Cat Antics

A place to share anything we love about our cats or other people's if you want:)

The things they do that make us smile, that make us fall in love again or the trouble they cause.

If you manage to get a picture brilliant, if not just share what is happening in your cat's life.

One day, I was bending over a chest in my bedroom to get out a piece of clothing. One of my cats (sadly no longer with us) jumped on my back. I thought she was on her way to the top of the dresser, but instead she curled up on my back! Even if I’d had a camera with me, it would have been tough to get a picture. Sadly, I did need to disturb her rest because I had to get to work.

When they think I am late feeding them, the cats do the following:

- Samantha yowls and paws me
- Apollo sidles up to me and occasionally squeaks for attention
- Buzz gets up on a chair and rolls over on his back, curling all his feet and sometimes his tail upwards. He looks at us to make sure we noticed that he's doing the cute thing so we will feed him. He lies like this until I get up and start towards their food bowls.
Project: I will try to capture the "cute, so feed me" pose. He does it almost daily.

Our kitchen isn't safe for cooking. They are ALWAYS hungry.
Especially Alex the tuxedo. Just entering the kitchen, he scrambles to catch up, then does the foot weave thing, meowing about how neglectful the human is to not give him anything to eat.

He's not climbed into the dishwasher when I'm loading it, but I'm sure he'll try that tactic soon.
Now, opening any can, that gets a crowd of four cats. All prowling about waiting for the bowls to appear with the miraculous food.

Though my best fun is when I started recording my personal short stories for a friend (and to see where they needed edits.) I'm sitting at my laptop with the noise canceling microphone, but my buddy Eddie -- the orange in my profile picture -- sits on the back of a chair behind me. Even though I'm not talking to him, he's giving me his opinion of what I'm reading and how he wants a part. The microphone still picked his meows up! It took me over 2 hours to get 33 minutes of useable audio, because I had to keep stopping to edit Eddie out.

Amy is quite overweight, and we do try to control her intake, but she's one of those cats who eats everything available as quickly as possible. Our other cat, Rory, is a grazer. He likes to eat a bit, wander off, then come back later. Result: Amy eats her food, then whatever Rory hasn't got to yet.

We try to watch and pick up Rory's bowl when he walks away, but Amy is very sneaky. Once, I saw her finish her share, look over to see that Rory was still eating, stick her paw in the water dish, and flick water at him to make him jump away from his food so she could muscle in.

>2 lilithcat: Oh my that is unusual. I've had cats on my back before but never one that curled up there.

>3 anna_in_pdx: Buzz's behaviour sounds like it would make a great photo.

>4 gilroy: I hope Alex doesn't end up in the dishwasher, that would be scary. Eddie sounds like he wanted to be part of the recording.
None of mine have come running at the sound of the can opener, but I don't feed them canned food. My previous two always seemed to know when I was grating cheese:)

>5 tardis: What a sneaky girl! Mine swap part way through a meal. I think they are just checking that they are getting the same food. Fortunately they seem to eat at about the same rate so one doesn't get more then the other. Lexa does like tipping the water bowl over but not while they are eating.

Nikki, our rescue who likes to think she is a pure Russian Blue 🙄, used to hide under the dishwasher when she was very thin. Now she has ripped holes in the cloth lining the bottoms of our couches and naps in there. She also likes to visit us while we are in the bathroom. I keep telling her that there are better times and places to sit on my lap but she ignores my request.

>7 krazy4katz:

Now she has ripped holes in the cloth lining the bottoms of our couches and naps in there.

I had a cat who did that, and would hide there when it was time to go to the vet. One of my current cats now takes advantage of his predecessor's depredations.

Lilith apparently was under the impression that she was a CPA.

>9 lilithcat: Maybe she is. Who knows what that means in the cat world? Sleeping on the figures might be better than what I am doing with them.

Our house when we had 4 cats.

We can't leave a cup or glass or water anywhere, else Mango is absolutely compelled to drink from it. She'll shove her face into it and if that doesn't work, her paw goes in and she licks the water off that. One way or the other, the cup/glass is going to tip before she's done.

>11 krazy4katz:, I guess you had to sit on the floor? lol

>12 Cecrow: Yes, that is exactly right. The cats seated themselves first. Then it was our turn.

>11 krazy4katz: Pfft. Only 4 cats... :)

>14 gilroy: Well, as of Friday we now have 5 and it is upsetting one of our cats tremendously. I may have to take Feliway for myself.

>15 krazy4katz: At one time, thanks to my ex, we had 9.
I'm down to five now. Swear I need a bigger house to keep the fights to a minimum.

>12 Cecrow: My Callie does this! I have to drink out of covered cups/water bottles only, otherwise she must stick her head in (and sometimes get stuck) if there's even a milliliter left of water.

For whatever reason, mine both often like to dangle one (or both!) front paws off the edge of wherever they're loafing. Yesterday, they were synchronized, and it was too much.

>17 lorannen: Such layabouts!

We also have one cat that will drink out of our water glasses. The problem is that I keep water near my bed at night. If she drinks out of it while I am asleep, I won't know.

>5 tardis: Amy, Rory, Tardis... I'm sensing a theme :)

For one of my boys, Logan, more is more. If playing with one toy is fun, two toys is better. If he's being petted by one hand and sees your second hand free, he'll reach out to the free hand make sure both hands are petting him. More is more!!

One of my girls swears that if she can see the bottom of the food dish then it must be empty. She'll sit, starting at the dish, looking very sad and pathetic until I rearrange the kibble or top it off with fresh. Anything so she can't see the bottom. Does anyone else have a cat like this?

I have four cats. I use a large dog food sized bowl for their kibble because all four are grazers. The bowl is almost never actually empty.

Lexa launched herself from my bed to the top of the door and looked very confused. I'm not worried about her being up there as it is a usual spot but normally she takes the shorter route via a chest of drawers and the side of the door which isn't smooth boards.

>7 krazy4katz: They do manage to get into spaces where you wouldn't think a cat could possibly fit.

>9 lilithcat: typical - it is a rare cat that doesn't lay on that piece of paper you need :) She's beautiful.

>11 krazy4katz: They look very comfortable but it doesn't leave much room for people.

>12 Cecrow: and >18 krazy4katz: I still keep the water glass next to the bed covered even though my two don't seem interested.

>14 gilroy: >15 krazy4katz: and >16 gilroy: I try to keep it to two now. Once I had three and that was managable but I don't think I would want more.

>17 lorannen: Congratulations on managing to get that picture and both are actually looking at you - if mine are mirroring one is bound to move just as I try to get a photo.

>19 Narilka: and >20 Narilka: isn't it funny how they let you know what they want. And yes when they have cleared the middle of the bowl sometimes they don't notice there is still food around the edges.

Today as I put down their food, Shadow and Smoke let out the same little meow at the exact same moment on the exact same note. A perfect duet!

>22 calm: Thank you! We've had some practice (they're both 11!). You should see the outtakes roll though, lol.

>23 lilithcat: What a charming greeting! Do they talk to you a lot? My girls are both on the quiet side, though one of them does "help" me every morning by opening all the cabinets that are at floor-level, just in case I forgot where the food is.

>24 lorannen:

Do they talk to you a lot?

When they want something! Like food or attention. ;-)

Reuben is my little opera singer.



I've had others who sing for attention, but he seems to just enjoy his own voice. He actually has a pretty good range, and has written a little "song" - we call it that because he sings the exact same progression of notes every time, which goes on for about 3 minutes. He likes the echo-y upstairs hallway.

He does this while holding a toy in his mouth. I have no idea why.

>26 Darth-Heather:

Does he enjoy Rossini's Duetto buffo di due gatti?

RE: his song with the toy - I'd bet that's hunting behavior. I had a cat who (in the middle of the night, of course) would "hunt" her favorite cat toy, a long fabric snake with a plastic handle. She'd haul it in her mouth down the hallway, meowing as she went.

>23 lilithcat: How cute :)

>24 lorannen: You just reminded me. I've got the door handles on my floor level kitchen cabinets fastened together because Lexa can open them.

She also has a penchant for egg shells - she sometimes takes the lid off the indoors compost bin so she can drag them out.

>26 Darth-Heather: Could it be the "look how clever I am" song that some cats do after catching prey?

Edit - >27 lilithcat: I type too slowly :)

>28 calm: It sure sounds like the "look how clever I am" song. That's one of the only times Momo will vocalize. Hunts down her favorite toy and parades with it up and down our hallway. Of course, this is typically 2-3am, when the humans are trying to sleep.

I was a bit worried about Willow for a few days earlier this week as he was definitely off his food, but is now back on it with a vengeance. I can’t go into the kitchen these days without being yowled at and tripped up. This is Willow:



He's a cheeky Siamese and usually a serious greedy guts.

>28 calm: "look how clever i am" song - that is probably exactly it! too bad Reuben isn't at all clever, nor much of a hunter :) He's lucky he's cute...

His big sister catches actual mice. She doesn't make any noise about it, she just brings her catch over by the cat treats and waits for me to come by so she can trade her (usually) dead mouse for treats. She's taught us the barter system she has devised, and if I don't pay up with the expected number of treats she will continue to sit there, making accusing faces, until I catch on.



Cherise used to outweigh her brother, but has lost a lot of weight while battling kidney cancer. Much to Reuben's dismay, that has not stopped her from bullying him.

>27 lilithcat: middle of the night, of course... bump, bump, bump... Mom come look at what I have! Come see it! Look at it!

>31 Darth-Heather: So sorry to hear of Cherise's kidney disease. Glad she's still feisty!

>33 framboise: I am quite amazed by my fierce girl. About a month ago we were pretty sure she was down to the end - she could barely walk or eat. Then suddenly she started eating a lot and gained back some weight and strength. This kind of remission could last only days or could go weeks or months; there is no way to tell what will come, but she's a fighter and it takes a lot to get her down. Poor Reuben thought with her weakened that it was finally his time to be on top, but apparently she couldn't allow such a thing and has rebounded to resume her dominance of him. It's a Big Sister Thing :D