Any cat psychologists out there? I have a weird problem.

One of my young cats has an obsession. She is just over a year old and recently discovered a tree frog living in the vent to our gas fireplace. The tree frog can climb the brick walls and decided that the vent is a great place to hang out during the heat of the day. Obviously the fireplace isn't used in the summer so no danger of cooking the frog. The vent is in the exterior wall and sits about 3 feet above our deck. The deck has no stairs to the ground so we let our cats (who are indoor only) out onto the deck when it is nice. Its 10 feet to the ground so they won't jump.

This cat is really obsessed with the frog. During the day she'll stare at the vent as she knows that's where the frog is (sometimes the frog moves and you can hear it). Remember the old RCA Victor logo of a dog staring at a record player? That is the cat! She just stares and stares.

If we forget to bring the cats in before it gets dark she will stalk the frog. My wife went out one evening and three cats had the poor frog surrounded, but uninjured. If the cat is inside and she sees the frog it is even worse; she paws at the window or glass door incessantly.

I admit, the frog is pretty neat. We see it climb walls, deck railing and chairs. It can leap from the railing to catch bugs and pull itself back as its rear feet have suction cups.

Knowing my three cats (1.5 yrs, 4 yrs, 11yrs), you'll never understand wtf is going on with them. If they catch it, let them eat it as long as it's not poisonous.

Otherwise, wait for fall.

That's a cat for ya! Perfectly normal. I've had em for 45+ yrs.

My cat has a foot fetish...if you wake up with your foot hanging out of the covers....there will be a cat wrapped around it...lol

Predator vs. Prey. They may be little cats, but they're still cats.

We have a cat that's obsessed with the tray on the DVD player. Wherever he is, if he hears the tray open, he'll come running and zone in on it. Naturally we oblige by opening and closing it a few times while he's watching. When he's sure he's got it cornered he'll take a swing at it. He's gonna bust it someday, but worth the entertainment.

vcp said:

We have a cat that's obsessed with the tray on the DVD player. Wherever he is, if he hears the tray open, he'll come running and zone in on it. Naturally we oblige by opening and closing it a few times while he's watching. When he's sure he's got it cornered he'll take a swing at it. He's gonna bust it someday, but worth the entertainment.

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Another one of my cats is fascinated by the DVD tray too. We have the DVD player on the floor under a couch as there isn't a table close enough to put it on. She doesn't do anything to it, but she is fascinated by the door opening and closing. I cycle it a few times for her as she really is fascinated by it.

Oh, and the cat was really pawing at the window last night. I kept chasing her away, but she would come back after just ten seconds or so and start pawing again. She kept it up for 20 to 30 minutes. I finally went over and looked out the window. Sure enough, froggy was on the railing just two feet away.

Our cat name is Ford. He has pica and loves to eat cellulous packing peanuts. He will fight you for them.

A ten-plus year long running blog well worth reading, https://www.wayofcats.com/blog/ Covers cat relationships, behavior, psychology, health care, and more.

Zeus-cat said:

Another one of my cats is fascinated by the DVD tray too. We have the DVD player on the floor under a couch as there isn't a table close enough to put it on. She doesn't do anything to it, but she is fascinated by the door opening and closing. I cycle it a few times for her as she really is fascinated by it.

Oh, and the cat was really pawing at the window last night. I kept chasing her away, but she would come back after just ten seconds or so and start pawing again. She kept it up for 20 to 30 minutes. I finally went over and looked out the window. Sure enough, froggy was on the railing just two feet away.

Click to expand...

One of ours is fixated on the printer for our computer. As soon as she hears the paper feeding into it, she will run across the house to watch it. If we aren't careful, she'll grab the output in her teeth and carry your paper through the house.

Peartree said:

One of ours is fixated on the printer for our computer. As soon as she hears the paper feeding into it, she will run across the house to watch it. If we aren't careful, she'll grab the output in her teeth and carry your paper through the house.

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One of my cats has this behaviour. Hasn't quite go to ripping it out of the printer yet.

Interestingly, it also actually watches the TV for about ten minutes at a time sometimes.

Cats are smart. They can and will mimic the words of their owner. Just listen to this one.

Peartree said:

One of ours is fixated on the printer for our computer. As soon as she hears the paper feeding into it, she will run across the house to watch it. If we aren't careful, she'll grab the output in her teeth and carry your paper through the house.

Click to expand...

Years ago we had a cat that loved to watch the sump pump working. We had a pedestal sump pump that sat in a hole in the basement floor. The sump was in our laundry room and she would follow us into the room occasionally. If the pump wasn't running we would lift the float to turn it on for her and she would stare down into the sump as the water disappeared.

One day the cat came running into the living room meowing frantically. She ran out of the room and then came back as we weren't following her. We finally got up and she ran into the kitchen and then down the stairs. She stopped a few times to make sure we were following. She took us to the sump pump which had fallen over and jammed the float so the pump was running constantly. She was quit upset as she knew this was wrong. I stood the pump back upright and the pump shut off when the float fell to the bottom of the sump.

After that incident we always said she did a Lassie. Not quite a Timmy falling down a well, but oddly similar.

The irony of Zeus-cat having cat problems...