Duncan has a deep, dark secret – one he managed, until now, to hide from me and the world in general. But last night his secret leapt out of the shadows and into the light and – if you like mixed metaphors – the cat was out of the bag.
I’ll give you a hint: Duncan’s not such a big brave lion. He’s afraid of something.
He’s feeling a little sheepish about it this morning, now that his secret has been exposed. I’ve tried to reassure him that everybody’s scared of something. I, for example, am afraid of bulls and public speaking. My son, as a toddler, was afraid of hair in the bathtub. I know someone who gets hysterical if a butterfly flutters by.
I’ve known cats who were afraid of carrying cages, vets, rides in the car, dogs, loud noises, screaming children and wet grass.
But Duncan’s the first cat I’ve ever met who is afraid of human babies.
Last night Emilie and Jacob dropped by. Jacob’s nine weeks old and he is very sweet and quiet. Emilie put his little recliner chair down on the floor and Jacob just sat there quietly looking around. He did not look in the least little bit intimidating.
But Duncan’s eyes were big as saucers and he was freaked. He could not take his eyes off Jacob, and not in the good way that I can’t take my eyes off Jacob.
It was a bit alarming, actually, because at first I couldn’t tell whether he was afraid of Jacob or feeling aggressive towards him. It’s hard for me to imagine Duncan being aggressive, but they told me at the Humane Society that he is aggressive towards other cats. Maybe he was thinking Jacob was half-cat/half-human, since he is roughly cat-sized with a human face.
At any rate, I didn’t like the way he was looking at Jacob, or the way his tail was twitching. Jacob, however, didn’t pick up on any weird vibes, and just fell into a peaceful sleep.
Duncan preferred the baby asleep, but still couldn’t take his freaked-out saucer eyes off him. Eventually he crept closer and closer to the baby and then, very tentatively, started to sniff him. He was in that hyper-vigilant pose, ready to flee at the first sign of sound or movement. He sniffed the baby all over, and he sniffed the chair and the blanket.
After he had thoroughly smelled the baby, he retreated and laid down about six feet away.
He still kept an eye on the baby, but he didn’t seem as weird after that. When they left, he watched through the window as Emilie pushed the baby carriage down the street, and he didn’t stop watching until they disappeared from sight.
I wish I’d gotten a picture, but I was in hyper-vigilant mode too, poised to intervene if necessary. Instead, here’s a picture of him in his harness in the back yard, wondering if he can flatten himself enough to squeeze under the gate.
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I’ve heard that babies will often sneak up on a cat and lay across its face and smother it to death. Duncan has probably heard the same rumour.
lol
I’ve seen our cat do the same thing with babies. Verrrrrry cautious. It never seemed to me to be aggression. Much more … apprehensiveness.
LOL XUP!
I wonder what Duncan would think of Sam – he is a little freaky right now – army crawling all over the place making screechy sounds like a bird of prey.
My old cat Russell (who lives with my mom now) doesn’t like anyone under four feet tall. I’m not sure if it’s fear, or just a general dislike for grabby hands, but he takes off at the first sign of a child, no matter if they are baby, toddler or school aged. He was a stray and mom found him by a school, so it may be some horrible memory from his past….
Tux is just scared of dogs, Peno is scared of EVERYTHING and Rocky is just scared of Dave’s feet
Zoom, You holdin’ out on the newborn babies? If Duncan doesn’t love them, you know somebody who does. The cat we had when our daughters were small would run to comfort them with purrs whenever they cried. Sweet memory.
Yeah Grace, has zZom posted that my cat Luna wants to be a midwife?
She sleeps with the baby and while she doesn’t suffer grabby little kids she NEVER scratches the baby even when he uses her tail as a teething toy.
But Duncan is a big ginger boy and big ginger boys are usually afraid of everything!! My nephew brought his new born over to visit and both my cats are nervous of people they don’t know. My clever tortie hid discretely so she could study the visitors safely from a distance and admire the bio-hazzard that one so small could create in his nappy. But my cuddle-boy, his terror knew no bounds and the little person was the scariest of all.
I totally feel you, Duncan. I fear human babies too.
Babies have what I call “the grip of death” – it’s a survival thing, like with baby monkeys who ride around on the mama’s back. I watched a video of these stupid parents who allowed their baby to get a hold of the family pet bird and it was missing half its feathers when all was done. I blame the ignorant parents, not the baby. Maybe Duncan was “attacked” by a baby and has good reason to give them a wide berth. I know I do. (just kidding, sort of)