Saffy may be obsessive-compulsive
Is Saffy OC? Mat thinks so.
Every night Saffy goes on patrol. She walks around our apartment for hours, taking the exact same route. When she gets to the bedroom she walks on the bed, climbs on the shelf and jumps onto the window sill. Then she jumps down, goes out of the room, and repeats the circuit. This goes on all night, or at least until we fall asleep.
Sometimes we block her progress with a stack of pillows, or we sit in her path. She stops and indicates that we should get out of her way. This leads to a conversation like this.
Us: You shall not pass.
Saffy: I will pass.
Us: You shall not pass.
Saffy: I will pass.
Repeat 100 times. When she is convinced that we’re not moving away she takes an alternate route, but on the next circuit she will attempt to pass through that exact spot. She does this over and over again, like she’s caught in a loop. It must be good exercise because she has a big appetite but hasn’t gotten fatter. The other cats look at her like she’s bonkers but do not attempt to stop her.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
June 22nd, 2012 at 10:27
Hmm, I think she is. A lovely OC cat.
June 22nd, 2012 at 19:29
It’s called perseveration — engaging in repetitive and ritualistic behavior even when the original stimulus is no longer there, or even after one’s efforts no longer yield the desired results (assuming Saffy had a goal in mind). Now if Saffy’s goal is weight maintenance, then said behavior is purposeful, effective, and therefore, not perseverative. :-)