Animals do some bizarre things sometimes. If you have any pets, you will have a front-row seat to some of odd animal behaviours.

Some of these things are pretty common, although you might not see your pets do them every day. The following categories of pets, and the bizarre things they do, is worth the “heads up.”

Cats

Cats are complicated creatures. They are not always inclined to just sit next to you for pets. They all seem to have their own unique personalities and quirks too.

Source: Shutterstock

Source: Shutterstock

That is why these following behaviours tend to seem both odd and “normal” for cats.

• Squeezing their bodies into boxes and containers that are much too small for them and getting stuck.
• Eating string and then having to butt-scoot to help pull the string out of their buttocks when they cannot excrete the string all the way out on their own.
• Spending 10 to 20 minutes racing madly through the house like a demon is chasing them, all the while crying out loud. And then suddenly flopping down and going to sleep as if nothing happened.
• Catching a mouse in the house and eating the head end, while leaving the tail end right where you will step on it.
• Insisting that you clean their litter boxes twice a day, or they will urinate and defecate wherever.
• Being absolutely terrified of everyone else in the house but you, and hiding whenever you have any company.

Dogs

Dogs have some questionable actions, too. For example, they may insist on dumping their water dishes because they don’t want to drink out of a bowl and prefer their water “free-flowing.”

Source: Shutterstock

Source: Shutterstock

Here are a few bizarre behaviours of dogs:

• Chasing porcupines even though the dogs have been stuck with porcupine quills at least once before.
• Dogs taking leisurely naps with the family cats, and everyone seems cosy and comfortable.
• Chasing cars going down the road after chewing through their tie-out lines.

Different dog breeds will also engage in behaviours unique to their kind. 

Birds

Birds may have some of the most bizarre of all behaviours. Some of these behaviours might make you laugh.

Source: Shutterstock

Source: Shutterstock

Other weird animal behaviours might make you worry. Take a closer look.

• A pair of love birds where one bird definitely doesn’t love the other and seems to be trying to kill the other bird. (Either you have a mismatched pair, or you have two of the same sex.)
• Birds that repeatedly fly into walls and other hard objects or attempt to hide behind furniture.
• Parrots that swear. They will repeat what they have learned to repeat and have heard several times, and you can’t un-train a parrot from swearing. You can teach them to say other, better things and reward them for saying those things instead.
• More than four birds in a cage or aviary and at least one bird has lost most of its feathers because of stress. It could also be because it’s the target of attacks by the other birds.

Birds may do lots of other weird things, and there may be a reason, but sometimes there is no explanation at all. It is just the bizarre nature of the individual bird.

Chinchillas and Other Exotic Pets

Exotic pets include chinchillas, sugar gliders, guinea pigs, fancy white rats, corn snakes and garter snakes, and several others. Each of these animals also has its own weird behaviours.

Source: Shutterstock

Source: Shutterstock

Some of these behaviours may result in emergency vet care because of the level of strangeness involved. Some examples of odd behaviours by exotic animals are as follows.

• Male chinchillas will eat their own young. You have to remove the fathers from cages to avoid cannabilism.
• Nerve damage in the feet or limbs of chinchillas and a few other rodent family members is resolved by the animals by chewing off the offending limb. Surgery will be necessary to keep these little pets from bleeding to death.
• Female guinea pigs may attack and kill males or other guinea pigs in the same cage. You have to watch for aggressive behaviour from your females and separate when necessary.
• Corn snakes and garter snakes love wrapping around people’s glasses not because they want to be close to you, but because your head/forehead gives off a lot of heat.
• Rats will release their tails if handled roughly

These sums up the weirdest things you may see from most of your pets. Now that you know these animals can and will display strange behaviours, you can be prepared as a pet owner and enjoy having your pets around.