Have you ever noticed your cat is scared of a specific noise? You may already know that with Kalista it’s the sound of strangers, or… well just about anything, but with Beau, it’s oddly the sound of crinkling and plastic bags.
A few days ago, as we were getting ready to leave, we put out Beau’s food and started doing some last minute chores. One of the chores was emptying the garbage bins and even though Beau was on the other side of the apartment (which is at least 20 feet away) Beau scrunched up in fear and ran away from the sound. He got so scared that he hid under the bed, which isn’t usually a thing he does.
Normally when Beau is scared he jumps on top of our bed as it’s considered one of his “safe spots” and we actually trained him to jump onto the bed every time he hears the fire alarm, which he’s also afraid of, just to make sure he’s accessible if we need to pack him up and get out of the apartment. So, it was a bit shocking that a plastic bag scared Beau enough to ignore his “safe spot” and hide somewhere where we couldn’t reach him.
I’m wondering if his fear of plastic bags has to do with some sort of trauma he had when he was a stray. I know a lot of strays are scavengers who get food from the garbage, but I’m wondering if a lid smashed on him or something.
What I find a bit more crazy is the fact that anything that makes a crinkle terrifies him, even crinkle balls. I had bought him one from the local pet store a few years back to see if he’d like it, this being before we knew about his plastic bag fear, and he immediately ran away from it.
So, this brings my question. Is Beau getting better in terms of sounds? Is it possible to get him to become less afraid of plastic bags? I had assumed that since he was getting over the fear of crinkle balls, he would also get over the fear of plastic bags… but I guess that’s not true.
I’m going to do some research and see if there’s a way to help our little guy out, because I don’t want him to be afraid every time I change a bin, however, if you have any advice for us before I do the research let me know! I definitely don’t want to traumatize him any further.
Have any of your pets been afraid of specific noises? What did you do to help them?
Amy says
May 18, 2019 at 3:20 pmMy second cat Yuki(we took her on february 19th) is afraid of boxes and plastic bags everytime when she sees them runs away from it, i took her from shelter, her story was someone found her scared in car park. I just guessing that her ‘old parents’ rly hated her and did nothing good with her and it is something like trauma, so your cat could have a trauma too from the past.
Johnny Salib says
May 19, 2019 at 7:22 pmYeah, I’ve wondered if that’s true of Beau, but I guess we won’t know!
Halle says
March 28, 2019 at 7:05 pmI have a theory about this! You know how people do the creepy noises/whispering on YouTube because it’s ‘relaxing’? Asmr or whatever lol? It ALWAYS makes me super irritated or anxious, (which is the opposite of the desired effect), so I Googled it. Interestingly, people can be relaxed OR (less commonly) stressed by those noises! Anyhoo… I have two cats and the younger male hides under my bed if there’s ANY crinkle noise. Candy bar wrappers, plastic bags, even noise of paper moving too quickly. He can be sleeping on my bed by me, and if I start to unwrap something he will wake up and look. If I stop, he stops. If I keep going again, he quickly makes a face and leaves to sulk under the bed. He can see what I’m doing, and knows there isn’t a threat. So this, to me, implies that some cats must have an innate psychological stress/cringe response like ‘nails on a chalkboard’, while most enjoy the crinkling or can relax with it (ie crinkle foil balls and bells). Interesting! I can’t find anything other than high pitch loud noises causing seizures in older cats. Maybe that’s related as well.
Johnny Salib says
March 29, 2019 at 12:10 amThis is really interesting! I’m going to do more research on it!
The Swiss Cats says
January 5, 2019 at 4:07 pmWe can relate : Zorro hates that kind of noises too. Purrs
Johnny Salib says
January 5, 2019 at 5:16 pmGlad you can relate, although I wish they weren’t so scared!
Eastside Cats says
January 2, 2019 at 4:38 pmAngel is terrified of loud noises, like fireworks, and garbage trucks and school buses. She hides, and no amount of coaxing will bring her out. Da Boyz could care less; not much scares them! I hope that you find a way to win Beau over to plastic bags!
Johnny Salib says
January 2, 2019 at 5:12 pmIt’s so weird, loud noises don’t normally scare Beau. Just plastic bags… if he hears a loud noise he runs away but comes back almost immediately.
DA TABBIES O TROUT TOWNE says
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Johnny Salib says
January 2, 2019 at 5:11 pmHAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS <3