I’ve posted a video like this before, and some readers did try the experiment with their own cats, though some said it was cruel. As I recall, the results were inconclusive, as most cats didn’t react like these ones.
My own theory, which is mine, is that cucumbers (which are thin on one end, fat in the middle, and thin on the other end) resemble snakes, and evoke a longstanding and evolved snake aversion in felids that has been inherited by house cats.
While I grant that this experiment may scare a cat, cats are scared regularly, and a one-time experiment doesn’t seem so bad. If you haven’t seen this, and have both a cat and a cucumber on hand, try it and post the results below. It’s felid evolutionary psychology!
h/t: Nilou
Would cats be afraid of a rubber snake in the same way? What about a carrot or a leek. Many experiments could be performed. Muwahahaha. If I had a cat, I wouldn’t subject them frequently to these fear-tests. Maybe once every two weeks or so.
A few years ago, students in my Animal Behavior class did variations on this theme. Cucumber vs banana vs orange, cucumber vs rubber snake, cucumber presented to cats of different ages, and cucumber presented in different ways (behind distracted cat vs in full view). Keep in mind that sample sizes were tiny. Each cat was only tested once (no pseudoreplication for us!). If I remember correctly, only 2 of maybe 50 cats reacted in any way that remotely resembled the videos. One was a kitten, and the other was a cat who lived with an older couple and reacted (tiny startle) to the orange! My own tentative conclusion is that the reaction is about the surprise of having something unexpectedly appear next to you and has nothing to do with what the object is, and that some cats are more prone to exaggerated startle responses than others.
I support this theory.
I certainly support its investigation. Cats are skittish anyway, so controlling for that seems to be the first thing to do.
Do you hear that quiet “swishing” sound? That’s the sound of cats stropping their claws, just out of your sight. Not that they need to strop their claws, but they’ve learned from the mice how to “prepare” a human for vivisection.
My cat is scared by the tiniest sounds. If I rub up against a wall or doorway as I walk by it, he jumps.
If I drop something heavier than a tissue, he jumps.
Basically, if he hears anything that isn’t a consistent sound in his life, he jumps. I’ve never seen that with any of my other cats. It’s amusing because he otherwise acts like a tough guy, but it’s all a front.
Oh, I forgot that this was all to say that I don’t think it’s cruel to see if a cucumber scares your cat.
I find the video a bit disturbing. I’m for leaving the deep science behind cat pickle-phobia forever in the realm of the unknown aspects of the universe.
I have neither a cucumber nor a cat handy, but tangentially…
We were once taking care of a friend’s kitten, who was such a ferocious and ill-mannered ankle-biter that he was named Abu (after Abu Nidal, a then-notorious terrorist). I found a toy that I though little Abu would enjoy — an 8″ rubber spider with a mechanism that would cause it to leap when you squeezed a little rubber ball at the end of a tube. I figured all those wiggly legs and the irregular motion would give Abu much joy. But he was terrified if it! Which made me think that he had an inborn fear of large spiders.
Isn’t Abu Nidal a tennis player?
Rafael Nadal🏸 (could only find a badminton racquet…)
Got it! 😎
I have the cats but no cucumber or I would try it.
Get a damn cucumber! They cost almost nothing and you could test it on several independent cats!
Note that the cucumber is put in place when the cat isn’t paying attention (sleeping/eating/etc). I suspect that any foreign object that “appeared magically” in close proximity in an otherwise well known location might elicit a startle response on first sight. And, that cucumbers left in neutral areas when the cat isn’t around might be perceived as any other non-threatening “found object” when encountered.
Yes, but this could be tested by using another object, say a turnip.
My big 18-lb. Booker T. will do a little extra jump if he lands on my bed and there is more than the usual cat toys and ribbons (a single sock can startle him.) one he settles he loves to lie on laundry I’m folding and take possession of it. Dirty laundry as well. Carmen Dingle takes everything in her stride.
I agree. Most of my cats are startled by anything that is new and strange, regardless what shape it is, most especially if it is suddenly next to them. They like consistency. I’ve had a few who, when seeing something different, sniffed it and came to the conclusion, “oh, o.k.” and went about their business, but most are suspicious of new objects at first.
I agree, a quick Google tells me there are videos of cats being spooked by other fruits when presented in a similar manner. Also, any cat I have met is instinctively attracted to snake-like objects – yarn, shoelaces, ribbons, cords – anything long and thin that wiggles. When my cat was younger I had to stealth-tie my shoes for fear that she would come flying out of nowhere to catch my shoelaces.
Not cucumber related, but I saw this the other day and thought it was interesting:
https://i.imgur.com/3RqWtfL.gif
Reminds me of the apocryphal story of the motion picture with a train moving toward the camera and inducing panic in an 1890’s audience.
I like your theory about cucumbers, that it is. Do you have a theory number two?
My house has remained cat-free for 25 years, so the cucumbers seem to be working..
Cucumbers don’t impress (or frighten) my tenant beasts – but I do wonder. How exactly do they know which of my water cups is the freshest? MamaCat only tips over the most fresh water. She’s brilliant.
I don’t have a cucumber handy but I do have a remotely controlled centipede toy that I tried on the cats. They were curious about it but watched it from a distance instead of pouncing on it. I guess it was too much like a snake. Of course, unlike a cucumber, the toy moves so it is really the same as a snake from the cats’ point of view. They’re certainly not going to get close enough to prove that it’s not a real snake.
It is an extraordinary reaction.
Does it only work for cucumbers? I notice one of them was plastic wrapped and still had the barcode on it.
Has anyone tried a cucumber painted orange or brown, for example? Or a stick? (Presumably a dog would instantly ‘fetch’ the latter).
These seem to be kind of obvious things to try.
cr
What a mess a dog would make of a cucumber.
Tigger is quite happy to see a plastic snake appear behind him. Then plays with it. Only time I’ve seen his tail fluff up is when he was introduced to a greyhound the other side of a screen door. But half an hour later, with the screen door open, he was relaxing on my lap, tail normal, purring. Greyhound (on a leash) nervous, shaking, panting, hiding her face in apparent terror.
My boy loves cucumbers. Nibbles his way in then goes whole hog for the guts. He is startled by many things, including a cucumber that is unexpected, but when he knows it is tasty, he gets over it quickly.
Three more data points for you: I presented each of my three cats with a cucumber. Zero reaction, zero interest in each case.
My cat is indifferent to other things cats supposedly hate, so he probably won’t care about cucumbers.
I do have a cat I recently adopted from my friend who has terminal cancer and is starting hospice. This kitty gets into mischief and wants to play with things. So I went to the pet store and got her one of these devices that allows her to knock balls round and round this thing. As I was heading to the cash register I noticed {gasp} a nifty toy bionic snake.
Snake? I’d heard that cats are scared of cucumbers because they resemble snakes. And here is a bionic toy snake specifically made for cats. Say what?
Well, I love cats. Always have loved cats. And I love snakes, too, and have two ball pythons whom the cat ignores. If this pussy cat doesn’t care for the toy snake, shucks, I like snake paraphernalia myself.
Anyway I also bought the snake, which is battery powered, and you charge the battery via a USB cable, of all things. At home I set the snake aside and put out the ball device for the kitty to play with. I kind of forgot about the toy snake until now.
I don’t have any cucumbers – or zucchinis – so I opened the package and laid the snake beside the cat. She looked at it, gave it a sniff, then turned away, showed neither interest nor fear.
Okay, so now I have the thing plugged in, charging. I’m waiting to see what she does once the thing can move around.
Oh boy! The packaging says that it’s “designed for everyday play”. And “The snake contains sensors and will reverse itself when it detects and obstacle.” It will “enter standby mode after one minute if it is not engaged. Standby mode will end once the snake is engaged again.”
Wow, what a toy! If the cat isn’t interested, I’ll play with it! But keep kids away. “CAUTION: FOR PET USE ONLY, NOT A CHILD’S TOY.” It takes an hour and a half to charge, so I won’t be testing it tonight, it’s bedtime. But tomorrow morning I’ll finish charging it and see what the cat does with it.
That’s really sweet of you to give your friend’s cat as many great days of love and care as possible before she dies.
Good morning, BJ…this is a very sad business for my friend. We had the agreement that I would foster her kitty initially with the understanding that when the worst finally happened I’d adopt her.
My friend has lost so much, and will keep losing until she dies, which will be in the near future. Since it’s oral cancer, she’s lost the ability to eat normally. She’s lost her apartment in the senior residence, and her loved possessions. She lost her mobility and involvement in the community.
But losing her dear cat has been her worst loss. She misses this little cat Sweet Pea terribly. I had hopes that I could bring the kitty to the nursing home to visit her, but this pussy cat does not do well at all in strange places. She’d have to wear a harness and be on a leash, and be brought in a cat carrier which she hates and resists. I may well give it a try but I don’t feel optimistic.
These digital cameras and cell phones that take pictures are so nifty. I’m going to take some pictures and print them out.
That’s such a sad story. It’s terrible how we treat senior citizens in our culture. We should be much more like the Japanese and revere the oldest among us. You’re an amazing friend and certainly seem to be making the world a better place!
Okey doke. Morning now, and I tested the snake and the cat. Pussy cat is indifferent, neither afraid of the toy snake nor interested in playing with it.
I, on the other hand, had fun playing with it. I have a little step-great granddaughter who will be 2 in June. It sez on the package that it’s NOT for kids…but what if I were supervising? What if I never gave it to her to play with alone?
This goofy thing slithers around backwards to a great extent, and the eyes light up. Then it goes forward, but if nobody plays with it it stops and stays stopped until someone gives it a poke.
It sounds very much like the kind of toy I purchased, though mine is modeled after a centipede rather than a snake. The cats don’t like it much but I wouldn’t say they are terrorized by it. I look forward to your report.
I wish my cat would show fear of actual snakes. Back in October she saw one in the yard and went after it. They had a tense face to face confrontation before they both backed down. On the other hand, she was terrified of our new front doormat, and that was before it had a snake on it.
I should add that the snake involved was the very common and very dangerous Eastern Brown Snake.
When I was a kid (farming community, western US) we had a particularly large outdoor cat. Every spring, when they were coming out of hibernation, he would “gift” us with 3-4 dead snakes. The only rubber boa I ever saw was one he brought in. In that case, the snake’s habit of using it’s tail as a “decoy” apparently worked. It’s tail was chewed up but it was otherwise unharmed. Later, I found a good piece of habitat and released it.
Cucumbers scare me.
Lol
My cat doesn’t have any reaction whatsoever to cucumbers. I have tried several times to get a reaction out of him, by putting cucumbers on the floor, the bed, on the couch. Nothing. Zilch.
But one day, while he was outside walking through some long grass, he surprised a garter snake which quickly slithered away. My cat jumped 3 feet in the air with fright. Only time I have seen him scared of anything. He is an alpha male who scares away all the dogs in the neighbourhood.
Today, I was carrying a length of industrial chain in the shop. Like bike chain, but way beefier. My dog was completely freaked out.
It did seem pretty snake-like.