Cats and earthquakes

[tuxluvr]

I know some of our west-coast kitties and owners can speak to this.

We had a 5.0 earthquake in the Midwest yesterday - my spouse was home. Ritz was asleep near the patio door. The first wave hit, and she immediately jumped up, going into massive "fuzztail" mode...

The second jolt hit and she ran over to my spouse, gave him this worried look, then hopped into his lap (Ritz almost never resorts to "lap cat" unless you lure her there with a warm towel from the drier). She stayed there for about 15 minutes.

I know that 5.0 is a little "tickle" by comparison to California quakes - do your kitties get nervous?

[NoahsMommy]

Oh yes! Noah, who is usually mild in comparrison to his little sister Noel FREAKS out! They both run around, staring at us...like something is wrong and they don't know what. (This is right before the EQ) When the EQ finally hits, they hide under the bed (along with my hubby ) and will stay there for a little bit. Poor things....I can imagine how scary it is for them.

Poor Ritzy...was this his first earthquake??

[maxx's mom]

When my roommate and I had a kitty quite some time ago, we had a minor earthquake. All of a sudden, the cat went berserk and started running all over the house and meowing. We had no idea what was going on until we heard on the news that there was an earthquake.

Luckily, I didn't have Maxx when that large earthquake hit Seattle last year, which we felt quite strongly here in Vancouver. I think all kitties go crazy when one hits, even if their humans can't feel it. They have much more heightenend senses than we do.

[tuxluvr]

Originally posted by NoahsMommy
Oh yes! Noah, who is usually mild in comparrison to his little sister Noel FREAKS out! They both run around, staring at us...like something is wrong and they don't know what. (This is right before the EQ) When the EQ finally hits, they hide under the bed (along with my hubby ) and will stay there for a little bit. Poor things....I can imagine how scary it is for them.

Poor Ritzy...was this his first earthquake??

Yes this was her first "ground shaking" event - we don't get them very often in the midwest, but there is a fault line about 100 miles south and west of us that occasionally produces a little rumble or two. The first time we had one, my spouse didn't believe me when I told him it was an earth tremor...then the news came on and corroborated my belief.

She was given a lot of loving and reassurance and is now her old self again

I do believe animals feel these events before they happen. Ritz is a basket case during a thunderstorm - hides under the chair for hours after. I thought it was interesting that she didn't do the same for this event, rather took solace in "daddy's" lap.

[krazyaboutkatz]

All three of my cats just stopped in their tracks when we had the last earthquake. They crouched down on the floor and didn't move. Even when it was over, it took them quite a while to calm down and relax.

[treybabe]

Yes, I remember my Maine Coon cat, Billy, and how he practically flew off of his climber and ran when the earthquake hit in the Olympia, WA area in February of 2001. Also noticed a certain restlessness in both Billy and Trey before it hit.

[catwhisperer]

Yes, we have had earthquakes and my cats were nervous during them. So was I.

[lovemymaltese]

Oh that must have been so scary for them. I have never thought about that, earthquakes and pets. I haven't been near an earthquake since I was young. Did you get her calmed down okay?

[yumyum6970]

glad we don't have earthquakes here in florida

[wayne0214]

The last tremor we had which was about a 3.5 r.s. quake, there were other things going on at once. I noticed that all of my outside furkids were on the roof, as I could hear them scrambling around. They were running from a coyote raid. Just at that moment we had the tremor at about midnight. My inside furkids were running around the house, some were trying to see what was going on outside, while othere were obviously scared. However, they seem to have greater fear of thunderstorms than an earthquake. It has been noticed that almost all earthquakes occur during a full or new moon. Of course there are other factors involved other than this, but this basic information could serve as a time of warning.

..............wayne

[yorkster]

good subject!
I was just thinking about this last week because one of my kitties (Wylie, 1.5 yr. old M. Coon) is easily frightened and skittish. He was a month old kitten when we had the Seattle quake last February. (about 6.8 I think). The woman we got him from said that most of the kittens from his litter had been a bit jumpy since that quake. It was bad timing because she had just (for the first time) separated kittens & Momma for a bit.

That same quake kept Kedi under our bed for hours afterward. Unfortunately, I was at work and did not get to see how he acted just before it happened.