Hi all, I'm new here... I came specifically to find out about something very very strange that happened with my cat the other day. I've never ever seen or heard about anything like this before (and I'm a freak for nature shows)
We all know that some animals can use electrical bursts or shocks defensively and a rare few offensively, mostly sea animals. A few days ago the people who are moving into our apartment came to look at the place. I brought them in and my cat was standing at the end of the hallway watching and the woman saw him, bent over and said "oh a cat. Hi kitty." and Mina (my cat) hissed loudly and long, a very rare thing despite him being quite high strung and afraid of almost everything outside our apartment. I followed him into the living room while the couple looked around assessing their future home and I leaned over to pet him and comfort him. I got a bit of a shock when I first touched his fur, nothing strange just a normal static spark. But as I rubbed his chest I was getting regular shocks everytime my fingers drew away from his fur or approached it. His chest, his face, his back, anywhere I reached to touch him, as my fingers got close I would get a static shock. And it was regularly occuring, a normal shock that I get from my cat usually comes when he's sleeping on his carpet covered climbing... thing, and I touch him with my face or fingers, and it only happens once then the energy is discharged and there are no more shocks.
This was different, this wasn't just a static charge, this was fear related and therefore (arguably) a defense mechanism. I've never heard of anything like this with mammals and I think about what the shock would feel like if felt by another mammal of the same size and not something ten times its size like me. Or even what it would feel like if felt by something the size of a mouse. Another strange thing. When my cat is afraid or startled (as most of you should know) the hair on his back stands up and the hair on his tail puffs out, a very easily understood defensive reaction... but this, the first time I've ever seen or even heard of it, the electrical energy came without the puffed up tail or raised hair on his back.
I'm completely puzzled. But I wonder if this could be something well known that I somehow missed, I thought very quickly of the pokemon character Pikachu, who is kind of like a cat I think, but has an electrical burst as his special attack.
Has anybody ever experienced anything like this before or anybody ever read, heard or know anything about this?
We all know that some animals can use electrical bursts or shocks defensively and a rare few offensively, mostly sea animals. A few days ago the people who are moving into our apartment came to look at the place. I brought them in and my cat was standing at the end of the hallway watching and the woman saw him, bent over and said "oh a cat. Hi kitty." and Mina (my cat) hissed loudly and long, a very rare thing despite him being quite high strung and afraid of almost everything outside our apartment. I followed him into the living room while the couple looked around assessing their future home and I leaned over to pet him and comfort him. I got a bit of a shock when I first touched his fur, nothing strange just a normal static spark. But as I rubbed his chest I was getting regular shocks everytime my fingers drew away from his fur or approached it. His chest, his face, his back, anywhere I reached to touch him, as my fingers got close I would get a static shock. And it was regularly occuring, a normal shock that I get from my cat usually comes when he's sleeping on his carpet covered climbing... thing, and I touch him with my face or fingers, and it only happens once then the energy is discharged and there are no more shocks.
This was different, this wasn't just a static charge, this was fear related and therefore (arguably) a defense mechanism. I've never heard of anything like this with mammals and I think about what the shock would feel like if felt by another mammal of the same size and not something ten times its size like me. Or even what it would feel like if felt by something the size of a mouse. Another strange thing. When my cat is afraid or startled (as most of you should know) the hair on his back stands up and the hair on his tail puffs out, a very easily understood defensive reaction... but this, the first time I've ever seen or even heard of it, the electrical energy came without the puffed up tail or raised hair on his back.
I'm completely puzzled. But I wonder if this could be something well known that I somehow missed, I thought very quickly of the pokemon character Pikachu, who is kind of like a cat I think, but has an electrical burst as his special attack.
Has anybody ever experienced anything like this before or anybody ever read, heard or know anything about this?
