Cat Quirks

[Mrs Kane]

Hey guys,

I scrolled back a bit, but couldn't find a similar thread. But I thought this would be fun to do.

What little quirks do/does your cat(s) have?

I'll start:

So Sofi likes to greet me after work by running to the door and then running backwards and forwards down the hall in excitement before ultimately jumping up and hugging one of my legs with her front paws. She never uses her claws (thank God or I might need to start wearing shin guards) but I've never met another cat that does this. She also does the jumping and hugging bit when I get up in the morning if she's wandering under the bed at the time and also when I get out the shower. (Who needs coffee when you have a furry legged trapper who lurks behind every corner?!) I used to think it was a "Feed me/water me/pet me" thing, but tbh now I have no idea as she does it even after all those needs have been filled by my BF (he's way more on the ball on the morning thing than myself).

She also seems to love exploring, but more so if I'm there. Even if it's a place she's visited thoroughly already. She'll meow and wait for me to come to where she is, she'll wait for me to turn the light on and then she'll explore, sometimes for ages like she's waiting for my approval.

"Yes, you are truly Dora the Explorer. You have conquered the spare bathroom entirely. Can I finish my lunch now?"

These places alternate daily but if I leave mid search she gets very annoyed and will usually sit by the door of the in question "unexplored" place until I respond to her meows once again. Perhaps there's buried treasure in my flat I'm not quite aware of... Or she's proving she can work for MI6 cat division if they call...

That's my quirks for now. I'd love to hear what oddities everyone else has to share! Or even if you think these quirks above mean something I'm not aware of.

And just for fun, here is Sofi not giving a damn on the next chair while I type:

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And being very pleased we bought a new microwave and gave her the box a few days ago.

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She decimated that styrofoam. RIP Styrofoam.

[greenkitty]

Oh goodness where to do I start....

Pip announces herself every time she goes outside, she'll stand on the patio for a few moments and meow at no one in particular.

If Noodle is outside of the garden and I open the back gate she'll shouty meow at me all the way down the path, I think she's telling me what's going on beyond the back gate!

[Lilith]

Ooo isn't Sofi drop-dead gorgeous! Being an indoor cat's ideal for her too, with those big pink ears, out of the Spanish sun. She's lovely!

Well, as Greenkitty says, where do I start?

My eldest, Emily, OWNS me. I've only to sit down in the living room and she's ON me. (No, that is not your laptop. I'M your laptop!) A chunky marmalade laptop!

Mouse is nocturnal. I'm a bit insomniac and whenever I get up to go to the loo in the errm 'wee' hours, a purrposeful black figure, with white paws, strides into the bathroom, ready for cuddles. That cat has the loudest purr in the world!

Molly owns the bed, which acts as a sofa since the old sofa went to make room for more snake vivariums. Just as well. She's less trouble when she's asleep. She came to me as a rather mixed up kid and I still bear the scars from time to time, but she is so loving. As I write she's here, glued to my side. She talks. All the time. In the middle of the night she'll start a conversation in that little high-pitched purry trill; I answer in sleepy mumbles. And she always has to have the last word lol. She doesn't always want to be petted - if I try to stroke her she'll usually levitate like an outraged grasshopper but just sometimes she'll permit a cuddle. She isn't a head-rubby cat - well, if I'm preparing food she'll bash herself against me; it's like getting a whack from a fast cricket ball. But a head butt on my hand is a rare privilege. She'll wash me though.

Uh oh - just put out a hand to stroke her back and got a very dirty look in response - 'any more of that and I'll wallop, claws out!' She is now washing me off her lol.

And the keyboard is covered in a drift of ginger hairs...

[Crewella]

Same here - where to start!!

Grumpy Nellie is our cloakroom attendant for the downstairs loo - anyone using it will find her sitting on the little table next to the loo and pawing their arm for a fuss - the price for using the loo. You 'spend a Nellie' in this house!

[bobbys girl]

You 'spend a Nellie' in this house!

When it comes to 'quirks' I think most of us could write a book!

My lot? Well Purdy watches TV, wildlife programmes, golf and the Simpsons! The boys love to be towel-dried and if they come in wet will come to look for me, dripping. Grace is sneaky beyond belief when it comes to finishing off any morsel of food. Willow is the witch who lives in the wardrobe. When he wants to go out Tommy does his two-step, reversing down the hall in front of me. Purdy knocks at the back door to be let in. If I'm not quick enough she trots down the hall muttering to herself - I think it's along the lines of 'you just can't get the staff these days!'

[Alice]

I used to have a tortie who lived up to her name - Mischief. She loved to lounge under bushes in the front garden, then as I came home in the car I'd use the remote control to open the garage door, ready to drive straight in - but she had other ideas. She regularly used to run straight in to the garage and stand in the middle of it, looking at me - with a look that said "Now what are you going to do?". Luckily the current residents haven't come up with that idea - yet.

[Crewella]

I'm still smiling at 'shouty meow' by the way!

My old ginger lad Rottie used to use the door knocker when he wanted to come in, It was hilarious when we had people round, as it was one of those Victorian terraces where the front door opens into the living room, so you'd be sitting there ...... "RATATAT-TAT" ........ "don't worry - it's just the cat" ......

We also used to have a Purdy - a semi-longhaired tabby beauty who was an absolute diva. Sometimes when I got home from work I'd park on the road in front of the house and then stop to chat to one of the neighbours. Purdy didn't appreciate having to wait for her tea, so slowly and deliberately would walk out into the middle of the road and sit, very calmly, facing the oncoming traffic, staring at me, until she got the desired reaction. There was one occasion when I'd not noticed until a car stopped and then had to drive around her - frit the life out of me!!

ADDED: Just to note, it was a VERY quiet road, and she did get out of the way if a car came up at any speed! She wasn't a kamikaze cat, just sure it would get my attention!

[Mrs Kane]

I was in fits over these! Deary me.

We also used to have a Purdy - a semi-longhaired tabby beauty who was an absolute diva. Sometimes when I got home from work I'd park on the road in front of the house and then stop to chat to one of the neighbours. Purdy didn't appreciate having to wait for her tea, so slowly and deliberately would walk out into the middle of the road and sit, very calmly, facing the oncoming traffic, staring at me, until she got the desired reaction. There was one occasion when I'd not noticed until a car stopped and then had to drive around her - frit the life out of me!!

Thank God the driver was on the ball. Purdy obviously wasn't!

Grumpy Nellie is our cloakroom attendant for the downstairs loo - anyone using it will find her sitting on the little table next to the loo and pawing their arm for a fuss - the price for using the loo. You 'spend a Nellie' in this house!

Sof has started sitting and sleeping by the bathroom door during the day ever since I had stomach flu a few weeks ago. It's really sweet as she always wants a fuss and explore once the door opens (we have a sliding one). She pawed at it and cried a lot while I was ill and now doesn't trust either me or my BF if we're in there longer than a minute. She's a good nurse cat.

Mouse is nocturnal. I'm a bit insomniac and whenever I get up to go to the loo in the errm 'wee' hours, a purrposeful black figure, with white paws, strides into the bathroom, ready for cuddles. That cat has the loudest purr in the world!

Haha! I can just imagine it!

"You're up because you want to pet me. This makes sense. I shall allow this petting. Pet me NOW!"

Molly owns the bed, which acts as a sofa since the old sofa went to make room for more snake vivariums. Just as well. She's less trouble when she's asleep. She came to me as a rather mixed up kid and I still bear the scars from time to time, but she is so loving. As I write she's here, glued to my side. She talks. All the time. In the middle of the night she'll start a conversation in that little high-pitched purry trill; I answer in sleepy mumbles. And she always has to have the last word lol. She doesn't always want to be petted - if I try to stroke her she'll usually levitate like an outraged grasshopper but just sometimes she'll permit a cuddle. She isn't a head-rubby cat - well, if I'm preparing food she'll bash herself against me; it's like getting a whack from a fast cricket ball. But a head butt on my hand is a rare privilege. She'll wash me though.

That's really sweet that she's always around you. She obviously loves your company. And the midnight "talks" made me laugh! Just the image of it makes me smile. I was boring a friend today about my cat and couldn't help mentioning Molly. I'm glad I just get plantative meows rather than head bashes when I'm making dinner though!

Pip announces herself every time she goes outside, she'll stand on the patio for a few moments and meow at no one in particular.

"I AM HERE! BE READY WORLD, FOR I AM COMING!"
Sorry that's just my take on her meows. Sofi actually managed to get out yesterday (around my shopping rolley bag) and decided to take a trip down the hall, announcing her presence with every step, just like Pip. Luckily I managed to grab her before she made it to the next floor up. She was not pleased that her outdoor adventure was cut short.

[Lilith]

LOL - I told Moll that her fame has spread as far as Spain and she went, 'prreooww!'

She's a strange little thing - last night she actually let me stroke her ears, lovely silky ears with tufts that wouldn't disgrace a lynx, and even her face for a moment - then the claws came out. I never know if it's nature or nurture with her - the family who gave her to me were a bit nervous of her I think, and apparently she bullied their cats. So after a couple or three punctures I was able to extricate myself (only way with her is to keep my hand still and tut at her; if I pull back she just comes after me) and she ran off for a minute, but soon came back and snuggled up. I keep telling her she's a good girl and that there's nothing to be afraid of.

She has never been without a home, but Emily and Mouse, ex feral and completely wild to begin with, are now great soppy cuddlepots. Perhaps Molly, eventually...

[HollyJLancaster]

Boo has a bedtime routine we call Bootime. Every night about 11pm she goes outside, trots over the road to do her secret business on the neighbours flower bed, comes back in, his three forks full of whiskas then stands by the stairs door until it magically opens and takes herself to bed where she stops until morning, its too cute.

Boo also hates pens and pencils, they just offend her in every way possible, if she sees them she destroys them.

She also has an admirer from across the road who comes to call for her, he comes and sits at our front door and does this strange meow that sounds like 'hallloooo? Haaalllooo?' Sometimes she likes to sit at the window looking supremely indifferent at him

[bobbys girl]

this strange meow that sounds like 'hallloooo? Haaalllooo?'

That's just reminded me - (I'm going to show my age now) who remembers Charlie Drake and his 'Harrloww my darlin's'? Purdy sometimes 'says' 'Harrloww' just like that!

[HollyJLancaster]

Not really a quirk but quite unusual, both our cats let us rub, touch and pet them on their faces. Boo particularly likes to have her nose gently tapped, although you have to say Beep Beep when you do it or she wont leave you alone. I used to do this when she was a kitten.

[Lilith]

Molly digs.

Not so unusual you might say.

Yes - but in the bathroom SINK?

She jumps up and gets in and excavates like mad, front paws going nineteen to the dozen. When she was still a kitten her gut sort of woke up once and said, oh, that time is it, stretched, yawned... and...oh no? Oh yes. Right in the plughole.

That hasn't happened since, fortunately, but she still gets up there and digs for gold...

She'll be tap-dancing next...

[bobbys girl]

She'll be tap-dancing next...

Ooohh, that's terrible - funny, but terrible!

One of ours, not sure whether it's Purdy or Grace, sometimes 'goes' in the bath. I suppose it could be worse.....

[greenkitty]

We have whiney meows too not just shouty meows