Odd Behavior

[Burrl]

Originally posted by vlr546111:
I eat at my desk every day and always have a cup of sugarfree strawberry jello for desert. One day my cat, Morris, decided to help himself after he had finished his lunch of Science diet dey cat food. I thought,,,,oh how cute,,,he won't like this stuff and if I let him have a taste he will go away and leave me alone to eat lunch.
WRONG.......Now everyday we have desert together. He gets a couple of bits of the cool red stuff and he is content and spends the rest of the day napping,,,,I haven't tried any other flavors or colors but I imagine he would eat these as well.

vlr ~

It just proves...

There's always room for Jello... and Morris in your case!

I would never think a cat would eat Jello.

Love your story!

[Burrl]

Originally posted by casmeow:
I created a monster! When "Indy"(Indiana Jones)was brought into our home, he was only 8 wks old and had stitches down the front of him.3 babies had been dropped on a woman's porch & she could tell there was something wrong w/Indy.She took him to our vet & paid for his hernia surgery so the vet would find him a good home. When we had our black lab in there, they wanted us to see him. I refused,knowing the outcome,but they persisted - saying we had to see this kitten w/the unusual color(he's kind of a gray sometimes, taupe almost sometimes). ANYWAY - when we brought him home, I set him up in our back bedroom so the others would leave him alone so he could heal. I would always sit with him while he ate - so NOW whenever he wants his"baby kitty crunchies"(even tho he's 8 yrs old now)someone has to stand there while he eats - and he keeps looking back to be sure you haven't left - or he'll leave too!Even tho there's plenty of food in his bowl - he'll cry pitifully non-stop till one of us stays there.I should leave him more often as he's a hefty 15 lbs! So, see what I created? He's got me trained.

Casmeow ~

Your story is very touching.

It sounds like Indy literally lives for you. You have a real winner as far as attachment goes. And that goes a long way!

You might try catfood formula for less active cats for his heft. Personally I never touch the stuff! So I have a bit of heft too.

[Burrl]

Originally posted by JKRJG24:
My ragdoll is so funny! When my mom and dad went to get her they said a bag of Chips had spilled and she was on the floor eating them. Now she is about three years old and you can't eat a bag of well basicly any type of junk food without her meowing and jumping on you and licking you until you give her one bite and then she gose away! She'll eat any junk food from any type chips to ice cream and popsicles it's nuts!

JKRJG ~

How bizzare! Now it'll be harder for the both of you to not have junk food.

My cat, Burrl, has had chip fetishes that he has abandoned since he discovered beef jerky. He goes wild over beef jerky! Both of our kitties like to finish a Dove Bar's ice cream from the stick. But your junkfood kitty wins the cake! (I presume it likes cake too!)

[Burrl]

Originally posted by zippy-kat:
Burrl~

That was some quick thinking! lol Cute story!

Clarice is a siamese/tabby cross. (I refer to her as a "tab-ese".) She is cross eyed. Remember the show Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion? Well, we "adjusted" the name to fit a female cross-eyed cat...hence, the name Clarice.

Tinker is one of Clarice's kittens but she favors the Himalayan breed with the purr-sonality of a ragdoll. (Her father was a traveling salesman.) No stories behind her name though.

Somehow, I managed to overlook your reply on Max--sorry about that! He was just a blk alleycat that decided this was to be his new home. When he first adopted us, he slept in the tree in our front yard--poor baby couldn't even be coaxed inside except to eat. However, he soon discovered the benefits of being a housecat! He was such a silly guy, we were lucky that he chose us!

zippy-kat ~

I remember Clarence the cross-eyed lion show! That dates both of us, doesn't it? (We can always claim we saw it on Nickelodian or AnimalPlanet cable channels in re-runs... Right! That's the ticket!) That's a good cat-naming story. We should probably start a new thread for the naming of cats!

But a cat that slept in a tree! That's in keeping with our odd cat behavior forum genre.

One of the most difficult things to do is to get a feral to become a housecat. Congratulations! Most die of disease or malnutrition. The luckier ones get caught in cat traps and sent to the pound where they are unadoptable and euthanized. Clarice and you beat the odds there!

[This message has been edited by Burrl (edited July 11, 2000).]

[zippy-kat]

Actually...

I did see the show as re-runs. lol

[Pam]

I too have some contributions for odd behavior! My 7 year old orange tabby named Trevor loves yogurt. When he was a kitten I always let him lick out the inside of my yogurt cup when I was finished with it. Now, I can't eat my yogurt in peace any more. If he sees me go into the refrigerator, he waits to see what I am taking out. If it's yogurt he will follow me all around the house until I share some with him. I now put some of it on a plate for him so we can eat at the same time since he just can't wait til I get to the bottom of the cup any more! My other cat, an all white male named Andy (who, by the way, hates yogurt) has just started a new behavior at the age of 4 yrs. Around 2:00-2:30 AM he will come into my bedroom meowing loudly and constantly and holding a stuffed mouse in his mouth. He will keep meowing until I notice the mouse and pet him and praise him. Then he drops it on the floor and goes on his merry way (wherever that is......I certainly don't follow him at 2:30 AM!)

[Giglez]

Good judgement in not leaving a chair near the fridge! I made this mistake when one of our kitties took a fancy in the ice maker on the new fridge. What he did was push the little button and out popped 4-5-15-32 ice cubes depending on how long he wanted to sit there holding the button The dog loves this! She loves to eat ice cubes, so she really appreciated the cat giving her all the ice cubes she wanted!
One day, someone left the ice maker on the option for water. SO...he sat there, pushing the button hopeing for ice, and out came some water getting him all wet!! He no longer pushes that button
The cats also love pushing all the glasses of water/soda/juice (or whatever else might be in the glass) off the counter thus breaking the glass and getting to drink whatever was in it as long as they could fight off the dog.
This is really funny, but also includes me having to clean up a huge mess in the end

Silly felines!!

~Giglez

[This message has been edited by Giglez (edited July 11, 2000).]

[bettyinbc]

...and to think I considered myself a really bad mom for feeding my my little guy melted cheese (licked off my finger, of course) and chocolate ice cream!!!!! Could not resist that little face - he always got what he wanted.

Wished you'd all be around then to tell this was perfectly normal behaviour.....

Thanks for the heads up - I'll certainly be a better mom in future (had some training, already!)

[Burrl]

Giglez ~

In your case, curiosity splashed the cat!

It's interesting that your cat took to the ice-dispenser directly as opposed to mine taking the round-about approach through her endless fascination of ice cubes. It seems your cat was more interested in the fun of making a mess on the floor than the joy of having ready access to its favorite toy. Still, we have had similar wierd-kitty experiences! I take heart in knowing there is at least one other person who has had a feline experience of the ice-cube kind.

I wouldn't think broken glasses on the floor was at all funny. I guess we forgive most of the sins of felines in the light of the blessings they rain on us.

Your dog seems to benefit from having cats in the same household. I don't know how you manage. When we had a dog and cats at the same time we had great difficulty keeping the dog out of the kitty litter box for what it considered treats! He would also make quick work of any kitty food left accessible. They had to live separated lives!

Thank you for your great (and messy ) story!

PS: I first tried to reply with quote, but we together had exceeded the 8 image maximum for a single post. Bet you didn't know there was a maximum! I sure didn't.

[Burrl]

Originally posted by Pam:
I too have some contributions for odd behavior! My 7 year old orange tabby named Trevor loves yogurt. When he was a kitten I always let him lick out the inside of my yogurt cup when I was finished with it. Now, I can't eat my yogurt in peace any more. If he sees me go into the refrigerator, he waits to see what I am taking out. If it's yogurt he will follow me all around the house until I share some with him. I now put some of it on a plate for him so we can eat at the same time since he just can't wait til I get to the bottom of the cup any more! My other cat, an all white male named Andy (who, by the way, hates yogurt) has just started a new behavior at the age of 4 yrs. Around 2:00-2:30 AM he will come into my bedroom meowing loudly and constantly and holding a stuffed mouse in his mouth. He will keep meowing until I notice the mouse and pet him and praise him. Then he drops it on the floor and goes on his merry way (wherever that is......I certainly don't follow him at 2:30 AM!)

Pam ~

Glad you shared your cats' idiosyncrasies!

I think perhaps Trevor's behavior might not be too unusual...

Felines (and other mammals) often retain a fondness for dairy products after being weened. And they can be quite insistant once spoiled. For instance, I can't leave the butter dish out for fear of kitty-lick marks appearing on the top of the cube. I've mentioned in another posting that both of my kitties like to finish our ice cream bars. I'm sure our other forum members and readers could offer more examples. I hope they do.

But your naughty Andy...

You poor dear! Waking you up at 2:30 am sounds a tad unusual... and torturous. But how this behavior merits petting and praising is beyond my simple understanding. I wouldn't doubt that you are encouraging him to repeat his unwanted performance on a nightly basis!

Originally Andy may have hoped you would play with him on his inhuman (and inhumane) schedule. A simple non-response the first few times may have discouraged him from interrupting your sleep again.

But now, Pam, you must endure many more nights' sleep interruptions. I would call that problem cat behavior.

I would suggest ear plugs for awhile, but I know many of us find them uncomfortable. And ear plugs may inhibit one's ability to wake to the sound of an alarm. So you may have to create your own solution.

Whatever choice you make will not be easy. Hang in there. And let us know how you do.

[Gio]

One of my cats died three years at the grand age of 18 (she was the best cat ever and I still miss her a lot), but I always smile when I think of her and her fascination with the washing machine (we even put a basket on top of it so that she could have a nap there). The funny thing is that every time the machine would start the spinning cycle, she would stop whatever she was doing at the time, she would then run frantically and jump on it and then she would sit there happily purring away throughout until the machine stopped spinning. She didn't much like electircal appliances except from the food processor, it was enough to switch it on and three seconds later she was in the kitchen expecting to have a bit of whatever came out of it (she loved food, human food was her favourite).

[zippy-kat]

One of our babies loves to sit ontop the dryer while it is running--never heard of one that preferred the washer, though. How funny!

[Pam]

Thanks for your reply Burrl regarding Andy and his nocturnal (or should I say, early morning) "capturing" of the stuffed mouse! Actually I have tried closing my bedroom door, which doesn't work as any cat owner knows. He simply scratches and scratches on the door to come in and show me his "prize." I find it is just easier to reach down and say "good boy," pat him on his head and then I roll over! That seems to be all he wants!! It is not an "every night" thing but does happen about 2-3 times a week and has just started within the past couple of months. He is such a sweetheart and such an affectionate little guy during the daylight hours, that it's easy for him to wrap me around his little paw!! And he knows it oh so well!!

[Giglez]

Burrl,
No, the broken glass was not funny But all the glass cups have been replaced with plastic cups now

One thing about having cats AND a dog in the house...there is never a dull moment! Sometimes they get along great...and other times forget it! I must say though, I don't know what I would do without any of them!

~Giglez

[Burrl]

Originally posted by Gio:
One of my cats died three years at the grand age of 18 (she was the best cat ever and I still miss her a lot), but I always smile when I think of her and her fascination with the washing machine (we even put a basket on top of it so that she could have a nap there). The funny thing is that every time the machine would start the spinning cycle, she would stop whatever she was doing at the time, she would then run frantically and jump on it and then she would sit there happily purring away throughout until the machine stopped spinning. She didn't much like electircal appliances except from the food processor, it was enough to switch it on and three seconds later she was in the kitchen expecting to have a bit of whatever came out of it (she loved food, human food was her favourite).

Gio ~

They take a piece of us when they go, don't they. You were so lucky to have her for so long. I'm a bit jealous.

I'm with zippy-kat, you had a funny prize kitty to hold down your washing machine when you were washing! I bet she never let even one washing machine get away.

I guess we can understand the pleasure she took in her self-assigned duty. After all, don't they still have vibrating beds in some motels? And she didn't even have to feed it quarters.

A very cute odd-behavior kitty story!

[This message has been edited by Burrl (edited July 14, 2000).]