As anyone with a cat knows, they can be extremely weird animals. How weird? The Guardian asked readers and other writers to share examples.
Is your cat weirder than this? Share your own story in the comments below.
Josh Fruhlinger, writer, editor and Comics Curmudgeon
I had a cat once who would wake me up every morning just a minute or two before my alarm went off by tapping me on the mouth with his paw. Not that hard, but not that gentle either, with his claws extended just a tiny bit. “Hey, time for breakfast, bud.” My next cat, I started feeding at night.
Lauren Kelley, online politics editor at Rolling Stone
Our cat starts howling super early each morning, in pursuit of breakfast. One morning we woke up at 5:30am not to the sound of him meowing, but to someone telling a story. Extremely loudly. In our living room. Turns out he had walked across my laptop, turned on a Moth podcast, and cranked the volume all the way up. We were annoyed, but also kind of amused – until the next morning, when he did the exact same thing. Now I close my laptop before going to bed.
Michelle Dean, author and editor
My cat, Liberty, licks the shower after I get out in the morning – like, hops into the tub and cleans it. She does it nearly every morning. I cannot dissuade her.
David Plotz, CEO of Atlas Obscura
One of my cats eats earwax. She will capture an earbud and lick it clean. She will even try to lick it out of my ears. It’s a truly bizarre habit.
Sarah Grieco
My cat Velcro (named that because he used to stick his claws on me as a kitten) has a funny habit of sticking his paws in people’s water if they leave the table. This past Christmas, I walked away to take a call and my mom caught him in the act. So sneaky! But we wouldn’t always know if our water was … cat-aminated, if you will. Eventually we had to resort to putting coasters atop our glasses if we ventured away from our beverages.
Arabelle Sicardi
my kitten has taken to using my shoulders as a diving board to directly try to attack and eat my cursor. this bodes well
— Arabelle Sicardi (@arabellesicardi) September 3, 2015
Rachel Perrone, communications director at RH Reality Check
My cat was in the garage while my step-father was winterizing the cars, so we were concerned that she’d gotten God only knows what automotive fluids on her. I gave her a bit of a bath and, not surprisingly, she was so mad. Hours later, still damp, she came and sat in my lap, and I thought she’d forgiven me. Nope – she peed on me.
Rebecca Roth
Two years ago I was in the basement when I saw our cat, Luna, going into the only room in the basement that isn’t fully furnished and doesn’t have a litter box. She only goes in the basement for one purpose, and so, anxious not to have my house smell like cat pee, I followed her in case she did something very naughty. Instead, I watched as she squatted, arranged herself carefullyover the drain in the floor and peed. No smell, no mess – and no litter.
Faith Rowold
My cat, Hannah, does not like being picked up. I still do it occasionally, but I usually only get a few seconds of snuggles before she squirms away. The reason I don’t press my luck is because a couple of years ago, when a bunch of friends came over for my first NYC birthday party, a friend of mine either forgot or disregarded my warning and Hannah expressed her displeasure (via her anal glands) all over my friend’s shirt.
Fast forward to a few months ago, right after daylight saving time started. Hannah can’t tell time, so suddenly her 6am breakfast call became 5am. Clamoring around on the bed, pawing my face, meowing to wake the dead, I couldn’t handle it. Without thinking about which end of the cat was pointed at me, I pushed her away, and immediately regretted it. Hannah had expressed her displeasure directly in my face.
Hannah got an automatic feeder the next day.
Hunter Walker, senior political correspondent at Business Insider
Rory Rodrigue-Martin
Our cat, Nash, has a thing for ladders: we were remodeling the living room and he would climb up and down the rungs of the ladder whenever we weren’t on it.
Caroline Kenney
Pre-cellphones and even pre-cordless phones, Seymour, our tuxedo cat, loved phones so much that he’d answer them. More than once, a friend told us that they heard a chirpy meow instead of the standard ‘hello’ when they called.
Peter Sterne, reporter at Politico Media
My cat, Hunter, loves to play with crumpled paper, and I guess he thinks my wastebasket is a box of toys for him. Whenever I crumple up a paper and throw it out, he’ll dive into the basket to get it, usually knocking over the basket and spilling out all the trash in the process.
Jennifer Kho, Guardian US managing editor
When we first brought home our pit bull, Daily, a few years ago, we were wondering how our cats would react. One of our cats, Stringer, went right up to Daily and stuck his head in her big mouth. She backed away, looking shocked. But for weeks, whenever she would yawn nearby, Stringer would put his head in her mouth. Over the next year, he met other dogs, but didn’t do it; but then, a year later, a friend brought her pit bull to visit for a play date. Before we even noticed Stringer was in the room, he’d run over and stuck his head in the surprised dog’s mouth.
Jacob Tschetter, mixologist
Every night when I’m deep asleep, my kitten Gollum will come up and sit on my chest and, as per my partner, she will stare at me for at least 30 minutes. If I don’t wake up she will begin to burrow into my beard. If that doesn’t wake me she will begin to nibble on my nose. I’m fairly certain that she is trying to see if it’s okay to eat me.