# A good scare



## bluemilk (Oct 3, 2005)

What does your cat do to scare you silly? Sometimes-out of NOWHERE-Percy will dash onto the scene,and run over me! I remember I was recording an audio tape. At 1 point you hear 'drone,drone-GASP! rcatPER-CI-VAL!' (pitter-patter)


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Sometimes I can't find one of my cats. Anywhere. And when they finally do show up, I have no idea where they've been. 

When I first brought Cinderella home, one night she was lying beside me, very quiet. I picked her head up, nothing. Just flopped back down. Tried to wake her. Nothing. I was getting dressed to take her to the E.R., turned around, and she was just sitting there. Looking at me. Laughing inside her pretty little head, I'm sure.


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## RowdyAndMalley (Aug 9, 2010)

the first time we let the Kitties both sleep with us in our room (after all proper intros were done) they were chasing each other around and ran across both of our faces in the middle of the night. We both woke up screaming...


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## tate (Jan 17, 2010)

This morning I woke up to Donovan and Ruin doing a mad dash OVER my face! I now look like someone has punched me with scratches across my eyelid, below my eye, and across the bridge of my nose! Gave me one heck of a scare. 
Rosie scares me on a regular basis though, because she is a very deep sleeper! I can move her, and she doesn't budge.


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## kittywitty (Jun 19, 2010)

My cats just saved my life, two not one, but two giant waterbugs were in my bathroom 20 minutes ago. I immediately put my cats to work and they managed to get one. They were so big with giant antenneas I was literally shaking the entire time. Then I saw one of my cats with the bug dangling from her mouth and I got scared that she would eat the **** thing, it was soooo disgusting! So I quickly got a bowl of water and had her spit it into the water and then flushed it down the toilet. Now we're waiting for the other one to come out of hiding. I never knew cats were so good at catching waterbugs!


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

OMG! I hate waterbugs. I threw a phone book on top of one once. 

Just made it mad. :shock:


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## Auntie Crazy (Dec 10, 2006)

kittywitty said:


> My cats just saved my life, two not one, but two giant waterbugs were in my bathroom 20 minutes ago. I immediately put my cats to work and they managed to get one. They were so big with giant antenneas I was literally shaking the entire time. Then I saw one of my cats with the bug dangling from her mouth and I got scared that she would eat the **** thing, it was soooo disgusting! So I quickly got a bowl of water and had her spit it into the water and then flushed it down the toilet. Now we're waiting for the other one to come out of hiding. I never knew cats were so good at catching waterbugs!


Aw. You should have let her eat it - bugs are full of good nutrients! LOL!


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## Auntie Crazy (Dec 10, 2006)

marie73 said:


> OMG! I hate waterbugs. I threw a phone book on top of one once.
> 
> Just made it mad. :shock:


When I lived down south, I once caught one making off with a chunk of my dog's kibble. Yes, you read that correctly; a whole piece of kibble. 8-O


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## Auntie Crazy (Dec 10, 2006)

marie73 said:


> Sometimes I can't find one of my cats. Anywhere. And when they finally do show up, I have no idea where they've been.
> 
> When I first brought Cinderella home, one night she was lying beside me, very quiet. I picked her head up, nothing. Just flopped back down. Tried to wake her. Nothing. I was getting dressed to take her to the E.R., turned around, and she was just sitting there. Looking at me. Laughing inside her pretty little head, I'm sure.


Both of these have happened to me, the first one too often to count. Darn kitties are determined to see me lose it. *shakes head sadly*

Ungrateful wretches. :?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Not that I would wish either of these on anyone else, it's nice to know I'm not alone!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

*I'm a little confused ... so I googled 'waterbug' to see what the fuss was about.*

*Waterbug:*









*I thought THIS was a waterbug:*









*Then I see THESE THINGS, and I'm ready to join the Leaping-and-Screaming-Brigade! *
*... "waterbugs" shall never be thought of as 'cute', EVER again. I am permanantly scarred.*


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

One day about a week after I brought Pumpkin home, I could not find her anywhere (she was locked up in the kitchen at that point). I checked the rest of my house in case she had somehow squeezed under the crack in the door. I had just about given up when I saw her head pop out UNDER MY KITCHEN DRAWER. Apparently there is a small 1 1/2 inch gap between the baseboards & my kitchen drawers. Pumpkin just nonchalantly sauntered out, and I had to switch out the contents of my drawers (knives and scissors were on the bottom). I was very happy when she got to big to go down there...wherever *there* was!!


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

Ewww- I hate water bugs/palmetto bugs here in SC. Pumpkin and my flatmate tag-team catching and killing them while I hide in another room!! Pumpkin does eat them occasionally


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

About a week after I brought Zenobi home, around 1 o'clock in the morning, she came rushing into the bedroom and bounced off the headboard. I woke up with a roar,she took off, flying.

It never happened again. I guess I scared her as much as she scared me.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

Heidi n Q said:


> *I'm a little confused ... so I googled 'waterbug' to see what the fuss was about.*
> 
> 
> 
> *... "waterbugs" shall never be thought of as 'cute', EVER again. I am permanantly scarred.*


Very interesting pattern on the back. I think they're aliens. Don't make them angry.


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

Maybe I should stop envying those of you who live in the South! ewwwww! My best friend lived on one of the Florida Keys, and she had told me about those things, but I had never seen one....thank goodness!

As for my cats frightening me, anything out of the ordinary has me in a panic. Cats are so good at hiding...and taking their time coming when called, long enough to worry me! 8O


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Don't make *them* angry? How about if they don't give _ME_ a heartattack?!?!?!?


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## kittywitty (Jun 19, 2010)

Heidi: You are hilarious, that was exactly my fear that one of my cats would find the other waterbug while I was sleeping and drop it on my head. But luckily, after I calmed myself down by taking a hot shower, when I came out of the bathroom, I noticed that both of my kitties were playing with the other waterbug and so I quickly got the bowl of water and had my great waterbugger drop it in and I flushed it down the toilet. Gotta love cats who love waterbugs!!!


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## Kobster (Feb 1, 2007)

Bugs are Bleh! Thurston and Kobie were the best with bugs, they would have them caught and eaten before I ever saw them. Good boys I say! As long as they didn't puke them up later on my bed or something. 

Ninja scares me on a daily basis. He likes to jump up on the stove when the oven is on, and the surface gets hot too. So instead of jumping down, he stands there and wails at the top of his lungs until I came get him. He scared me the other day, he vomited a few times and didn't eat his breakfast. Off to the vets we go and she thought it was a foreign body! The xray was down so we had to wait until I went in to work that night. Luckily, by that time the foreign body (turned out to be a hair tie back loop) was already in his colon and he happily ate for the doctor who looked at me like I was nuts. *sigh* 
Ninja also likes to climb into the dishwasher and refrigerator if I have them open. Last night I started the dishwasher and heard a sound that sounded like meowing and I panicked thinking I'd shut him in there. Apparently, the motor makes a mewing news now. Ninja was asleep in the other room. 
I think this kitten has a death wish!


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## Rissa (Aug 1, 2010)

Probably the scariest thing that ever happened was a couple of years ago, when hubby and I were still living in Australia. It was winter, and we had a heater that the cats just loved to sleep in front of. I guess that it conks them out pretty good because one night I woke up, saw Apollo lounging in front of it, and and reached down to pet him. He didn't move, and for some reason I was immediately convinced that he wasn't breathing. I woke hubby up as I lunged out of bed, and was further convinced that my beloved cat had died during the night. I tried to pick him up and he was completely limp. Before I started to really freak out however, he came around slowly, seeming to wonder why I was making such a fuss! I'd never seen one of our cats sleep so deeply that I could move them without their waking up, so it was dang terrifying.


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## Huge2 (Jan 28, 2008)

These stories are _killing_ me hahahahaha

I, like Heidi, thought you were on about waterboatmen.

JEBUS that's one scary scary insect.

The only truly terrifying thing Peggy has done is lept from the window sill onto my bed. In which I was sleeping.


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## RowdyAndMalley (Aug 9, 2010)

"California waterbugs"











"Southern" waterbugs










'nuff said....


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

EWWWW!! Ours are just a giant version of roaches!


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

swimkris said:


> EWWWW!! Ours are just a giant version of roaches!


 YES! In fact, my husband and I thought our home (garage) was infested w/ huge cockroaches and freaked ourselves out. We also have a bug that lives in our garage called a "cave cricket". These things are harmless, but they will turn me into a screaming, leaping and gibbering MESS every time I encounter them. 

They remind me of spiders, because they have a round body, with grasshoppper legs. Can you imagine: a _jumping_ spider that can jump as big/far as a grasshopper ... and me being *terrified* of spiders?!?!?
*_shudders_*


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

RowdyAndMalley said:


> "California waterbugs" and "Southern" waterbugs"


 See? Cute, and the antithesis of cute. *_shudders_*


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## swimkris (Jul 17, 2010)

Heidi n Q said:


> YES! In fact, my husband and I thought our home (garage) was infested w/ huge cockroaches and freaked ourselves out. We also have a bug that lives in our garage called a "cave cricket". These things are harmless, but they will turn me into a screaming, leaping and gibbering MESS every time I encounter them.
> 
> They remind me of spiders, because they have a round body, with grasshoppper legs. Can you imagine: a _jumping_ spider that can jump as big/far as a grasshopper ... and me being *terrified* of spiders?!?!?
> *_shudders_*



Yep, we have the "elephant" grasshoppers too. I am less afraid of those than the house centipedes- they move too fast!!


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## Olivers-Slave (Jul 25, 2010)

when oliver was a kitten he would wait till I was asleep, and I swear, drag items on top of the shelves above me and aim to my head...then drop em. I used to wake up to all sorts of things falling on my head, my book, a pen. anything moveable.


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## Olivers-Slave (Jul 25, 2010)

RowdyAndMalley said:


> "California waterbugs"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


omg what is that on its back? do I wanna know? that...is...thee...nastiest...thing...I've...ever...seen


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Olivers-Slave said:


> omg what is that on its back? do I wanna know? that...is...thee...nastiest...thing...I've...ever...seen


That is the male waterbug and those bumps are its' babies' eggs. 
The broken bumps are eggs that have hatched. 
When looking for pics I had found an informative site and it stated the bugs mate, the female deposits the eggs on the male's back and HE takes care of the little ones until they hatch. _Pretty sneaky trick the mamma-waterbug uses to make the baby-daddy (waterbug-daddy?) take care of the kiddos._


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## RachandNito (Nov 21, 2008)

Nito used to eat the cockroaches that inhabited by old apartment. Now we've moved, and him and Cindy Lou take care of all the centipedes. Supposedly, our house also used to have a mouse problem. I've only seen one alive the whole year I've lived here, and I've also come across a couple of decapitated heads. Thanks kitties.


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## Olivers-Slave (Jul 25, 2010)

Heidi n Q said:


> That is the male waterbug and those bumps are its' babies' eggs.
> The broken bumps are eggs that have hatched.
> When looking for pics I had found an informative site and it stated the bugs mate, the female deposits the eggs on the male's back and HE takes care of the little ones until they hatch. _Pretty sneaky trick the mamma-waterbug uses to make the baby-daddy (waterbug-daddy?) take care of the kiddos._


I swear I'm scared for life seeing that. between that and the fake photoshopped larva breast I'm messed up for life


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

atback That's okay. I'm just as messed up and we can keep each other company as we stand on top of the table while the cats chase after waterbugs below us. We can take turns screaming.


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## Olivers-Slave (Jul 25, 2010)

RachandNito said:


> Nito used to eat the cockroaches that inhabited by old apartment. Now we've moved, and him and Cindy Lou take care of all the centipedes. Supposedly, our house also used to have a mouse problem. I've only seen one alive the whole year I've lived here, and I've also come across a couple of decapitated heads. Thanks kitties.


haha yeah, living in brazil things like that are on my top I don't want in my home list. and I don't know if its having oliver or not but when we first moved in we found a dead roach in the apartment. but I've lived here for a year and a half and not a single bug except for those occasional clothes eating ones


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## bluemilk (Oct 3, 2005)

If Percy REALLY want my attention,he'll knock stuff down. One time I had some coins in a metal box. I was reclining in a chair when I heard KA-RAASSSHHH!!! I jumped out of the chair,looked around,and there was Percy looking like 'hi'! AND glancing toward his food bowl.


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

It figures the California bugs are skinnier.

Maybe a cousin to your cricket, we have the dreaded camel cricket in every basement in the DC area. They jump waist-high. After seeing Annie Hall in the '70s, we just started calling them Buick bugs.


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## bluemilk (Oct 3, 2005)

All the waterbugs I'VE seen this year look like the California type! I think Ohio waterbugs are contenders in the scary/gross dept! BIG shiny red-black bodies,huge pincers,and they can squeeze up and down thru any drain! Aside from that,really they're harmless.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Holly, I image-searched the "camel cricket" and they look to be the same thing as our 'cave crickets'. I did NOT know they can jump waist high. _Thanks, now I'm going to be even MORE freaked out when I'm in the garage when they're around._ 0_o They seem to be seasonal and I don't know where they come from or where they go. I wish they'd just stay away. WHAT can they possibly eat in the garage?


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## madie (Apr 20, 2010)

kittywitty said:


> My cats just saved my life, two not one, but two giant waterbugs were in my bathroom 20 minutes ago. I immediately put my cats to work and they managed to get one. They were so big with giant antenneas I was literally shaking the entire time. Then I saw one of my cats with the bug dangling from her mouth and I got scared that she would eat the **** thing, it was soooo disgusting! So I quickly got a bowl of water and had her spit it into the water and then flushed it down the toilet. Now we're waiting for the other one to come out of hiding. I never knew cats were so good at catching waterbugs!


speaking of saving a life, a month ago Mocha just calmly followed a snake in the screened porch. the snake must have gone through the open door as it was so hot this past July (i saw 3-4 snakes that month alone just walking in the lawn). anyway, i was too squeamish to chase out that thing, so Mom did it. >_< Had Mocha not seen the snake, that thing could have gone inside further in the house. She seemed quite curious as to what an interesting creature is the snake but didnt mind when it was ejected out of the house.
cant u tell i really hate snakes....more than waterbugs!? lol

that's one story. mocha is pretty much at my side all day so she is a great guardian on the lookout for any critters. lol


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