Anyone who shares their life with a feline knows that cats are quirky little stinkers who never fail to make us laugh. They go from wanting to sit on top of us to pretending like they don’t know us. They forgo the expensive toy for the throw-away cardboard box. They sleep in sinks and race around the house after visiting the litter loo. Some idiosyncrasies are fairly common among felines, while some are pretty unique to the individual pussycat. Regardless, we believe every cat owner has said, “Cats make me laugh!”
A few cat parents agreed to join me in sharing some of the silly things their kitties do.
1. Funny thievery
My Phoebe has always been the Artful Dodger of my three cats. When she was a kitten, she went through a jewelry-stealing phase. I remember once she made off with my mom’s turquoise bracelet and squirreled it away in her red nylon kitty-cube. Mom reached in to grab the bracelet and Phoebe firmly swatted her from inside the cube. When we looked inside, we saw she’d built quite the crow’s next of goodies! There were elastic bands, wrappers of all kinds, a sock, and a variety of other plundered pieces. Booty call!
The Froemke family’s Shakespeare is also quite the little klepto. Julia Froemke says, “He pilfers everything from the kids’ rooms and our work tables: knitting, rubber balls, tennis balls, paper, garbage, USB keys, hair ties, rubber bands, Legos, game pieces, Easter eggs, paper clips … I could go on and on!”
2. Giggling over greetings
Marissa Rapier says their cat Silver has a special post-shower greeting for her son, Spenser. While he’s in the bathroom, she stands outside the door, acting quite frantic, and doesn’t stop until he emerges in his polar fleece robe. Then she follows Spenser to the recliner while constantly talking to him, as if trying to say, “Hurry up and get settled!” And if he doesn’t sit down immediately, her meowing becomes panicky. Marissa says, “Once he sits, she climbs on his lap and meows exactly three times. She sits and stretches her paws upward, leaving one directly over his heart.” It’s clear that he’s her guy.
Julia says their cat Cessna used to wake people up by licking their left ear lobe — always and only the left one. She says, “Visitors would always tell me she woke them up by licking an ear lobe, and they were always surprised when we told them which ear was licked!”
Donna Bailey and her family share their home with Pumpkin and Reeses, both of whom offer special greetings. Donna says, “When Pumpkin sees you coming, she’ll roll on her back, asking irresistibly for a belly rub. When you do, she boxes you with her front paws and kicks from side to side, digging her back claws into the carpet and scooting away from you.”
Reeses loves to show his belly, too. He runs to the person, stops right in front of them, places the top of his head on the floor, and then follows through with the rest of his body, flopping to expose his extra-furry tummy.
3. Water humor
Cats love to drink water from their bowl or fountain, but they love it even more when it’s obtained from unconventional sources. Cosmo seems to have an affinity for any water that comes from the bathtub. After I shower, he jumps in the tub and licks the beads of water clinging to the sides and bottom. And when I take a bath, he enjoys loafing on the edge of the tub and taking occasional laps from the bath water. The funniest thing to me is that he lets his tail drop into the water and it just floats there the whole time I’m bathing.
Char Riedinger’s Brynx is a fan of the faucet. I’ve known many other cats who like to drink from drippy faucets, but my weirdo cats have never been especially taken by the magical bringers of water.
4. Funny positions
Cats place their bodies in the most interesting positions. Katy Herman’s cat Gorilla likes to sit at the kitchen counter “like a people.” When I’m at her house, I’m constantly amused by this cat’s presence. It’s like he’s pulled up a stool and is ready to join the conversation.
Donna says Reeses likes to curl his tail so it looks like a piglet’s curly-q tail. I always laugh at how my Phoebe wraps her tail so tightly around her legs when she’s sitting. She looks so tidy.
Shakespeare likes to help Julia exercise in the morning. She sits on an exercise ball and rolls in several directions, targeting various body parts. She says, “Shakespeare will come and sit on me when he sees what resembles a lap and then, no matter what shifting and leaning I do, he stays on my stomach the whole time. Sometimes he’ll even wrap his paws around a knee to keep steady while I recline, and then he’ll shift from one side of my stomach to the other as I move around.” Shakespeare is also known as the “rubber cat,” because the family finds him in the funniest positions.
Do you your cats have funny habits and quirks? Tell us about them in the comments!
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