Our cat is obsessed with 'phantoms'

Our middle cat, Shadow, one of the sweetest cats you could imagine, has been acting strange every now and then... for short periods of time (a couple of hours), every couple of days, she becomes obsessed with the ceiling/walls of our living room and dining room - to the point that she gets on the table (she knows she's not supposed to be there, and normally NEVER goes up there). She seems to be following a fly or bug, but there is nothing there.

I've tried figuring out what she is keying in on.... it does not seem to be related to lights (her attention is glued, regardless of lights on, off, curtains, etc...) and she follows this "phantom spot" around. The other two cats do not seem to see this, nor do any humans. I've shined a flashlight in the spot, but Shadow never wavers from her vigilance. 

Seems a bit spooky.

It does not seem to be related to her ingesting catnip, since we rarely dole that out to the cats, and these incidents are not happening in any sort of relation to those times.

Wow - that is strange!  I wish I had an answer for you, but I am at a loss.  One thing comes to mind, but I don't know if it has any validity.  Have you ever had a "floater" in your eye?  It's some kind of tissue that has come loose in there and looks like little specks floating in the air.  I don't know if cats get them, but they can be very distracting, and might consume a cat's attention.

I'm probably way off base, but it's the only thing I can think of!

The "floater" is a good theory, except she darts around sometimes, like she sees it moving around the room.

I had a bad case of "floater" after getting treated for ocular melanoma... blood inside my eye (due to a biopsy) that would float in front of my vision when I leaned my head back. Eventually, the blood re-absorbed, and I'd see the red-shaded edges... but it was a bit freaky at first.

Now I just have blurry blobs in that eye (effects of radiation), but nothing substantial enough to make me see phantom objects.

I looked at her eyes and didn't see anything too obvious, but they are blue, which tends to be more problematic, vision-wise, at least for us humans.

Actually I think it's fairly common for cats to stare at and chase things we can't see. Mine do it too. I have no idea why though.

Cats are pron to seeing things we cannot but she might have eye problams get that part checked out and if it ain't that just except that she likes chacing it around as playfullness.

She's communicating with the mothership. :lol3:

Maybe Shadow just has an active imagination!  Maybe lots of cats do - like how they'll just be sitting there, then they'll start to get a little twitchy and all of a sudden just take off and run around like something's chasing them or there's an emergency on the other side of the yard!  I'd love to know what's going on in their heads!

Same here they are so cute.

Maybe she hears something you cant?  A few years back my Mother had a mouse in the wall of her house.  Only one of her 3 cats cared at all.  That cat would stare at the wall where she heard sounds.  But we could usually hear it too. 

MoochNNoodles said:

Maybe she hears something you cant?  A few years back my Mother had a mouse in the wall of her house.  Only one of her 3 cats cared at all.  That cat would stare at the wall where she heard sounds.  But we could usually hear it too. 

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Could be, though the house is relatively 'modern' in construction, and I haven't seen any evidence of mice in the house since we moved in 18+ years ago (and Georgette, our oldest, moved in)

I don't have an answer for you, and my cat doesn't do this exactly, but often times when I'm in my room she'll walk in, stop in the doorway, stare into the room with wide eyes, and then dash off back out of the room and back down the stairs. My other cat doesn't do this.

My cat has started following somethung imaginary around I'm glade she is getting miore excersies than usuall but it is really annnoying but I am putting up with it cause sometimes its funny.

Maybe it is a light.

Peeps breaks her neck to get into the toddlers room at about the same time every day just to jump on his changing table and sit there facing the wall. I never could figure out why. Then, one day I caught her at it. If a car outside turns a certain way, it sends a very quick light pattern across the wall. It happens infrequently because that's not a busy corner, but she's obviously seen it often enough to have learned at what time of day the reflection happens because she pretty regularly goes in there on sunny days and waits for it. It normally just looks like a cat sitting facing the wall.

aharris said:

Maybe it is a light.

Peeps breaks her neck to get into the toddlers room at about the same time every day just to jump on his changing table and sit there facing the wall. I never could figure out why. Then, one day I caught her at it. If a car outside turns a certain way, it sends a very quick light pattern across the wall. It happens infrequently because that's not a busy corner, but she's obviously seen it often enough to have learned at what time of day the reflection happens because she pretty regularly goes in there on sunny days and waits for it. It normally just looks like a cat sitting facing the wall.

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Sounds like one smart kitty!

Tick-n-Thistle said:

Maybe Shadow just has an active imagination!  Maybe lots of cats do - like how they'll just be sitting there, then they'll start to get a little twitchy and all of a sudden just take off and run around like something's chasing them or there's an emergency on the other side of the yard!  I'd love to know what's going on in their heads!

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That's funny--our cats have invisible "emergencies" at the other end of the house all the time.  

Sorry about the duplicate posts, I'm new to the site and figuring my way around.  Here's a photo of our Ozzy, checking out some invisible something outside.  He was sitting on his chair at the counter, then jumped up on hind legs with his paw on the counter like he suddenly saw something.  Gotta say, he made me turn around and look!  

I had a cat who has since passed on who would do this.  None of the other cats in the house heard or saw what he did in one corner of the living room but he was crouch down and get real still and stare at the wall.  We had both his ears and his eyes checked by specialists and nothing was found.  We live in a townhouse so were told that it was the neighbors but none of the other cats had an issue with whatever "it" was.  Eventually he did grow out of it. 

We're not alone:  

http://www.savagechickens.com/2012/06/why-do-cats-stare-at-walls.html

One thought I had was the potential of a seizure. Not the 'fall on the floor, flailing' type but a more localized seizure. I would take note of every time this occurs, record the length of time of the incident, any unusual behavior following it and a video (if you can get it). Then bring all of your information to your vet and see what he/she says.
 

betsygee said:

We're not alone:  

http://www.savagechickens.com/2012/06/why-do-cats-stare-at-walls.html

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I wondered why mine were staring at the walls.  They also watch the "ceiling cats".