Friday 4 September 2009

Obsessive Pets

I was half listening to the review of the newspapers on Radio 4 this morning when a story about a cat caught my attention. Apparently a cat in England has become the first feline in UK to be diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder for excessive grooming. It may be the first formal diagnosis but I think obsessive behaviour is fairly common in pets.

Our dog Megan has an obsession about rounding things up, when we had a rabbit she would spend hours running round in circles to make sure that the rabbit didn't escape. We had lawn circles where she wore away the grass. Maybe crop circles have nothing to do with aliens, they are probably caused by demented border collies trying to round up rabbits!

Oreo the cat has an obsession with moths, he has declared the bathroom a no fly zone and he patrols the area to ensure that any moth foolish enough to fly in through the bathroom window is caught and eating in record time. That brings me to his other obsession - food! He will eat absolutely anything, he is like the Robbie of the cat world, he even stole and ate some wine gums the other day!

Dave the cat is a feisty character, but he also has his obsessions. He is very attached to me and whenever I sit down he is there within seconds ready to sit on my lap. He gets on well with Robbie too because Robbie feeds him, but if Robbie sits next to me or attempts to hug me, Dave appears and pushes himself between us to make it quite clear that that he is my best friend and Robbie should go away!

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