Cats....why do they DO that???

[kathryn]

Murphy follows me into the bathroom so he can drink out of the bathtub faucet. He'll sit under there just waiting for me to turn it on to the 'right' amount of water trickle. We once got him one of those cat dishes where the water flowed into it, thinking that he'd love it, but nope, it just didn't have the same thrill as drinking out of the tub!

Yeah, I've tried those fountains as well, and my cats aren't thrilled about them.

I used to have a cat, Frisco, who loved drinking off the drippy bathroom faucet.

Bobsie likes to lick out the bathtub after I shower. She's got fresh water not 3 feet away, but the bathtub is so much more appealing. She just likes to hang out there, too: when I had a more-transparent plasticky shower curtain, she would go into the bathtub when I was in the room, and when I was bent over the sink spitting out toothpaste, she'd attack my butt! (I have a small bathroom!).

Pete likes to lick out my smoothie/sorbet glass when I'm done (well, not always when I'm done). And it doesn't matter if I make a chocolate soymilk based smoothie (not enough chocolate to be a danger to him, don't worry!) or an açaí and berry sorbet, he'll lick it up.

 

[dss62467]

All these posts are making me laugh because I've had quite a few cats over the years and they all have their little idiosyncracies. Hair chewers, photo lickers, feline "dogs", those that stand up to hug you when you walk into the room, one who hit my butt when I passed gas next to her in bed, the one affectionately known as "Blob" now because she is so mellow, the one I caught laying in the sun while a field mouse casually walked around in front of his paws and never made a move to get him until he noticed me standing there, the one I have now who yells at you if you walk by without acknowledging her and drinks out of the water glass I put out for exercising (she now gets her own glass), those that insist on laying on my piano keys while I'm trying to play, my current baby who makes himself into a neck-warmer for me at night - drapes himself right over it and purrs me to sleep. I loved and love every one of them.

For clarification....some of these personality traits are attributed to the same cat. I've only had 8 in the past 20 years.

 

[JennieR]

My cat Tigger for some reason likes to roll around in his cat litter that he's kicks outside of the box. Is there any other cat that does this? He also likes to chew on plastic.

 

[Dela]

My cat Tigger for some reason likes to roll around in his cat litter that he's kicks outside of the box. Is there any other cat that does this? He also likes to chew on plastic.

No to the litter, and sort of on the plastic, one cat just loves to lick plastic, especially the plastic that secures a case of water. They both chew on cardboard a lot, and just start tearing apart boxes. For some reason too, I have those corrugated scratchers, and they lick those too.

Some of the posts above are just cracking me up.

 

[princessbear]

Our cats drink from a glass on the night stand too. I blame DH for getting them into that habit. He always has a glass of water on his night stand (that he never drinks) Since the cats always drank from it he started using a tall glass for himself and a short one for them. At least they use theirs.

Ha - that's how Princess started. I had a cold a couple of years ago and kept a glass of water by the bed in case I woke up coughing and one morning I woke up and found her drinking from it... it is pretty hilarious.

 

[atgood]

My cat licks walls.

It's strange to watch, and worrisome. But I asked my vet about it recently at my cat's annual checkup. I think it may be a "mouth feel" kind of thing--i.e. it just feels good to her for whatever reason. But my vet also mentioned how many cats lick plastic/latex because there's something in there that just seems to taste good to them.

So since the paint in my home is definitely not lead-based and my cat was deemed extremely healthy in her checkup, I'm not going to worry and will just chalk it up to more weird cat behavior. Though it is really freaky to wake up to a weird sound in the middle of the night and realize it's just the cat licking the wall. Gotta love 'em!

 

[SirenSongWoman]

As a relatively new cat person (formerly had just dog companions), the whole gravity thing is fascinating. I leave things on the edge of my bedside table (bottle caps,a nail file, hair pins) just for my cat to push over during the night.

I thought she was the reincarnation of Sir Isaac Newton until I learned that the whole fascination with gravity is common cat behavior. And of course I completely indulge her!

I assume you've done the whole milk jug ring thing?

Your next move should be a little thing we cat people call "Fun with the Laser Pointer..." Fun for everyone!

 

[SirenSongWoman]

Our cats drink from a glass on the night stand too. I blame DH for getting them into that habit. He always has a glass of water on his night stand (that he never drinks) Since the cats always drank from it he started using a tall glass for himself and a short one for them. At least they use theirs.

I always have water on the night stand but finally had to buy a big plastic (sealed) jug. Really annoys my boy that he can't get to the water inside.

 

[Dela]

I assume you've done the whole milk jug ring thing?

Your next move should be a little thing we cat people call "Fun with the Laser Pointer..." Fun for everyone!

A work friend just bought me the laser pointer, OMG the kitties go nuts. Simon starts making these little monkey noises as soon as I just pick it up now. They will chase that little red dot around the house for as long as I am willing to stand there with it!

 

[SirenSongWoman]

A work friend just bought me the laser pointer, OMG the kitties go nuts. Simon starts making these little monkey noises as soon as I just pick it up now. They will chase that little red dot around the house for as long as I am willing to stand there with it!

I whip that sucker out whenever Tangerine is being evil. I call it Taking Back my Power. ha ha ha.

 

[JennieR]

I assume you've done the whole milk jug ring thing?

Your next move should be a little thing we cat people call "Fun with the Laser Pointer..." Fun for everyone!

Fun for everyone is right.

 

[dbelden1]

our siamese would suck on your ear lobes and "kneed" your neck, like a newborn! He would also suck and kneed on the bathroom carpet too!

He also would "sit" in a dining room chair and sleep... occasionally falling over backwards on his head!

 

[kathryn]

My cat Mandy was fascinated with lights and shadows.
One night, she was acting strange, like she was seeing things that weren't there, but I realized she was going after the reflections off of a CD I had opened up. She also liked to eat (!) packing peanuts (luckily they were the corn/potato starch ones) and chew on styrofoam packing material (which I discovered one day when I saw chew marks on some that I had recently unpacked).