What's your cat afraid of?

[Vermontcat]

Two things scare my cat, thunder and the vacuum cleaner. We are having a thunderstorm here now and she just ran downstairs to hide in the basement like she always does. She also runs and hides as soon as she hears the closet door open where I keep the vacuum even if I'm going to get something else out of the closet! So what are your cats afraid of? Any ideas on how to overcome these fears?:eek:

[yumyum6970]

They are scared of the vacuum cleaner and the trash truck :D

[NoahsMommy]

They all hate the vacume and when we pull the carriers out...they also are afraid of balloons.

[Vermontcat]

Are your cats afraid of the balloons because they may pop? Our parakeet is afraid of helium balloons because they fly over his cage, yet he doesn't mind the vacuum even when I clean the bottom of his cage with it.

[NoahsMommy]

Originally posted by Vermontcat
Are your cats afraid of the balloons because they may pop? Our parakeet is afraid of helium balloons because they fly over his cage, yet he doesn't mind the vacuum even when I clean the bottom of his cage with it.

I don't think they know they can pop...they don't get close enough to see what color they are! I don't know if they don't like the noise of them bumping together or what...

[Tina]

Mine are afraid of the vacuum. Even Ginger is afraid of them. The birds don't mind it to much. Bird,Bird fusses is all.

[Aspen and Misty]

My cats don't mind the vaccum. Buddy attacks it. Smokey is afried of men, she was abused by one. Misty is afried of the dark. Buddy and Hoss are afreid of rain. If it smells like rain they will jump at the door to be let in. Tundie is afried of outside people. Like people outside the house but once they are inside she is that love me up cat we all know and love.

Ash

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Tubby isn't afraid of anything. Peanut is afraid of everything (ok, not quite everything).

Tubby will eventually move when I'm vacuuming, but it's only when I start getting a little too close to him. We keep all the vacuums (yes, we have several) in a coat closet. I can bring a coat out of that closet and Peanut will hiss at it. :rolleyes: If she never goes anywhere near the closet, how does she know that coat was in there? I'm just clueless as to her inner sense with that closet. ;)

Other than the dreaded vacuum, Peanut will also run and hide when it's thundering out. She runs when the doorbell rings, when she hears a strange male voice, any loud noise..... She is very smart though because no matter where she is in a room, she will always make sure that she has an "out" in case she needs to bolt at the last moment. Makes it very tough when I'm trying to catch her for any reason.

Tubby doesn't scare easily, but every once-in-a-while, very rarely, but now and then, he will do the thing where they jump straight in the air for apparantely no reason (brings to mind the time that Wolfladies husband was scared out of his wits when Marius did this while they were watching a scarey movie :D :D ) and then take off. We have no idea what scared him, but he quickly comes slinking back making sure whatever it was is gone - bad bogeyman. :rolleyes: :D

[Chinadoll]

Hmmmm...both are afraid of the vacuum...otherwise Gigi is fearless. Scout is afraid of most humans with the exception of me and my mother and BF(but only if they're sitting down and are still). He also afraid of everything that makes a loud noise unless it's me telling him to stay off the table :)

[popcornbird]

My birds are sooooooooooooooooooooo scared of balloons! One of them fears the vacuum and the other doesn't care. Their worst nightmare, however, is dolls! :eek:

[K & L]

Our squirt bottle of water, popping the plastic bubbles, and the vacuumn.

[Vermontcat]

Yes strange men can be scary too, especially if they have to come in the house like to check the furnace, my cat will hiss then hide.
Its seems like most cats are afraid of the vacuum, are girl cats more scaredy cats than the big brave boy cats I wonder?

That story of Marius jumping straight up in the air reminded me of the times when my cat sees or senses something that I don't and gets all fluffed up! One time it was the paperboy teasing her in the window anothertime it was a peeping tom!:eek: She will growl like a dog when that happens, she can be very protective.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Originally posted by Vermontcat
That story of Marius jumping straight up in the air reminded me of the times when my cat sees or senses something that I don't and gets all fluffed up! One time it was the paperboy teasing her in the window anothertime it was a peeping tom!:eek: She will growl like a dog when that happens, she can be very protective.

I still laugh everytime I think of Marius, Karen and her hubby. :D :D

Tubby will growl too when he sees someone outside. He usually recognizes Terry, but once Terry was coming back from the neighbors or something and he was a little further away. Maybe it was the distance and Tubby didn't recognize him, but Tubby growled at Terry. Of course as Terry got closer, Tubby finally recognized him, got up and started rubbing on the door like he does when we come home, turning into the lover cat that he normally is, completely forgetting that a second ago he was the proud protector kitty. :rolleyes:

[Edwina's Secretary]

What is Edwina afraid of...it depends....some times nothing...she LOVES visitors -- especially repairmen/workmen/salesmen....she doesn't LIKE the vacuum but it doesn't seem to be fear so much as dislike. She is afraid of large paper shopping bags with handles (one "attacked" her once...chasing her all over the house...her head was stuck in the handles...)

Then at times she does the "oh, oh...what is that...I'm so scared..." and it is something that she has seen a hundred times -- like my feet. She has to stretch out long and sniff while being very edgy. My little drama queen!

[toughCookie]

yes mine are scared of the trash truck, vacuum, some shoes, and some of the cats are scared of strangers!

and, right now, the kittens are scared of thier big sister Muffin!

[Miss Meow]

Jasmine isn't afraid of anything, Mini is afraid of the vacuum cleaner (just seeing it being moved sends him under the bed for at least two hours). Mini is also scared by sneezing and coughing - not sure how he ended up with those fears, maybe scared by loud noises early in life???

I'm scared of spiders and cockroaches, so the cats look after them for me :)

[Nomilynn]

Tilly is afraid of canned air (for dusting the computer), the vaccum and that's really about it.

Bassett, on the other hand, is afraid of a lot. She is scared of the vaccum, canned air, plastic bags, the pots & pans drawer, any loud noise really - thunder, firecrackers, etc, the blinds on the window.. I could probly go on :D

[krazyaboutkatz]

All three of my cats are afraid of the vacuum and very loud noises like the smoke alarm and my fire alarm system in my condo complex. Sunny is afraid of strange men, a knock at the door, when their are too many people in my condo. Pepper is also sometimes afraid of strangers.

[C.C.'s Mom]

Rudie is afraid of anyone but me and my husband. He doesn't like visitors and hides under the bed. Well, after a while he'll come and lay on his blanket downstairs, but he'll keep a close eye on them.

He also dislikes the hoover, but I don't think he's afraid.

What most disturbs him though, is me changing furniture. He won't come inside and stays out in the rain for days until he finds himself brave enough, or the hunger is too big.

Eddy is afraid of nothing at all. Nothing scares her. But she dislikes strange women very much. Men coming home are welcomed with headbumpies and eager paws trying to get attention.

[Former User]

Loud noises, I guess that's all. They used to be afraid of the hoover, but not so much anymore.

[lynnestankard]

all three of ours are scared when the vacuum appears - and they disappear!:D
dan jumps straight up in the air when he hears a loud sudden noise.
bagel's very laid back!
ketchum is scared of (take big breath) thunder, fireworks, the smoke alarm, the security alarm, the dustbinmen (trash), the door bell, anyone who comes to the house, a door banging,the hairdrier, a loud cough, his own shadow(!), etc. etc. etc. he adores rain!
lynne

[Vio&Juni]

Juni is a brave kitty, almost nothing scares her, even the vacuum cleaner. Well, I cannot say she likes it, she just moves when I come closer. Once in a while, we can scare her with something, but only if she couldn't see it very well before it touched her. After one second, when she discovers that's not scary at all, she calms down.
Funny story happened with Vasea when he suddenly decided that the wallpaper roll is scary. I can say, he was in panic. Still, we continued coming closer with the roll and we had fun. I know, we were cruel, but after that he understood it's only paper. He was afraid of vacuum and the hairdryers, especially we had a very noisy one.
Naomi was a real wild cat and she never let anybody see she is scared by something. I guess, she was scared of some things, but she would attack them immediately, even though she was a small cat. Still, even so tough, she was one sweet kitty.

[Edwina's Secretary]

It is a fine line between fear and hate! I just thought of two things Edwina hates/fears....

WATER

THE VET

[KittyKats10]

ummmm mine r only afraid of the DOGS EKKKKKKKK hide my kitties hide they r everywhere
:D

[Pam]

1 - The vacuum cleaner.
2 - Anyone who knocks at the door (this causes a mad dash through the cat flap to the basement).
3 - Any item of furniture which has been moved from one spot to another without their prior knowledge. They will halt in their tracks and do a big stretch to sort of check it out without actually getting any closer. :rolleyes: