Author Topic: Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?  (Read 3698 times)

Offline tonikelly

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Re: Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2007, 21:59:23 PM »
The bag was wrapped around his back legs, not over him entirely. Donncha has a habit of climbing into anything he can find and he's particularly fond of plastic bags. We do try to keep them away from him but I will obviously try harder in future. I don't mind that he dug his claws in, I just said it to show he was acting out of character.

Everything is fine now, it was about five minutes after it happened, all back to normal. I was just curious about why the other two reacted like they did, so thanks for your thoughts.

Offline Christine (Blip)

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Re: Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2007, 11:07:03 AM »
Hope all is restored to normal now.?

...and  :welcome: to Purrs.
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Offline JackSpratt

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Re: Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2007, 09:28:21 AM »
It's possible that Donncha got the carrier bag around him and when the other cats went to investigate, he got upset as he was feeling "under attack" from the bag. If he's usually placid with you, it could be he lashed out at the other two cats in a bit of a panic and they chased him out on to the balcony, hence the reluctance to come back in. I would think the only reason he dug his claws in to you is sheer terror. When a cat is cornered (even if it's by a bag) the fight,flight or flee theory kicks in.

Are they all OK now? :)




Carrie, Jack,Toby and Parsley ~ Love and miss you all always.x

Offline Ela

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Re: Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2007, 08:48:55 AM »
Quote
Important though is that you caught him in time. Plastic carrier bags can cause untold damage to cats so its a blessing in disguise that they were all growling at each other..

I posted  the tale of my sister cat and a carrier bag not long before CC closed, they are so dangerous and once again this is a warning to us all to be so careful with them, although I appreciate if cats are allowed out there seems to be so many laying around and flying about. Whenever I see one I always pick it up and put in in a bin.
RULES ARE FOR THE OBEDIENCE OF FOOLS AND GUIDENCE OF WISE MEN.

Offline Kittybabe (Ruth)

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Re: Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2007, 08:31:05 AM »
Cats are creatures of habit. They don't like it when things change. The likelihood is as Gill says that the other two were frightened by what was "attacking" Donncha and Donncha didn't like you having to touch him to get the offending item off him.  Strange, but some cats will be placid, others just aren't.

Important though is that you caught him in time. Plastic carrier bags can cause untold damage to cats so its a blessing in disguise that they were all growling at each other..

Offline Gill (sneakiefeline)

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Re: Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2007, 01:32:20 AM »
I am sure they didnt know who it was with the bag wrapped round him and were trying to stop the intruder. Also luckily it alerted you to the problem.

More worrying I think, is how did Darcy got the bag round him, he was obviously very scared and I am not surprised that he dug his claws in you, cos I reckon he was terrified.

Offline tonikelly

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Can anyone explain this odd behaviour?
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2007, 00:01:10 AM »
Something very strange happened this afternoon, and I'm hoping someone out there may be able to shed some light on it...

I was in the middle of a nice siesta, when I was woken up by the sound of cats growling. We have three cats - Darcy (1), Donncha (1, Darcy's brother) and Austin (6) - but they don't usually growl, so I got up to see what was going on. We have a little roof terrace/balcony off the back of one of our windows, and Darcy and Austin were inside the house looking out at the terrace, growling like mad. Donncha was sitting on the balcony with a plastic supermarket bag wrapped around him, facing the other two, and they were growling at each other. This is virtually unheard of - Donncha is everyone's favourite, they both usually adore him.

I shooed Darcy and Austin out of the way and went to Donncha. He'd got the plastic bag wrapped around him very hard and seemed to be struggling to move. I tried to beckon him into the flat but he wouldn't come. He looked really scared, eyes wide etc. I eventually coaxed him close enough and could pick him up. As I did so, he dug his claws into me, which he has never, ever done before. It took me a few minutes to free the bag from his back legs, then I put him on the ground. He ran straight off, looking behind him, rather scared.

It's so bizarre. Why were Darcy and Austin growling at him? Why was he scared to come back into the house? Do you think they thought the bag was attacking him and were scared of it? It's all so bizarre, so if anyone has any clue what was going on, it'd be greatly appreciated.

x

 


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