Yikes!

March 8, 2017 7:50 PM

Good: Cat startled by cat sneeze. Better: Prairie dog startled by human sneeze. Best: Dog startled by human touch and gas. More: startled animals reddit.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (30 comments total)

(Dog clip courtesy of Room 641-A)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:51 PM on March 8, 2017

Deer startled by sneeze.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:07 PM on March 8, 2017 [18 favorites]

One of my past roommates had a cat who would sit in my lap all the time. If I ever farted while he was on my lap, he would not be startled, but he would just stare at me for 10 seconds as if offended.
posted by picklenickle at 8:17 PM on March 8, 2017 [9 favorites]

I don't even know what's happening in the dog video but I can't stop watching.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:19 PM on March 8, 2017 [8 favorites]

Now that's a cat that really needs to switch to decaf.
posted by happyroach at 8:56 PM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your subreddit.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:25 PM on March 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sometimes farts are puzzling instead of startling.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:30 PM on March 8, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'll never forget my first startled animal video. Has it really been 10 years?
posted by vverse23 at 10:01 PM on March 8, 2017 [10 favorites]

Evidently the true test of sentient life is not whether it feels pain or happiness or any of that other stuff, but whether it exhibits the universal "OH SHIT WTF" response
posted by a car full of lions at 10:25 PM on March 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

The fact that I don't speak the language in the prairie dog video makes it even more delightful, as if it were not words but just wordless expressions of amusement.
posted by janey47 at 11:08 PM on March 8, 2017 [3 favorites]

Nice, Ron.
posted by soakimbo at 11:08 PM on March 8, 2017 [18 favorites]

Johnny Wallflower, you are singlehandedly making the world a better place.

Oh, and from that subreddit, penguin surprises seal surprises penguin.
posted by Literaryhero at 1:17 AM on March 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

I startled my cat so bad it threw up. So awful and yet so funny.
posted by double bubble at 1:31 AM on March 9, 2017 [4 favorites]

Nice, Ron
I sneezed. Oh, I'm not allowed to sneeze?
posted by forforf at 3:52 AM on March 9, 2017 [11 favorites]

I really wish I could catch this on video, but it happens so spontaneously and I'm not one of those "constantly filming everything" people. However, every now and then my big dumb Dalmatian will find himself sitting on our hard wood floor and farting. With his ass planted on hard wood, you can imagine how it reverberates. However, since he apparently has the intelligence of a very attractive lamp post, he seems to be unable to attach the sound to his actions and ends up startling himself with his own fart. He jumps, then stares at his doggy butt with a combined look of betrayal and disgust.

It's great.
posted by jammer at 5:27 AM on March 9, 2017 [25 favorites]

How timely! Literally just 2 nights ago, my cat sneezed himself awake. He was so confused!
posted by LizBoBiz at 6:01 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

My Pit Bull will be zonked out, snoring, then fart so hard that she wakes herself up.

The gas is weapons grade. The sheer "WTF WAS THAT?" on her face is worth dealing with the smell.
posted by MissySedai at 7:04 AM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

This entire thread is pure delight. Links, comments--all of it! Thanks, Johnny Wallflower!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 7:31 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

That dog's like a one man duck army.
posted by LarsC at 7:48 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

janey47 They're speaking Japanese, and mostly apologizing to the prairie dog between snorts of laughter.
posted by telepanda at 10:03 AM on March 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

The fact that I don't speak the language in the prairie dog video

Ah, well. How many of us do?

I think the prairie dog probably thought the sneeze was a yip, so responded in kind.
posted by Lexica at 12:12 PM on March 9, 2017 [5 favorites]

Lexica, that would make a fantastic FPP! Thanks for linking that.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:38 PM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

I didn't know dogs could fart that loud. In my experience, they are either tiny inoffensive pips or silent events that deform spacetime.
posted by Countess Elena at 12:42 PM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

All those years of evolution and dogs still don't recognize their farts.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:46 PM on March 9, 2017

I think the prairie dog probably thought the sneeze was a yip, so responded in kind.

Also, those prairie dogs are both quite out of shape. Zoo life has been good to them, it seems.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:53 PM on March 9, 2017

Our one cat is startled by so many things: sneezes, toast, the doorbell, phones ringing, opening a bottle of anything fizzy, etc. The food bowls are at the top of the basement steps and the other day when she was eating, the dryer buzzer went off and I swear that she levitated three feet in the air and then teleported away.
posted by octothorpe at 1:38 PM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

One of the funniest things I've ever seen was my adult cat and my roommate's kitten in my bedroom, cautiously keeping their distance from each other, when suddenly a cat fight between two other, unseen feral cats in the crawlspace directly below them erupted -- my cat jumped at least four feet straight into the air and the kitten flew out of the room like a rocket and both of them were jumpy for hours and, I suspect, blamed the other. I think they each thought the other was possessed.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:07 PM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

OMG, the video in Lexica's yip link is full of squee: YIP!
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:54 PM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

I burst out laughing at sneezy startle cat. I'd like to say I startled my cats with my sudden laughter but really they just looked at me as if to say, "what's up with you now, weirdo?". Apparently I'm pretty predictable.
posted by kitten magic at 2:15 AM on March 10, 2017

Also thank you for introducing me to prairie dogs. I figured they were actual dogs, from the prairies (like a wolf or a dingo IDK). So cute! This is like when I first discovered chipmunks were real and not just musical cartoon creatures.

I came for the cat videos and learned about a whole new species of cuteness. The Internet is truly marvellous.
posted by kitten magic at 2:24 AM on March 10, 2017 [4 favorites]