why do cats insist on vomiting on carpet?

[fizzgig]

thank gods i had socks on when i got out of bed this morning x(

[stuntcat]

1. YUCK

hehe I stepped in vomit just a few weeks ago. We have brown shag carpet (not our pick, soon to be ripped out) so the vomit blends right in :puke:

[fizzgig]

3. ewwwww

sounds like other things would blend in with that carpet, too :puke:

[Critters2]

27. Get a beagle

Half the time, the vomit is gone before I even knew it was there! :)

[Connonym]

2. because if they did it on your bed it would be even grosser

they're just trying to be considerate, gosh!

[fizzgig]

4. that's one way to look at it

sweet, considerate kitties, they are :D

[Richardo]

15. Who says they don't?

:grr:

I've had an unpleasant surprise more than once. x(

[KittyWampus]

16. My beloved kitty once vomited up a whole mouse on my bed.

ewwwwwwww

[Connonym]

17. ewww

that is really gross

[barb162]

40. That's a really classy cat you got there. n/t

[TZ]

5. How would you like it in your shoe?

That happened to me not too long ago. I believe it was during a period when I was not paying a lot of attention to the kitty..Message received!!!

[fizzgig]

7. i got a present on my bed once

also during a time i was not paying as much attention to the girls as i should...

they are very succinct animals

[barb162]

45. It's preferable to a pillow. n/t

[Digit]

60. Yep, I received a kitty msg in a shoe once.....

not pleasant...

[Arugula Latte]

76. Me too. But it was kitty pee.

x(

That was the same day a kitty threw up all over my desk.

[DarkTirade]

6. Because its easy to clean off of tile.

Duh. :)

[fizzgig]

8. silly hairless apes

of course :)

[Hand]

9. Insh'Allah. nt

[XemaSab]

10. That is the BEST response!

:D

[Orsino]

11. Because they haven't totally conquered gravity...

...your ceilings are relatively safe. Best to walk on those.

[KitchenWitch]

13. Best answer!

:applause:

[fizzgig]

23. i'm working on that

but my grasp on gravity is tenuous at best

[Orsino]

66. In Soviet Russia, gravity find YOU. n/t

[KitchenWitch]

12. Because the tile is cold on their little paws.

[fizzgig]

24. they could stand on the carpet and yak on the kitchen floor

i think they just like to make my life interesting

[barb162]

41. But it's no fun to do it that way.

[MonkeyFunk]

14. My cat

will cross 20 feet of hardwood floor to find the one rug on which he can hork.

[darkstar]

18. Ha..you know what feline stomach acids can do to thae finish?

Praise be The Cat. The Cat is Good.

[fizzgig]

25. my dad's cats will run from the kitchen to the living room

the carpet must feel more comforting or something

[barb162]

42. I have a cat like that. The little bastard.

He literally runs to a carpet.

[racaulk]

19. OK, two things...

1. They'll not only do it on carpet, but about any-damned-where they please from what I've experienced. Carpet, hardwood flooring, on the couch, bed, windowsill, in the bathtub (which was very considerate, actually), on my computer monitor, on top of the dryer...well, you get the idea by now. Why are cats the bulimics of the animal kingdom? :shrug:

2. I *love* your avatar! I just saw Princess Mononoke recently, and I don't even really like anime that much, but I thought it was a beautiful movie.

:hi:

[fizzgig]

26. my cat at my dad's is like that

she managed to vomit from a table in the kitchen and get it in the space between the table and drop-down leaf x(

and thanks for the comment on my avvie. princess mononoke is one of my favorite movies...i have two stuffed kodamas and some people think i'm weird :D

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

20. I'm getting ready to clean up a bit of a mess myself.

I had to go to the store to get some carpet cleaner before I could take care of it.

[fizzgig]

28. i need to shampoo my carpets

little monsters

[Eurobabe]

21. If I had a nickel for every pile of cat gack I have stepped in....

I'd be SO rich.

Full gamut, warm AND cold piles.

:puke:

[fizzgig]

29. i hear ya

plus all the other little treasures they leave around :puke:

[graywarrior]

22. Because they hate us.

I tried picking mine up one time while he was in the middle of a purge and he projectiled 3 feet onto the carpet. Little bastid.

[fizzgig]

30. that is so gross

mine have done that, too

[applegrove]

31. I know. Mine moved about as she vomitted. Always on the carpet. Never on the linolium.

Hope the new new catfood helps the hairball situation.

[fizzgig]

32. i hope so , too

mine vomit very rarely and there was some grass in it, so i think whoever it was just felt a little ickie

[applegrove]

36. In my experience sometimes cats eat grass because they want to be sick. I think it is

instinctive.

[barb162]

43. My cat will do that and not throw up outside.

He holds it in until he comes inside and pukes up on a carpet.

[lizziegrace]

33. Cat gacking went down when I put the food out on a cookie sheet

in a single layer. They can't "inhale" it and it forces them to chew it.

Good luck!

[fizzgig]

34. that's a great idea

i don't normally have a problem with it with my girls, but i should suggest that to my dad (one of his cats inhales the food in the morning and promptly tosses it back up)

[Catshrink]

35. cats and carpeting are incompatible..

I finally gave up and replaced the carpeting with laminate. It's so much easier to clean and the smell doesn't linger.

[fizzgig]

55. that might be more practical if it were more of a problem

and if i didn't rent

[lizerdbits]

37. If I hear the preceeding "urka urka urka"

I move him to the nearest non carpeted area. In your case you couldn't have.

[fizzgig]

56. mine usually run if i try that

i'd rather they do it in the middle of the living room than under my bed

[GCP]

38. Our dining room is the cats' vomitarium

They'll leave the tiled kitchen to vomit on the dining room carpet.

[barb162]

44. That's why I put in glass doors between the kitchen and dining room

All that carpet was too much of an easy mark for my vomit king.

[fizzgig]

57. i've had cats that do that

makes me crazy

[barb162]

39. Because....

[fizzgig]

49. that's a good an answer as any

[barb162]

75. Yeah, but nowhere near as funny as some of the replies on this thread

I was really laughing!

[Jameson and Craic]

46. To annoy you

It's worse when they do it in your favorite pair of sneakers. You know they put effort into puking into your favorite sneakers.

[fizzgig]

50. that's a fate i've so far avoided

welcome to du :hi:

[Jameson and Craic]

51. Thank you

I've lurked for awhile, so I recognize your name.

:hi:

[havocmom]

47. They don't want us sliding in puke on a bare floor

We could get seriously injured and they don't have thumbs for working the can opener.

[fizzgig]

52. it's probably a good thing they don't have thumbs

they'd take over the world :scared:

[Kajsa]

48. Hi Kagemine.

Yeow! I know the feeling--

It's hairball express and it ends up
anywhere they decide to plop it.

For some unknown reason, it's usually on
a good chair/couch or a great rug!

Handiwipes are your friends.
;-)

Good luck, and always look where you are going.

:hi:

[fizzgig]

53. hey kajsa

hairball express...:rofl:

i'm pretty good with damp paper towels, i just wish it didn't show so much on the carpet x(

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

54. Get one of these:

[fizzgig]

58. i love it!

:rofl:

[Zephyrbird]

59. GAAAAACK!!!!!

Give me a bird any old day. When they vomit on you, it's because they looooooove you. My sisters and I call them "love nuggets."

But seriously, I had a friend who covered the vomit until it cooled. She said she couldn't stand to pick it up when it was warm. So I did it. So gross!

[legally blonde]

61. eewwww!

I found a little "present" this morning too (although I was fortunate enough not to step in it this time). A couple of weeks ago I heard the major offender yack up something, but I was never able to find it.

[Danger Mouse]

62. with me it's the dog. all the damn time. and a dog can outpuke a cat.

HORF she goes. right on the kitchen floor.

[fizzgig]

63. at least it's not on the damn carpet

[Danger Mouse]

68. she's shat on the carpet before.

dog shit > cat shit

[krispos42]

64. Traction

If they barf on the linoleum or hardwood, equal and opposite reactions will launch them across the room ass-first regardless of claws.

On carpet, they can dig in.

:rofl:

[Eurobabe]

65. My mom just bought new carpeting

but the piles continue. :(

[SalmonChantedEvening]

67. Because hardwood floors are for cleaning claws. n/t

[meow2u3]

69. I thought pool tables were for scratching

At least that's what Ruby does -- dirty louse!!

[Froward69]

70. somehow this will sound weird

Inc (the lion hearted) has learned to speak to me. I can tell by the tone and anxiousness of his meow what he is in need of. Like "I want to go outside" or "I am going to puke", or even "you really don't want to clean up this mess I am about to unleash". the funniest thing is when I am upset about rents coming in late. He brings me a bird or mouse. following me around until I acknowledge his "paying his fair share". never brings anything dead into the house otherwise. Insofar as to why they insist on puking in carpet... I would suggest it is because if they puked on the hardwood floor, it would splash back onto their fur.

[AirmensMom]

71. Because it's there.

You can have thousands of square feet of bare floor in the house and one little tiny carpet in front of the door ... and they'll hit that tiny piece of carpet every time. I tried to get them to tell me why they do it, but they said they'd have to kill me if they told me that secret. Then no one would feed them. So they just won't tell. :shrug:

[kedrys]

72. Horking on non-carpeted surfaces could cause splashing

and I've seen at least 2 of my cats jump sideways 3 feet from a dead stop just to get away from the stuff.

[distantearlywarning]

73. My best guess:

Because hacking up a hair ball requires a fair bit of muscular effort. It's probably easier to do when they can dig their claws into something and push against it while in the hacking process. They can't do that on hardwood or linoleum.

For a weird and probably gross visualization, think about water coming out of a hose. If you let a hose go, the water coming from it pushes the hose around backwards. It's the same thing with kitties. They don't like being pushed backwards when they puke, and digging into carpet is their way of "holding on".

Just a guess...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

74. One problem with that that theory:

The last time you got sick and had to go call Ralph on the big white phone, did you have to hang on to the bowl in order to prevent yourself from being propelled backwards, yakking up puke and flying around the bathroom like a balloon with the air being suddenly let out? It's an amusing (though disgusting) image, but I don't think the physics works. I think cats puke on carpet just because they like being on carpet.

[redqueen]

77. This is why the best pets are the ones that live in TANKS.

Fish, crabs, etc.

[ChickMagic]

78. Our Axie goes for carpet and/or my shoes

He also shoots out of his litter box like he's on fire and drops turds
along the way. Ick. Cats are fun.