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?

[yumyum6970]

They are scared of the vacuum cleaner and the trash truck

[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. 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 ) 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.

[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!

[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! 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! 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.

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.

[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!