Do Cats Understand Accidents/clumsiness?

[Lari]

I'm never sure if I'm posting in the right forum.

Two nights ago, I put my glasses on my night stand, turned out the lights and on my way to bed made foot contact with something warm and fuzzy. To which I immediately apologized and felt terrible. Then last night, glasses came off, kitty came in front of me and a foot went on the tail, to which she made an annoyed noise and hid in her tunnel for about five minutes. Again, I immediately apologized, as is my way.

She came to do her normal 'groom myself on Lari's legs while she's in bed' within ten minutes of each incident and this morning she was rubbing her scent all over me.

Lelia is just so gentle and never scratches or bites and I don't want her to think I would ever hurt her on purpose. Even with my contacts in, though, I'm not the most graceful of people, and when you take away my vision I'm even worse. Do you think she understands that? And that I love her and feel terrible?

 

[Columbine]

I don't know if cats understand accidents in the human sense of the word, but they can definitely understand that you didn't mean to hurt them. I've trodden on tails or paws, tripped over furry bodies etc more times than I can count (and I'm sure almost any long time cat owner will say the same ). Apart from maybe being a bit standoffish for a while, they've gone right back to their usual selves. I've certainly never had a cat get scared of me for it (and I'm one of the clumsiest people on the planet ).

I always try to make up for any mis-steps, and give them a snuggle to say sorry as soon as I can...sometimes even treats if it was a particularly bad accident (I think I dropped a book on Shenka recently It' amazing how fast his favourite treat made it all better ).

 

[Kieka]

Don't worry. Cats seem to have a habit of putting themselves right under foot. Just this morning Rocket ran right behind me as I sat to put on my shoes and ended up with an elbow in her side. I've always found a good "poor baby" cuddle right after smoothes over any immediate problem. Sometimes I swear she does it for the human groveling for forgiveness after

 

[Pjg8r]

I don’t know if they understand “accidents” but mine understand tone of voice. When I step on a tail or my glasses fall off my head and land on one of them I always say out loud that I’m so sorry and I’m convinced they understand it was an accident.

 

[maggiedemi]

I've learned how to do the shuffle walk. At least that way I would just bump into them, not stomp on them.

 

[artiemom]

OMGosh, what I haven't done to my poor guy. When he is so underfoot, it is so easy to either step, gently kick him, rather than end up on the floor, myself..

The worst was when I caught his tail in a cabinet drawer. I felt horrible.. yes, I drew blood. It was horrible.. I pulled a chunk of fur off of him..

Artie was underfoot as usual, at meal time. He really wanted his food. He was going in and out of my legs, as I was walking in the kitchen. I went over to the silverware drawer, to get a fork out, I knew he was underneath me, but I did not realize his tail was sticking straight up. Yup, closed the drawer, fast, with his tail inside!! OMG.. did he scream!!! I immediately opened the drawer, saw a piece of fur drop down. Artie scooted away like a bat out of heck, as soon as the drawer had closed. I went over to him. WE managed to have pulled off a good size chunk of fur.. He was bleeding!! OMGosh, he was bleeding!!

Try to catch a cat whose is afraid of you and is bleeding!! It was an absolute three ring circus!!

Finally, I got a hold of him; trying to assess the damage and decide if we needed an ER vet visit.. After much struggling, I was able to wipe down the area..

It took a while to heal and was leaking for a few days, but did not seem as if the bone was damaged. It was a tad crooked for a bit.. but I took that to be from pain.

I felt horrible.

To answer your question:
Artie was hesitant to get anywhere near that cabinet, and was very hesitant around me in the kitchen. It took time, but he came around. For a very long time, if he was in the kitchen and I had to open that drawer, he went running.

Now he does not rub my legs, anywhere near that cabinet.. he learned, but forgave me..

Your baby will be ok.. just give her some time..

PS... I wear glasses also, and have learned "The Cat Shuffle" when I walk...

 

[mightyboosh]

I've often wondered the same thing and maybe, just maybe they have an inkling of intent. I like to think so.
Whilst on the subject, many years ago I was cutting out some matting from our Persian and I accidentally cut his neck under the chin. It was a proper cut that required stitching but he didn't seem to mind as he only made a little sound of protest. I don't remember it bleeding much if at all. It was all a bit weird.
Needless to say I've not attempted that again with any other cat.

 

[Lari]

Thanks guys. I'm feeling better. She didn't seem to be treating me much differently, so I was hoping she knew I didn't mean it, I just felt so terrible about it.

 

[Margret]

Jasmine knows that Roger is uncertain on his feet; she stays strictly away from him when he's upright, and he praises her for it. She doesn't try to play with his walker, either, the way she's been known to play with my cane when I was using one. On the other hand, when I was using a cane it was because I had vertigo and needed something to give me a proper sense of Up and Down, so she was seriously endangering herself by playing with it, and she seemed to be totally unaware of that. I think it just means that I'd actually managed to avoid ever falling around her. If we'd gotten her a month earlier her reactions might have been quite different. And she seems to be totally unaware that if I'm carrying something it probably means that I can't see the area around my feet. So how much do they know? Can't say. Do they hold it against us? Not unless we make it plain that we meant to do that, and we don't. So it's okay.

Margret

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I'm never sure if I'm posting in the right forum.

Two nights ago, I put my glasses on my night stand, turned out the lights and on my way to bed made foot contact with something warm and fuzzy. To which I immediately apologized and felt terrible. Then last night, glasses came off, kitty came in front of me and a foot went on the tail, to which she made an annoyed noise and hid in her tunnel for about five minutes. Again, I immediately apologized, as is my way.

She came to do her normal 'groom myself on Lari's legs while she's in bed' within ten minutes of each incident and this morning she was rubbing her scent all over me.

Lelia is just so gentle and never scratches or bites and I don't want her to think I would ever hurt her on purpose. Even with my contacts in, though, I'm not the most graceful of people, and when you take away my vision I'm even worse. Do you think she understands that? And that I love her and feel terrible?

I think the fact that she returns to her "normal 'groom myself on Lari's legs while she's in bed' within ten minutes of each incident" is a great sign. (My cat does that in the crook of my legs each night with me, too!) I happen to be blind as a bat without my contact lenses in or my glasses on. In fact, it could be that Milly and I act like bats when I'm walking around at night to use the bathroom, etc. We both talk a bit to each other and we both make meow-merr-ing sounds to hear where we each are. Echolocation, lol. I am so grateful that she's not an all-black kitty and that she has some tuxedo flashes of white on her, as otherwise I'd not be able to see her at night without my glasses. My gaze is usually fixed to the floor watching for flashing white paws and her white locket.