Scared of Thunder

I know it's normal for cats to dislike loud noises but is anyone else's cats scared of thunder?


With the Spring storms starting up here (currently one in progress), we get a lot of loud storms. Sho get so upset during them.
If I leave a room during a storm he'll follow and stay near me, if in the bedroom he drags the blankets off the foot of the bed and hides under them. Poor thing. I have him out now and sitting beside me but can tell he's not comfortable, every rumble makes him swish his tail around and his eyes are a little too wide. I have to keep reassuring him or else he'll go hide again.
He was born and spent the first few months outdoors, this is probably where his fear stems from. There's also the really bad storms where he could be picking up on my stress.

I'm not surprised at all. Thunder is a very loud and scary sound. I'm in California so we dont get much thunder but when we do the cats totally freak out.

My beloved Pandi was so terrified of thunder, I would have to talk to her, calm her down, she would hide underneath whatever was close to me. I felt so bad, it was like the sky was falling to her......

Here in Portland we rarely get any thunder - maybe once per year. I can tell you that fireworks scare Sebastian. He runs and hides. We live near downtown so we are very close to them. Loud abpupt sounds in other apartments scare him, too. Guess we just have delicate kitties

Don't know yet. We got Reeses in November. Although I'm sure she'll probably go hide and really big boomers. She's a fraidy cat

My current ones don't care - they are used to it, but I have had cats in the past who would hide at the least sign of a storm - I am sure they could sense it in the air.

I'm the next state over and we are in tornado alley, so yes, we get a lot of loud violent storms here.

I had a dog once that was terrified of thunder (we found her abandoned on the side of the road during a spring thunderstorm). What we learned from her is that the best approach is to simply ignore the storm and act like there is nothing unusual going on. If you remain calm, they generally will remain calm also. Because we are so accustomed to doing this, none of my cats really freak out unless we get a massive boom out of the blue. Then its a quick scurry, followed by calmness for later booms.

My cats are different:
PJ doesn't care. I think she'd sit and watch the storms out the window if we let her.

Teddy used to be absolutely terrified of thunder. He would crawl under the bed for hours and not come out. Over time, it seems that he's gotten more used to it and isn't as scared, but he still jumps and hides - just not as much or as often. His eyes get wide and he gets very nervous. He's a lap cat, so I try and get him to get into my lap as soon as possible so I can pet him.

Yup, pretty much all the cats except Whitey are afraid. Whitey just doesn't seem to mind a whole lot.

Patches and Beauty will hide under the bed, Luna will come out for love and reassurance...until the next boom and run back under the bed. It's about one of the few times you'll see all 3 huddle.

When I was in Oklahoma, I could always tell when we were going to have a bad storm because a minute or two before the thunder started my cat Stinky would hide under the bed and meow until it was over. It didn't seem to bother Alley, her sister, unless it got super bad, then she would hide under the bed with Stinky

Originally Posted by Momofmany

What we learned from her is that the best approach is to simply ignore the storm and act like there is nothing unusual going on. If you remain calm, they generally will remain calm also. Because we are so accustomed to doing this, none of my cats really freak out unless we get a massive boom out of the blue.

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Occasionally... ok, more often than not it's hard to stay too calm. Straight-line winds taking off chunks of roof or snapping power poles is scary, and of course tornado warnings when they're saying there's a funnel spotted nearby.

Shortly before the original post there was a huge boom, it actually spooked Tomas a little. Turns out that was a gasoline tanker being stuck by lightning and exploding a few miles south of where I live.

Originally Posted by PaulaS

When I was in Oklahoma, I could always tell when we were going to have a bad storm because a minute or two before the thunder started my cat Stinky would hide under the bed and meow until it was over.

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Considering that most of our storms here are bad storms, maybe our cats know something we don't.
I just wish the little storms wouldn't bother Sho too.

There was a very brief, but very loud and intense thunderstorm a few days ago at 5:30 AM (it woke me up). Possum seemed to be okay with it, just lying on the window sill, but Loki was very freaked out, and went to hide. However, he didn't go in the couch, he chose the covered but open space of the dining table and chairs. He seemed to want to be by himself and didn't want me to pet him, which I thought was odd, but I let him be and went back to bed. I was awake enough to be amused by the irony of Loki being scared by thunder.

Tricia

We have a high skylight in the center of our living room, and when it rains, the sound is wonderful! The kitties all gather below in a circle and stare up at it... and if it's dark out, the lightning puts on quite a show. Our cats show concern, but not much alarm...

...Except for St. John Dundee. When he was three months old, he was sleeping on the cat tree in my room one night when a loud thundercrack shook the window -- and the next thing I knew, this little ball of orange fluff was clamped around my neck, hanging on for dear life!

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I know it's normal for cats to dislike loud noises but is anyone else's cats scared of thunder?

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I think this varies with cats. I have some who are rather tough and noises, even really loud ones don't bother them while others flinch at the sound of anything.

I live near an airport and planes fly over all the time causing a lot of noise. This past weekend there was an airshow and a lot of planes were flying over our house. My older cats were going about their own business, but one of the newest additions to my house, my darlin' little cici, got so scared when a large plane passed our house. It was so funny. The other cats, about 3 or 4 that were there were just basking in the sun enjoying themselves and when the plane came they simply looked up and then went back to their business. But poor little cici was so startled that she sort of went "POOF" and was gone under the house in like 2 seconds. I couldn't help but chuckle. I was just so darn cute.