I have a Jack Russell Terrier. Misha will come running into the kitchen anytime someone opens anything that sounds like food packaging. That is normal.
The strange thing is she is attracted to the paper shredder. We have the type with a basket attached. When she hears you turn it on, she runs into the room. Then, she sits in front of it and watches the paper go down. The basket is a solid color so it isn't like she can see the paper scraps inside.
It's odd because Misha is normally afraid of noises. Do the can opener or bring out the roll of foil and she is gone. I can't figure out why she loves the paper shredder so much, but she does.
What off the wall, strange thing is your pet attracted to?
For some reason my cat, Bunny, is always stealing my nail files. She loves to chew on them for some reason, that and my hair brush. I can't imagine either of the two feels very good in the mouth but for whatever reason it never fails that she runs off with either of them anytime I leave them out.
Dylan, a little mutt rescued from the streets, is a magpie. He needs to take ownership of ANYTHING in which either myself, my other dog or the rabbit shows even a slight interest. He is very neat and tidy and takes his "prizes" to his bed.
I have found carrot tops, a USB key, pens, a glasses case, a packet of sweet pea seeds, my contact lens case, a bit of bandage that the other dog chewed off his leg after an operation . . . . . he is quite happy to share all items, but if they are left lying around, he will collect them again.
Hehe, the first one sounds like my daughter. She's 2 and whenever I go into the pantry for something to eat, she is right at my feet checking out what it is to see if she can have too!
My dog is attracted to the sound of the freezer when we get ice cubes. When she hears the ice cubes rubbing together she comes running in for a treat.
She is also attracted to bees. However, this may be because she gets annoyed of them. Whenever she sees a bee she starts snapping at it, even if it doesn't land on her. She will bolt across the room to try to eat that bee. One of these times she is going to get stung.
These are interesting. I wonder why the bunny likes nail files. Maybe it feels good to grind their teeth?
Dashboardc33, Misha follows bugs around and is particularly enthralled by spiders. I have to kill/remove them from the house because she is allergic to some spiders. But, if I don't get there in time, she walks up and presses her nose right on top of them.
I wonder if the ice cubes and the paper shredder are similar attractions. Maybe they sit there wondering how this magical contraption works.
I thought this was strange, but I've heard from others that their cats do this, too. My cat has a paper fixation. She will go after paper, shred it, wrestle with it, and generally make a mess. Doesn't matter what kind of paper it is, either. I have to keep everything put away - can't even leave the napkin holder out anymore.
My cat is attracted to the flushing toilet. Well, the swirling water in the bowl part, at least. Once it actually starts to flush down the pipes, she leaps down and runs out of the room. It reminds me of my younger brother. When we were little she told him that if he was sitting on the toilet when it flushed, the devil would suck him into hell.
Minnow, I wonder if it is the sound or the fact that she can destroy the paper? Kind of like how a young child likes to cut up paper just to cut up paper.
My sister's cat has a thing for walnuts. They used to have a bowl of mixed nuts of their coffee table. Their cat would pick out the walnuts, and only the walnuts, then play with them. Maybe she liked the little rattling sound. Each day, they'd find them all over the house. They'd be under the stove, in the dog's water bowl, under the couch. Who needs toys?
Nakhash, I have heard that cat's have a fascinating with water and the toilet flushing. I guess it's a good thing they don't have hands and can't work the flusher themselves.
Anything CLEAN! Haha, you know like when you're folding laundry. Our cat hadn't slept in out room for a while until we washed the duvet cover. She slept on our bed for a few days and then when I cleaned the bathroom she started sleeping in there. Also, anything new or in a new place. My husband got a new office chair and that's where the cat slept. Anytime I get a blanket out to use as a workout mat, she decides to join me and wants to sleep in the middle of it...
Our cats like to lie on paper and bags. They also used to like lying on my winter jacket last year. Lately, the boys have been enjoying lying on the hallway rug and even fight over it. Overall, they like to lie on the futon with a comfy blanket or in the closet when it's cozy.
Everyone's posts are making me laugh and smile. We certainly do have some odd pets, don't we?
Okay, one strange thing that Gigi is attracted to is people laughing and whistling. Yes, most dogs come to you when you whistle, but Gigi not only comes up to you but rubs her neck all over your mouth to stop you from whistling. It is the funniest thing to watch. I've never had a dog that's done this or seen one that's done this. She will just rest her whole neck on your mouth if you laugh too hard or whistle, trying to make you stop (or maybe she enjoys the vibration of it on her neck).
Sandooch, what a funny attraction! Usually, Misha gives the head tilt to whistling, but she doesn't come closer. I wonder if it is the vibration. Is it only those two sounds that your dog reactions to?
My sister's dog is attracted to fresh water in the water bowl. It doesn't matter when she last drank. If you fill the water bowl, she must come over and drink out of it NOW! It makes for a lot of bowl fillings when she stays with me.
My female dog loves to cuddle up to my shoes. She doesn't chew them, it seems that she protects them. She doesn't take my boyfriend's shoes, only mine. She will hide my shoes under the bed or hide them in the closet. Or when she is not feeling well, she will take one of my shoes with her in her dog bed. Perhaps my shoes smell just right for her.
I think I might have mentioned this a couple of times before, but my older cat is strangely attracted to hair bands, rubber bands, socks and general wooly things. But it's mostly the hair bands, the stretchy kind. Sometimes I forget I left one in the room, and as soon as she enters she goes for it. And if I try to get it back, she will start growling at me (I never even knew cats can do that...). Sometimes I see her trowing the hair band around and then running after it, and other times she asks me to do it for her. As for the socks and wooly sweaters, she just drags them around a little. Sometimes she drags them to her water bowl, the only times she drinks from it is when there's something dipped in it. My younger cat is only attracted to food.
Molly, that is interesting about the shoes. I suspect that they must have your smell on them so the dog tries to stay close to them. Though, you'd think clothing would do the same.
Rene, your cat does something my sister's cat does. I've never heard of another cat that likes to dip things in their water bowl. When her cat was younger, she often took her toys and other things she found and put them in her water bowl. Once it was a small photo that was on the mantel. Oops!
Any food packaging that we open likewise attract all the pets here in the house. One strange incident was when my husband was operating our hand drill to install a tv wall mount, two of our cats came running towards him with their furs standing on their roots. They must have thought my husband was under attack by something. When he placed the drill on the floor, both cats were cautiously smelling the tool with their furs still up.
My dog seems to be attracted to tissue paper anything that has snot on it or we wiped are mouth on . He will jump in the trash can and pull then out I know pretty gross I have no why he does that. He will also sniff out baby diapers from when I babysit. He is attracted to them and if I forget to take it outside and leave for the day. He will have them on the ground eaten when I get home.
My dog absolutely loves to play with plastic pop bottles. If she sees you drinking a pop she'll come over and try to knock it out of your hand to play with it. She gets a kick out of pouncing on them because they'll roll away and then she'll pounce again. It's so cute. It's pretty much the only thing I've ever been able to get her to play with. I've bought her plenty of dog toys throughout the years and she's never very interested in them.
Carling adores cardboard rolls and will people to the loo in the hope there is one there. My other dog Guinness loves bubbles from the bath, she will either play with them or eat them, she also likes to take a shoe(yep just the one) and leave it outside. She doesn't chew it but just leaves it outside. As I type she has left one of my slippers outside and it is raining
My coonhound was obsessed with those "drumstick" deserts - the ones with the chocolate coated cone, and the chocolate coating and nuts on the ice cream. Whenever we ate one she would sit in front of us staring intently. I know you're not supposed to give dogs chocolate, but we would always give her the end of the cone when we were done with it.
All three of my dogs were fascinated with bugs, they would run over to them and eat them like they were treats or something.
Our dogs also loved jumping in fresh laundry right out of the dryer. It was a pain in the butt trying to get everything folded and put away because they would lay right on top of it and roll around.
I've already discussed this in another thread, but my cats currently are obsessed with following me into the bathroom. Everytime I go in there they follow me in there and keep brushing against my leg repeatedly. It's kind of creepy, lol.
When my kids were little, we had a little black ShihTzu named Ming Toy. She was a wonderful little dog, went with us everywhere, and was excellent with the kids.
Like happens in most families, we had lost socks, especially the lids would always be missing one or even both of their socks. We looked everywhere, with no luck. Even their knitted slippers would disappear.
One day, we had to move the living room couch for some reason. There, laying all over behind the couch, were all of the lost socks and slippers ! Ming Toy had been taking them secretly, and she was small enough to wiggle behind the couch and hide them.
She still would steal our socks, but at least then, we knew where to hunt for the lost footwear.
I don't mean to bump such an old topic but I just had to share my own experience with Oscar, my kitty. He is very strange and seems to be fixated on video games, for example, if I'm playing my 3ds he will watch the screen and when I am playing World of Warcraft he will follow the characters as they move on the screen. I play computer games on a large HDTV so he will go back and fourth from side to side on the screen.
My step-mothers cat has this weird love for tissue paper. He hates to sound of newpapers and other papers, but he looooves tissue paper. He likes playing in it, grabbing a piece and running around the room with it; his "mother" even filled a box with tissue paper that he loves to sleep in!
My cats are pretty "normal". The weirdest thing the old man cat likes is chewing wires. If I have my earbuds cord any where near him, he will try to chew them. When my mother used to have to do IV's, we'd have to lock him in the bathroom, cause he'd chew on the IV tubes!
Aren't animals amazing? I was reading everyone's replies, and I think it is a hoot to share these things!
Sugar, my cat, is attracted to the smell of Vick's Vapor Rub and Icy Hot. Whenever we use either one of these products, she comes running. When I put the vapor rub on my aching legs or on my sore throat, she will start licking it. She won't stop either! I have to continually push her away. Even if I put an article of clothing (pants, socks, or whatever) on top of it, she will lick the pants or shirt. She doesn't stop. Usually, I have to close my bedroom door for the night so she won't get in.
My cat, Alt, is young and very active, thus he is attracted by almost anything that moves! He has a million toys that act as his prey. Of those he especially loves a small stuffed whale, maybe because it is gray, and it slightly resembles a mouse. Alt can be often seen walking around with the poor whale in his mouth, but amazingly the stuffed toy has survived his rough treatment for a full year so far! I love that I can predict where he plans to sleep each night because he carries the whale there a bit before going to sleep.
Obviously he goes crazy every time there is a dragonfly in the house. He looks up at it and follows its movements, sometimes looking at me with pleading eyes as if to say "Why can't I catch it?". One night he stalked the insect for three hours, and in the process he knocked over everything in the kitchen!
Shadows on the wall also make him go crazy. He will play with them without ever getting tired of it, but I really can't stand the sound of nails scratching the walls so the game doesn't last too long.
There is one thing that, strangely, does nothing for him: the sounds of other cats meowing. I tried to elicit a reaction using cat videos on Youtube, but he just doesn't care at all for the sounds. Is it possible he knows they're not coming from a real cat?
