His Hair Drives Him Crazy
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 08:19am
Just about every night, Long Legs gets brushed. He loves to be brushed. We know this because if you walk anywhere within a 25-foot radius of the brush, he will throw himself against your legs in an attempt to push you towards the brush. If you fail to pick up the brush, he will go and sit next to the brush and give you pointed looks much like the one to the left until you pick it up.
So, I brush and brush and brush. It’s worth it to watch him roll around drooling and rubbing his head against my chin. After I finish brushing him, I clean the hair out of the brush. Once, a while back, I decided to roll the hair into a thick shape (like felting, I guess). I had a giant tube-shaped piece of matted hair, so I tossed it at Long Legs as a joke. People, he went apeshit. Tore into that hair like it was a live mouse. Threw it up in the air. Shoved it into his mouth and shook it. I tried to grab it back from him because I didn’t want him to eat it, and in his excitement, he bit me! So of course, now I make a hairball toy every time I brush him. What is it about his own hair that makes him absolutely mental? He goes totally crazypants for it. Last night he SLAPPED me when I teased him with it. (I only let him play with it for a minute; otherwise he’ll swallow it.) I want to knit him a small toy with his own hair felted in, but I keep forgetting.
Does anyone else’s cat do this, or is Long Legs just disturbed?
Maggie on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 8:29 am
Why are you worried about him swallowing it? I’m sure he eats more hair than that in a day anyway.
Aw, he misses killing hairy things.
freakgirl on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 8:32 am
I’m worried about him horking it up on the carpet.
Nicci J on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 8:33 am
Har!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=adXTF5wPft4
freakgirl on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 8:40 am
Nicci - I think that’s where I got the idea! That part at the end, where the cat is hitting him to get the toy out of his hand? That was last night at our house.
Maggie on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:02 am
I have many of those cat toys just lying around my carpet. They make themselves if you don’t vacuum for a while.
Genevieve on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:31 am
My long-haired cat (the only one in the house who likes the brush) loves his own hair too, but he likes to eat it, which defeats the purpose of brushing him in the first place. He even has been known to climb into the waste basket to get some out, so now it has to go in the kitchen trash with a lid on it!
Maggie - I also have many “tumbleweeds” on the floor. And we sweep/vacuum/swiffer at least once a week.
Jen in OH! on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:32 am
BitchKitty used to be a total slut for a good combing, and would do the same behaviors if you walked anywhere near the comb (and then would get so excited by the combing that she’d purr and hiss and purr and hiss), but she was never interested in her own hair as a toy like that. Your cats never cease to amuse and delight.
Marjon on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:34 am
Atilla will try to eat his own hair too. We brush him during shedding season. He needs the help. He doesn’t luuuurve the brush, but doesn’t mind either. Until that moment when enough is enough. And then he’ll try to eat his own hair from the brush.
brigita on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:38 am
Who knew disgusting could be so hilarious?
(sayeth the uncatperson)
Kimberly on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:47 am
I have three fur-brats. They despised being brushed until I switched to a human brush. Now they go crazy when they see that brush come out. They do not like to play with the hairball afterwards, though.
Lauren on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 1:35 pm
We donate our cat hair to the Urban Bird Housing Authority. Aka: We throw it outside and the birds make nests out of it.
freakgirl on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Great idea!
thatothrgirl on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Awww…my Reesey does pretty close to this, too. But, I brush him outside, and what I do gather in a ball, he wants to play with, but the funniest thing is the hair that floats away. He will try to jump and grab the floating bits, like puffs of cotton in the hair. He doesn’t catch many of those, so I don’t worry too much about him eating them.
Hopefully the Urban Bird Housing Authority gets plenty of the airborne ones, too.
Megan on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Ella Bean does the same thing, only she doesn’t go quite that batshit crazy. It is, however, very entertaining to watch her decide what she wants more–to keep being brushed, or to pounce on the fur I just tossed into the garbage. So very, very conflicted.
freakgirl on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Poor cats. Their lives are so hard.
Laura on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 2:29 am
We need an MPG of this, please. :-D
freakgirl on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 8:25 am
Heh. I’ll work on that.