud noises, vacuum cleaner etc, but two of the most irrational that are 1) me walking quickly and 2) me being anywhere near her when she is eating. If she is sleeping on my bed and I walk in to put something away she immediately darts under the bed. And no matter how hungry she is she will not touch her food until I go sit down in another room.

PTSD of her experiences before I adopted her, I am sure, but since it had been twelve years, one would think she would be more trusting by now.

 

[Meowmee]

Zena is scared of thunder I discovered. He is also afraid of water running in the shower but he insists on coming in with me and then meows to get out the whole time and about how terrible it is so if I let him in, I have to meow to him while I’m showering to try to calm him down. I think he thinks the water is going to hurt me maybe. Once I come out and turn the water off, he’s very happy and he comes up to rub against my legs while they’re still wet.

Zena made Quinn scared of thunder too. Quinn also is scared of me showering but he’s more scared that I’m gonna try and wash him I think. All my guys are scared of people that they don’t know and Fred and cinnamon are obviously the most scared of people…they’re especially scared of the broom…I think it is the noise and motion. Everyone is scared of the vacuum, but Quinn didn’t used to be when he was a baby.

Merlin gets rattled easily if he is sleeping and hears a noise or movement, part of living outside no doubt. If anyone moves anything large around or stuff like that, they all usually get a bit nervous.

I’m phobic about bugs and if I start freaking out about a bug they will get scared too.

 

[Alldara]

Shoes. We live in a place where you don't wear your outdoor shoes in the house so the sound of people walking around with shoes on the rare times it happens.

 

[Alldara]

Nobel used to be afraid of me having baths. He hated them, so I must too.

Ghost, we learned is VERY frightened of fire smells we've only had him a few weeks and the fire smoke came over our city. He was very anxious.

 

[cassiopea]

Sprays hiss, which cats do when they want to threaten another cat. My Pretzel used to run to my defense every time I opened a bottle of soda, because it was hissing at me.

Margret

Ah that is a good point! Thanks for that!

 

[Tobermory]

I understand their fear of loud noises, particularly sudden ones. Mocha does not like the garbage disposal and neither cat is wild about the vacuum. I don’t think that’s completely irrational. But Max used to look freaked out when we turned on the ceiling fan before we went to bed. He’d be waiting for us on the bed, I’d flip the switch, and Max would crouch down, eyes wide and ears flat, and stare apprehensively up at the soundless fan. His fear lasted only a few minutes and then he’d ignore it. Silly boy. I miss him.

 

[tiggerwillow]

Tigger's afraid of not seeing me when she knows I'm inside, she even thinks I need guarding when I'm sat on the toilet, she gets frantic if she can't see me when I'm in the bath

Willow? She's frightened of the lawnmower - my theory is she thinks its hunting for her in her birdie watching spots? I have a gardener who deals with the garden for me, cause I have to be careful around nettles, I react to the things.

Willow is also afraid still of the new pillows I got months ago - the one I'm currently using has a pillowcase on so she's accepted it with the pillowcase on, but she gets scared of it when the pillowcase is off - just in case it jumps off the bed and decides to hunt her

 

[danteshuman]

My boy is scared to death of horses and bikes. Every time a horse clops by on the other side of the hedge, my boy hides…… more than 50feet away! He saw them once but there is no visual contact & he is still nervous.

I get his fear of motorcycles but I have no idea why he is terrified of bicycles.

 

[Meowmee]

Nobel used to be afraid of me having baths. He hated them, so I must too.

Ghost, we learned is VERY frightened of fire smells we've only had him a few weeks and the fire smoke came over our city. He was very anxious.

We could smell it here and had severe bad air quality alerts, we had to stay inside and mask when outside. The kitties knew something was going on. I don’t know if they were scared of the smell or just because they knew something was different and it was bad etc. I was worried about the smoke affecting them because you could smell it even inside the house.

 

[daftcat75]

Betty is not really afraid of anything. She's not a scaredy cat. She's a "no thank you cat". And a couple things she says "no thank you" to are claw trimming and amazingly enough, entering the kitchen. I can touch and handle her paws and claws to my heart's delight. I can show her the clippers. But when the clippers come near the toes, she firmly yanks her paws away, "No thank you!" No growling, swatting, biting, hissing, or any of that. Just a "no thank you."

The kitchen one is a bit more interesting. I adopted her last year as an adult. I have no idea what her history is. But somewhere along the way, she must have learned that she doesn't belong in the kitchen. She has a couple loophole exceptions that I allow her since I never taught her the "no kitchen" rule. There is cardboard cat scratcher Tetris pieces (called Katris) that I have constructed a path to the sink side kitchen counter where I wash dishes and prep her food. Her paws and butt are okay on that counter because I never use it for my food prep. I built that path for Krista (an unintentional anagram of Katris ) when she got older and it seemed easier to feed and medicate her at my level than hers. When she got better, it was a daily check-in with her. If she was showing up on the counter, she must be feeling good. Krista may have whispered something about this to Betty from beyond the bridge. After avoiding the kitchen, Betty started using the Katris path to come up to the counter she's allowed on. She still kinda holds just on the adjacent cat tree until I put my cheek in bunting range and say, "you're good. come give daddy a bunt." She'll take a hug or two and then will pop back down to the floor. It's like it's bending her "no kitchen rule" too much for her comfort. The other exception she has is that there is a square Katris piece at the base that is large enough for her to walk through, and, "ooops! I'm in the kitchen." She only does this after medicine meals as I serve her meds off the carpet right there. Then she eats as much as she will of that breakfast or dinner. And she'll rub her face against the Katris and circle me through the square piece at the base (that I sit against while she eats her meal.) And even though she does this twice a day, she still picks up the pace when she finds herself on the kitchen side of that Katris square.

Krista used the Katris a lot more than Betty does.