Is Your Cat Afraid of Cucumbers? Here’s Why

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There are a lot of people watching a lot of cat videos out there. As a result, chances are good that interested individuals have come upon videos in which cat owners managed to spook their cats with cucumbers and nothing but cucumbers. Said videos are very amusing, but cat owners might be curious why their cats can be spooked through such means.

Why Are Cats Afraid of Cucumbers?

Unfortunately, we don’t have a perfect understanding of why cats seem to be scared of cucumbers. After all, we can’t exactly ask our cats why they react the way that they react. However, that hasn’t stopped interested individuals from coming up with a number of guesses:

Cats Are Spooked By the Sudden Appearance of the Cucumber

One line of speculation is that cats are spooked by the sudden appearance of the cucumber in a similar manner to how humans can be spooked by something innocuous but unexpected. Under such circumstances, a cat’s natural reaction is to escape as fast as possible before reassessing the situation once it has reached a position of safety. Something that makes sense because while cats are predators in the wild, they are also prey for bigger predators. As a result, cats have evolved instincts that encourage an abundance of caution, with this particular response being one potential example.

Of course, speculation is nothing but speculation, meaning that it needs testing before it can be confirmed. However, there is some initial evidence to suggest that this particular line of speculation could be on the right track. After all, there are a lot of cat videos in which cats show similar responses to apples, bananas, and other fruits, which suggests that they aren’t being spooked by cucumbers in particular.

Cats Are Spooked By Something Unfamiliar

On a related note, some people have speculated that cats are spooked by cucumbers because those particular cats are unfamiliar with cucumbers. Basically, when animals are familiar with something harmless, they can relax in its presence because they know that they won’t be hurt by it. In contrast, when animals aren’t familiar with something harmless, they can’t show the same relaxed attitude because they can’t be sure about anything. Something that won’t go away until they have had the chance to evaluate the situation at length so that they have the confidence to go about their business as normal. This inclination is particularly strong for cats because as mentioned earlier, their status as potential prey for bigger predators means that too much risk-taking from their perspective can be very detrimental for their long-term prospects.

Cats Are Spooked By Something that Looks Like a Snake

Moving on, it is very popular for people to suggest that cats are scared of cucumbers because they have a bit of a resemblance to snakes. Yes, cucumbers don’t look a lot like snakes when one has the chance to examine them at length. However, the idea is that the cats don’t have the chance to examine them at length before they react, at which point, cucumbers do have something of a resemblance thanks to them being long, slender, and shiny in appearance. Some people will go as far as to claim that cats are hard-wired to react with fear to cats, which might be going too far.

In short, the issue is that cats can show a wide range of responses when they interact with snakes. For instance, it isn’t uncommon for cats to kill snakes, whether because they are feeling hungry or because they are feeling a bit bloodthirsty. This is wholly unsurprising because cats are notorious killers of smaller animals that are either running away or wriggling in a franatic effort to escape, which are very much applicable to smaller species of snakes. However, the situation can become reversed when it comes to bigger snakes, seeing as how there are some species that can swallow an entire cat as nothing more than a mouthful. Unfortunately, cats don’t seem to be universally afraid of these snakes. Certainly, there are stories about cats being very understandably cautious around these big snakes, but there are also stories about cats not showing any of their famous sense of caution around them. In any case, it is also worth mentioning that some smaller snakes are capable of posing a serious threat to cats as well. After all, some snake species have venom, which they won’t hesitate to use when they feel threatened by cats as well as other potential threats. They are particularly dangerous because cats are notorious for investigating wriggling animals whether that is a good idea from a human perspective or not, thus increasing the chances of them being bitten and poisoned. Something that should get cat owners to rush their cats to a veterinarian for medical care as soon as possible because of the very real risks involved.

Are Cat Owners Being Irresponsible By Scaring Cats with Cucumbers?

Summed up, we don’t really know why cats are scared by cucumbers. There are some pretty good guesses that can be found out there, but for the time being, the issue will remain a mystery until scientists can be convinced to come up with the right experiments before running them under controlled conditions.

However, what is clear is that cat owners probably shouldn’t be scaring their cats with cucumbers even if they find the results to be hilarious. Unsurprisingly, cats aren’t going to be the most careful when they are scrambling to get out of what could be a potentially threatening situation, meaning that they can cause unintended damage to themselves as well as unintended damage to things around them. Even more problematically, cats don’t do so well when they are placed under stress, which is what happens when someone or something spooks them for them to run off like that. It is not a good thing for their health in the short run. Furthermore, it might not be a good thing for them in the long run. The whole thing can be particularly cruel when cat owners put the cucumbers in their cats’ feeding areas because those are supposed to be places of safety and security for their feline companions. Something that can have a detrimental effect on their cats’ mindset.

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