my kitty's phobia!

Hi, I'm new to this forum....I must say, it looks SO great!!! so many people who love their kittys as much as I do!

Anyway this isn't so much a problem as a weird observation... my 10 month old kitten Spike has a phobia for slippers! It's been going on for a few months and as long as someone's wearing them he's not bothered, but if they're left on the floor without any feet in them he's terrified!!! He'll prowl round them sniffing, and if you shove them a bit toward him he'll jump about 2 feet in the air! I've done investigations and discovered that it's nothing to do with the style or the colour of the slippers, and shoes or boots don't phase him either, just slippers!!? What on earth is going on in that little brain of his??!

I certainly don't claim to have any insider knowledge here, but I once had a little kitty-girl who had a shoe phobia much like you've described with the slippers, only my girl was skittish around ANY footwear, socks included. She would watch intently as the shoes and socks were being removed, puff up like a big old halloween kitty and then hiss and spit like a wild thing. The only thing I can come up with is that maybe she thought we were somehow removing our feet and it freaked her out ... I dunno. She was a strange one. LOL Maybe your little Spike thinks the same thing about the slippers ... "How can they smell so much like Mom and Dad when Mom and Dad aren't IN them????" LOL

Maybe its because I have had a drink or two tonight.. but rofl, thats funny! What great visual images those messages bring to mind. I wish I could watch the cats react to slippers and socks, that must be funny as heck especially not knowing what the heck is going on in their cute little kitty brains. "Finally that snake is off mommy's foot, I will get it!" "Wow thats a big leech, how can mommy stand to walk around on that thing?" "Eww that smelly monster let go of mommy finally, I am going to punish it!" *grin*

Winnie had a similar problem when she was younger, but it would be any small cloth-type thing (like a sock, towel or dish cloth that's been dropped) she'd be really apprehensive and carefully sniff at it and then give it a big smack! It used to crack me up, but she hasn't done it for a long time, I guess she grew out of it.