I have to defend Conan's honor. He doesn't seem like a scaredy cat at all. Sure, he's scared, but does he hide under a couch? No, he does not. He returns again and again to confront the teddy bear. I take my hat off to Conan!
@KimberleeJean: My kitty is terrified of the vacuum. All other times she is (annoyingly) fearless, but the damn vacuum makes her crazy. So she hates my cleaning lady as she associates her with the vacuum. My fearless cat hauls ass when she walks in the door!
@georgina: Our late, great Baby Kitty was the only cat I've ever met who was not only not afraid of the vacuum, but actually enjoyed being vacuumed. At the end of winter when she was shedding she'd come tearing into the room as soon as my mom turned on the vacuum and flop down in front of it. It was weird, but pretty convenient.
I used to scare my kitten all the time, mostly inadvertently, but the vet told me she was at that transition spot cats have where if they aren't socialized and exposed to scary stuff from time to time they'll never stop being scared.
She's now the terror of the house and goes around scaring everyone ELSE. Love you, EVE!
@redqueenmeg: Its pretty obvious that my kitty failed that part of being socialized. She is scared of almost EVERYTHING. I have seen her puff up and back away from a half-dead baby mouse. For real. I got her when she was a bit over a year old and I have always wondered what on earth happened to her that she is so skittish about everything- particularly other cats. She hates them. For some reason she doesnt mind dogs. Full size kelpie dogs? All cool. Tiny bebbeh kittens? Sheer terror.
Its cool though, she is awesome in every other sense. Just cute and terrified.
@missmonster: Aww, that's adorable. I had a cat once who was afraid of bees. Even dead ones.
Kitties have a short socialization period I think between about 6 and 12 weeks. My current littlest kitty, when I got her, did nothing but hide under my recliner. I felt awful dragging her out at every opportunity and introducing her to strangers and just holding her for hours, but it seems to have worked.
I've had fraidy cats before and they can be lots of fun too--they're more likely to be the famous one-person-cat for example--but they do say once you miss this window in cats their personality is pretty much set.
That ending bothers me. I don't really like scaring animals just because it is cute. At first I was okay with it because they were doing nothing but holding the bear, but then I felt it went overboard when they started to move him around for more of a reaction.
I just know how I have felt when truly scared and I think it is wrong to inflict it on animals.
@Elaken: Agree. I was okay with them just holding the bear if they were trying to acclimatize Conan to it but the shaking it & making it scary is wrong. I had to get Neko (avatar) used to the broom/swiffer, shoes, etc. and would place the items on the floor and "pet" them to show her they were okay. It took her a while but she's okay with them. except my dad's crocs, which I take as a sign of good taste.
@Ms. Crankypants: Haha, I now have a mental image of you petting some crocs and talking baby talk to them. It is quite amusing.
I once had my dog randomly freak out about a statue at night. It was fun wrestling my 45 lb dog up so he could sniff the statue and realize it wasn't scary.
@anyordinaryjam: One of my cats tried to get into a plastic bag the other night b/c it still smelled like the take-out that had been in it. She got stuck, and it freaked her out, so she started galloping up and down the room, and yowling piteously. It was the cutest thing I'd ever seen.
@Dictator for Life: One of mine did the same, but with tragically awful results. You see, as she departed the bag, she exited through the handle. Said cat is, well, obese. It became stuck on her haunches. Now the cat has a bag following her. She gets scared. Runs. Bag follows. Scared more. Bag keeping very well. Cat pees. Bag still follows close, now full of pee. Cat tears through house, flinging pee-bag EVERYWHERE. I have never heard my dad curse on so many floors of the house.
Nor have I ever seen cat pee 6-feet up a wall before, or since.
bahahahhahaa!!! i love the conan the kitty videos! the one where he crawls up the guys leg is prosh <3
i still do this to my cat when she annoys me. she ONLY comes to me when she wants something (usually my hairband from my wrist even when i'm sleeping) so i just grab my teddy bear and start shaking it and doing my best impression of "Tardy for the Party" while still half asleep. Welcome to Casa de Huls at 6 am.
He was on Conan awhile back promoting Harold and Kumor or something around that time and he was pretty funny. I actually thought he was a bit funny that night, but no one really got what he was going for. He was trying to do throwbacks that didn't really work and whatnot. Christopher Meloni can do no wrong in my eyes.
10/13/09
10/13/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
I used to scare my kitten all the time, mostly inadvertently, but the vet told me she was at that transition spot cats have where if they aren't socialized and exposed to scary stuff from time to time they'll never stop being scared.
She's now the terror of the house and goes around scaring everyone ELSE. Love you, EVE!
10/12/09
Its cool though, she is awesome in every other sense. Just cute and terrified.
10/13/09
Kitties have a short socialization period I think between about 6 and 12 weeks. My current littlest kitty, when I got her, did nothing but hide under my recliner. I felt awful dragging her out at every opportunity and introducing her to strangers and just holding her for hours, but it seems to have worked.
I've had fraidy cats before and they can be lots of fun too--they're more likely to be the famous one-person-cat for example--but they do say once you miss this window in cats their personality is pretty much set.
10/12/09
I just know how I have felt when truly scared and I think it is wrong to inflict it on animals.
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
It's just wrong to scare an animal for amusement.
10/12/09
I once had my dog randomly freak out about a statue at night. It was fun wrestling my 45 lb dog up so he could sniff the statue and realize it wasn't scary.
10/12/09
My cat is awesome, because she ain't scared of nothin'!
10/12/09
Nice photoshop but holy shit.
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
Nor have I ever seen cat pee 6-feet up a wall before, or since.
10/12/09
i still do this to my cat when she annoys me. she ONLY comes to me when she wants something (usually my hairband from my wrist even when i'm sleeping) so i just grab my teddy bear and start shaking it and doing my best impression of "Tardy for the Party" while still half asleep. Welcome to Casa de Huls at 6 am.
10/12/09
10/12/09
10/12/09
01/08/09
01/08/09
Men DEFINATELY watch it. ;)
01/08/09