What's Your Opinion Of This Odd Behavior?

[catzendogs]

The "Psycho-Kitty Dance" - our 8-yr-old neutered male Maine Coon mix has done this since we adopted him at 9-mos-old: whenever he's on a plush or soft blanket he picks up a corner of the blanket, clenches down on it with teeth, arches his back and starts kneading in rhythm with all 4 paws while going backwards in a misshapen circular pattern with eyes completely glazed over. Nothing gets in his way including the other 2 cats. Eventually, he backs up into an odd sitting position with back legs splayed out under him while front paws continue kneading in rhythm, blanket clenched in teeth, eyes glazed over. This goes on 2-10 mins. Any ideas?

 

[jcat]

I can just picture that. That's a pretty strong reaction to a blanket, but not unheard of. A lot of cats get very attached to their blankies and revert to kittenish behavior. I don't think it's anything to worry about (though hard to explain to company).

Our last cat felt that any fleece blanket in the house belonged to him. I was allowed to use one, but he had a fit whenever my husband wanted to and would actually come to me to complain about Daddy using one of his blankets. Mogli will stand and knead a fleece blanket with all four paws for 10 - 15 minutes, all the while looking like he's in a trance. Cats are weird.

 

[abyeb]

Cats form special attachments to their possessions. Here's a video of a cat dragging a blanket around the house: I agree with jcat that it's nothing to worry about.

 

[catzendogs]

My cat (my avatar is my cat, aptly named "Trouble") has no particular possessive tendancies to any one particular plushy blanket....if it's soft he does the Psycho-Kitty dance on it! I don't believe anything is wrong per se, it's just weird! I see he isn't the only cat that does this dance! Lol! Thanks for the info!!

 

[abyeb]

Charlie does this thing to any rug in sight where he lays down on his side, grabs a corner of the rug in his mouth and front paws, and bunny kicks it with his hind legs. Our cats all just have the cutest little purrsonality quirks, don't they?

 

[raysmyheart]

Hello! My Speedy does this really weird "dance" that is not the same as The Psycho-kitty Dance, but when you said, "glazed over look" ' well that rings a bell. It is, as follows. I am lying in bed under the blankets with my ankles crossed usually. Speedy backs up to my ankles and steps on them with her hind paws. Step two is to start "marching" on my ankles (over the blankets) with these hind paws. (There is a little kneading going on with the fronts paws, but that is a minor detail here). I never realized the strength of her back legs, but she will push down on my ankles with all her might and keep slipping off my ankles, but that is all right. The funny thing is, she also, IS LIKE IN A TRANCE!!!! If I raise my ankle she will keep marching very forcefully and pushing her paws down with all her might.

Like you, I don't know what these dances mean, I don't know if they remind Speedy of her mother, I don't know. Speedy has never taken a blanket or fabric in her mouth, though. I wonder if your cat is dreaming of dragging prey home in the wild, but that is probably just a small possibility. Or, your kitty may feel he is doing something very important in his mind in that moment, he seems to be determined in this dance you describe. If you are like me, I would love to know more about how cats think!

My cat does do the thing like abyeb described about wrestling with a rug!! I ask her if she is wrestling with a bear!

 

[scylla]

Hircine kinda does this too! But only if I or my brother is using it haha, he does all that and if we move or interrupt him he meows at us like noooooo this is mine noooow the only issue is that before we got him fixed and once in a while now (over 6 months after) he gets a little too excited...and uuuuh he may try to seduce the blanket ;P we always interrupt that and and he runs away pretty quickly!