http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=1gl7xr5rftc

I ended up on teh wierd side of youtube not exactly sure how was watching videos for skyrim then ended up with cats and ipods and then this showed up .-.

why do cats feel like they being crushed if theres an object on their head ? or walk funny if object on there side ? (when my cat was still alive i used to lay a peice of paper towel over his head every now and then and he would act very much the same as these cats .-.)

...The same reason that ANY animal reacts when you do something annoying to them. How would you react if I tied your arms behind your back and stuck a piece of paper on your face?

i wouldnt act as if being crushed by something much heavier ?

Animals seem much more protective of their "private space" in the physical sense than people because they are less aware of what is happening, they can't rationalise like we can and they can't simply reach out to take it off. Imagine having something stuck on you, a foreign body, something which you had not experienced before and something which you had no idea about and were unable to physically remove, would you not freak out? Cats are very sensitive physically, much more so than dogs who are their closest comparison in our world. It is a brilliant question one which I will trying to find out more about!

They're more sensitive to invasions of their space, it's not how you would act in comparison that's the issue it's exactly how they behave normally, they need the space around themselves to be "clear" for them to feel comfortable.

The "crushed by a heavy object" reaction seems more like a wonky observation to me. They're not pretending it's a heavy object, they're trying to back away. Like a reflex when you walk under a tree and the branch scraqes your head, you duck down without really thinking about it. The cat is probably trying to duck down and back out of the paper, not act like it's being "crushed".

This. I don't know where you get the idea that the cat is acting like it's being "crushed;" it's backing away, trying to find a way to get the paper off. If you had something on your face obstructing your vision, would you walk forward? No. Your back protects your face and vital organs more, so it's instinctual to move in the direction where you'll be least vulnerable. It's the same thing as when you're getting mauled by a bear; you go in the fetal position so that even if you are scratched badly, there are far fewer vital organs accessible from your back than your front, giving your a better chance of survival.

That, and it presents less of a threat to the bear so it loses interest more quickly.

It's trying to back away from the note when it was on it's head, for the other places it's just being a daft cat
Now if it was clever, like say a dog, it would pull/scratch the note off it's head.

Everyone automatically starts comparing what they see to what they know and what they observe in other species which is not necessarily the way to find an answer. Cats work different physically think about what they can do. A cat can look at an object which is like 3, 4 or 5 metres away and jump to land exactly on that object they looked at, any animal that can do that obviously has a different grasp of the physical versus observational world than others. They are probably much more sensitive to static and subtle electrical changes in the world and therefore react differently to them.

It might be related to why they hate being submerged in water. Their fur is probably much more sensitive than our skin, and the sensation of something touching them EVERYWHERE likely freaks them out.

I suspect it doesn't really have the cognitive understanding to know it's not a predator on it's head? So it tries to get away from it by backing up.

Cats differ though. If you put that on my cats head he's happily walk around with it on all day. He doesn't give a [censored].. but then he's a purebred and doesn't have a high sense of self perservation...

Whiskers.

Isn't it a bit obvious that people will compare what they see to what they know or at least think they know. Technically it is a way to finding the answer; medical science tests rats to treat humans - as if we're the same, right?
What use is jumping in this scenario.
Yeah very noticable physical differences between cats and dogs, but both of them are able to scratch their heads, yet only the dog is smart enough to do it in this instance, is it smarter? Maybe. Is the cat too easily starteled? Maybe. Is the cat more sensitive? Highly likely. Could the cat easily remove the paper with its paws? Defiantly.

That's 100%! Many animals are sensitive to the electricity that's in the air/water and some of them use it to hunt. Cats are one of the only land species which do this so when something, anything, interrupts the electricity in the air around them it seriously effects their response.

Knew this was gonna be an EpicFail thread from the title...

It's not jumping that's any use I am explaining that cats have a different grasp of the physical versus the observational world due to electricity which they are highly sensitive to. If something interrupts the electricity around them they react.

You keep saying electricity but I'm not sure you know what that is. Electricity is flowing electrons from a point of high potential to low potential, it's not a mystical floating aura that surrounds all things. Many animals sense air pressure, and air movement, as well as much better sense of sound and smell and in some cases sight. Some even sense the Earth's magnetic field (and other magnetic fields for that matter), but electrostatic fields don't just randomly occur in the air and water (lightning notwithstanding).

I'm more inclined to think it's sensitivity to touch, rather than having "electricity in the air" "blocked".

That's why Khajiit are always going on about warm sands!

Hmm here was me thinking it was a kitty litter tray reference....

You could well be right but "electricity" and "static" are all around us always and cats are known to use it to hunt, just as some sharks do and bats also to detect their prey. Subtle changes in this field effects them. Pressure in the air is linked to static.

Clearly, cats simply have exceptionally high midi-chlorian counts.

Cats have some ocd about being able to clean themselves.

Have you seen a cat getting trappen in plastic bag?

Are you sure you don't mean magnetic fields? Hammerheads hunt by detect the magnetic fields of prey hiding beneath the sand.

Anwyay, those are just simple animals trying to get rid of something stuck on them. The poor things don't have thumbs

The scientic reasoning as to why it's behaving like that is that it wants the tape and paper off.