Translocating Cat

[Lb8535]

Heh, that's definitely some divine precognition - they and their forebears will have been punishing me in advance for nigh on forty years...



That's a theory worth putting forward, for sure - thanks for that!

As far as I can tell, there's no way to access the very limited space beneath our house - brick right down to the ground, with three slatted clay ventilation blocks fitted, all of which are intact. A number of years ago we had a utilities company use a remote tool to burrow under the floors, and the noise was very noticeable - if there were an animal under the floorboards, I'd hope we'd hear some scuffling to alert us.

Not aware of any cats going missing in the area either (and I do keep an eye out for missing pet notices on NextDoor and the like), though there are a few who very occasionally wander through the garden. None that we haven't seen after we first started hearing the noises in the hall, though.

Just as an update, last night about 10:30 I'd just finished cleaning out the cat litter box in the dining room (not an ideal location, agreed, but it's hooded with a charcoal filter and the kitchen's just too small) and sat down on the settee again beside MrsQ.

She glanced to her right, through the open door to the dining room, and said "Is one of those felines befouling that box already?" I looked right too, seeing nothing, then got up and took a few steps forward to look into the dining room. The older cat was asleep in one of the many cat beds, on the opposite side of the dining room, and not visible from the settee. The younger cat was asleep on a chair in the living room, to the left of where we were sitting. Neither of them had moved since I sat down. Both rooms had lamps lit, and were well-illuminated.

I asked her what she'd seen, and she muttered that she though she saw one of the cats walking past the open dining room door towards the corner where the litter tray lives - and then changed the subject.

Well, okay. So it's not just me.

I'd be happy if any departed cats came back to visit, you're lucky. And I can't say that about my relatives.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

I really don't think I could fall much further in their estimation... I am a mere skivvy, only there to fill bowls on demand, empty litter trays, and provide light amusement by flicking a bunch of feathers on a string around for them... slackness on my part (such as failing to provide breakfast at 5am) is met with swift retribution, such as diving into the bottom of the bed and sinking claws into my feet. Commands to vacate chairs and to cease clawing curtains are met with looks of utter contempt.

None of this applies to MrsQ, oddly, whose orders for cats to get down from the worktop are immediately complied with, even when shouted from upstairs. They never pester her for food, whereas I'm currently being bullied for 'early dinner' as I type.

I am very much the bottom of the pecking order in this house, and they don't let me forget it!

This isn't at all true, having lived in multiple cat families.


They get very insecure and completely know who feeds them, who gives them fuss, who picks them up. Who they trust when they are dying and need to be put to sleep.

I know it's fun to portray them as unfeeling but this couldn't be further from the truth.

I know you are joking but sometimes it just grates.

Mumbum who we rescued with her surviving son - I cannot put my hand near her head without her cringing. Even though she knows I would rather die than hurt her.

She was dumped and I reckon her previous "family" smacked her about.

 

[PeteS]

This isn't at all true, having lived in multiple cat families.


They get very insecure and completely know who feeds them, who gives them fuss, who picks them up. Who they trust when they are dying and need to be put to sleep.

I know it's fun to portray them as unfeeling but this couldn't be further from the truth.

I know you are joking but sometimes it just grates.

Mumbum who we rescued with her surviving son - I cannot put my hand near her head without her cringing. Even though she knows I would rather die than hurt her.

She was dumped and I reckon her previous "family" smacked her about.

I don't think Q was suggesting that cats are unfeeling, but they do have a way about them don't they?

 

[Quercus]

I'd be happy if any departed cats came back to visit, you're lucky. And I can't say that about my relatives.

I can well understand that - and, while this 'live case' is unusual for us, it's far from upsetting. We've given love and shelter to a number of strays and rescue cats over the years, many of whom just seemed to find us, and I've no issue with continuing to do so for any who have passed.

The mildly confusing part is that the cat we've both seen around the place doesn't correspond with any of the many cats we've both cared for over the years. Because of the visual similarity with at least one of our two, I'd thought that translocation might be one possible, if unusual, explanation, though the occurrence on Thursday night - with both cats verifiability asleep and almost in our eyeline at the point the 'other cat' strolled across the doorway - may point to some other option.

Having said that, when we moved into this house over a decade ago, there was a cat flap fitted to the back door even though the previous occupier didn't have a cat. So at some point, presumably, there have been other cats who called this place their home too. Though we've been here nearly eleven years and this only started up four months ago.

When the Bold Boy was taken from us, I had wondered if he might find some way to make contact since he had an incredible bond with MrsQ. But we never saw or heard anything after he went - though I've taken to putting out his favourite food on All Hallow's Eve and also his anniversary, the winter solstice, as per the old folk custom round these parts for departed loved ones. Maybe that's a sign that he transitioned easily, and I hope it is.

I have experienced other sensations from departed pets though - but maybe that's stuff for the Animal Ghosts thread, rather than here.

My parents have kept cats since I was born, and over the years we've obviously seen some go and new pets arrive. A few times over several years I've seen or heard the occasional strange thing, once I saw a cat we no longer had go under a chair, another time I saw the outline of another of our cats outlined in the downstairs hall before I turned the light on, and I've occasionally heard odd "meows" (although they could obviously come from a cat outside), but they're always the same meow, in the same part of the house, and even when the current cat is inside (I generally check if a cat is wanting in when I hear it, even if the cat we currently have is already in). It can be quite spooky at 3AM when I'm the only person awake in the house

And this, from the Animal Ghosts thread - interesting to note here similar characteristics of phenomena we've noticed, in terms of things occurring at the same spot. In our case, the cries heard have seemed to come from a point mid-way down the hall, while the 'other cat' has generally been seen crossing the threshold of the dining room doors.

It's possibly also worth noting that, other than my first sighting back in October which occurred well after midnight, the cat-noises in the hall and the most recent sighting have all taken place between 10:00 and 10:30 pm. That's not a time that holds any particular significance for us, but I'll be sure to check the clock should we see/hear anything else out of the ordinary.

This isn't at all true, having lived in multiple cat families.

They get very insecure and completely know who feeds them, who gives them fuss, who picks them up. Who they trust when they are dying and need to be put to sleep.

I know it's fun to portray them as unfeeling but this couldn't be further from the truth.

I know you are joking but sometimes it just grates.

Mumbum who we rescued with her surviving son - I cannot put my hand near her head without her cringing. Even though she knows I would rather die than hurt her.

She was dumped and I reckon her previous "family" smacked her about.

Sorry if I came across as flippant, Naughty Felid - I was responding in a rather tongue-in-cheek manner to the poster who joked that I'd be punished by my cats.

I've lived with cats long enough to know what endlessly fascinating, loving creatures they are - but it's also known that feral cats can develop hierarchical communities, and I find it interesting that two of ours both independently developed their own sense of hierarchy which places MrsQ at the top, them in the middle and me firmly at the bottom - while others never did.

The way in which one will ignore my commands to get down off the kitchen worktop and will backchat and glare at me, yet will immediately acquiese to the same command given by MrsQ (from another room) is interesting. I'm not sure whether it's just because I do the bulk of the cooking and housework, including feeding and cleaning for cats, or whether there's something more at play. I'm something of a softie when it comes to being stern, so maybe they know that I'm bluffing and don't really mean it - while MrsQ really does mean it - and they would modify their responses accordingly.

But the youngest one does look absolutely disgusted should I happen to be showing any affection to MrsQ, who she appears to regard as 'her person'. We joke that her affront is because she's witnessing the under-butler getting fresh with the Lady of the House. The only other cat I've known to exhibit such jealousy - to the point of physically attacking me with claws because I've dared to sit down beside my wife and put an arm around her - was the grey cat we lost in 2019, and who we'd known from birth (a stray cat gave birth to a litter on a family farm), so there was no mistreatment in his past. He was just a very dominant personality.

Indeed, so many of his deeply specific traits have arisen in to the youngest tabby, who we acquired from a shelter at around six months old after his sad departure, that it has made us wonder...

I'm so sorry to hear about the abuse one of yours had suffered, and how that manifests - another of ours which came from a shelter had been abandoned in a flat where the tenants had done a flit. We've no idea what else lay in her past, but I always had to be careful not to carry anything resembling a stick near to her as it distressed her so much.

Perhaps I should have said 'cats are fascinating' rather than 'cats are weird'. Anyway, apologies for coming across poorly.

I don't think Q was suggesting that cats are unfeeling, but they do have a way about them don't they?

Yes, thank you - I definitely didn't mean to imply they were unfeeling, only to demonstrate how the cat/human relationship dynamic is endlessly complex.

I infinitely prefer cats to people.

 

[Nosmo King]

I can well understand that - and, while this 'live case' is unusual for us, it's far from upsetting. We've given love and shelter to a number of strays and rescue cats over the years, many of whom just seemed to find us, and I've no issue with continuing to do so for any who have passed.

The mildly confusing part is that the cat we've both seen around the place doesn't correspond with any of the many cats we've both cared for over the years. Because of the visual similarity with at least one of our two, I'd thought that translocation might be one possible, if unusual, explanation, though the occurrence on Thursday night - with both cats verifiability asleep and almost in our eyeline at the point the 'other cat' strolled across the doorway - may point to some other option.

Having said that, when we moved into this house over a decade ago, there was a cat flap fitted to the back door even though the previous occupier didn't have a cat. So at some point, presumably, there have been other cats who called this place their home too. Though we've been here nearly eleven years and this only started up four months ago.

When the Bold Boy was taken from us, I had wondered if he might find some way to make contact since he had an incredible bond with MrsQ. But we never saw or heard anything after he went - though I've taken to putting out his favourite food on All Hallow's Eve and also his anniversary, the winter solstice, as per the old folk custom round these parts for departed loved ones. Maybe that's a sign that he transitioned easily, and I hope it is.

I have experienced other sensations from departed pets though - but maybe that's stuff for the Animal Ghosts thread, rather than here.



And this, from the Animal Ghosts thread - interesting to note here similar characteristics of phenomena we've noticed, in terms of things occurring at the same spot. In our case, the cries heard have seemed to come from a point mid-way down the hall, while the 'other cat' has generally been seen crossing the threshold of the dining room doors.

It's possibly also worth noting that, other than my first sighting back in October which occurred well after midnight, the cat-noises in the hall and the most recent sighting have all taken place between 10:00 and 10:30 pm. That's not a time that holds any particular significance for us, but I'll be sure to check the clock should we see/hear anything else out of the ordinary.



Sorry if I came across as flippant, Naughty Felid - I was responding in a rather tongue-in-cheek manner to the poster who joked that I'd be punished by my cats.

I've lived with cats long enough to know what endlessly fascinating, loving creatures they are - but it's also known that feral cats can develop hierarchical communities, and I find it interesting that two of ours both independently developed their own sense of hierarchy which places MrsQ at the top, them in the middle and me firmly at the bottom - while others never did.

The way in which one will ignore my commands to get down off the kitchen worktop and will backchat and glare at me, yet will immediately acquiese to the same command given by MrsQ (from another room) is interesting. I'm not sure whether it's just because I do the bulk of the cooking and housework, including feeding and cleaning for cats, or whether there's something more at play. I'm something of a softie when it comes to being stern, so maybe they know that I'm bluffing and don't really mean it - while MrsQ really does mean it - and they would modify their responses accordingly.

But the youngest one does look absolutely disgusted should I happen to be showing any affection to MrsQ, who she appears to regard as 'her person'. We joke that her affront is because she's witnessing the under-butler getting fresh with the Lady of the House. The only other cat I've known to exhibit such jealousy - to the point of physically attacking me with claws because I've dared to sit down beside my wife and put an arm around her - was the grey cat we lost in 2019, and who we'd known from birth (a stray cat gave birth to a litter on a family farm), so there was no mistreatment in his past. He was just a very dominant personality.

Indeed, so many of his deeply specific traits have arisen in to the youngest tabby, who we acquired from a shelter at around six months old after his sad departure, that it has made us wonder...

I'm so sorry to hear about the abuse one of yours had suffered, and how that manifests - another of ours which came from a shelter had been abandoned in a flat where the tenants had done a flit. We've no idea what else lay in her past, but I always had to be careful not to carry anything resembling a stick near to her as it distressed her so much.

Perhaps I should have said 'cats are fascinating' rather than 'cats are weird'. Anyway, apologies for coming across poorly.



Yes, thank you - I definitely didn't mean to imply they were unfeeling, only to demonstrate how the cat/human relationship dynamic is endlessly complex.

I infinitely prefer cats to people.

Maybe one of your cats is astrally projecting

 

[brownmane]

We have two cats. One very old (approx 20), one very young (18 months). We did have another, who died over a year ago in possibly nefarious circumstances we still don't fully understand. But our pair are basically indoor cats, or they are now, anyway. Nevertheless they wear collars with bells so we can hear where they are, and not trip over them.

Late one Saturday night in October last year, I was finishing off tidying the kitchen just after MrsQ had gone up to bed. Both cats had been fed their usual rations, and to my understanding had gone upstairs after guzzling their grub, as they usually always do.

I was just drying my hands after rinsing something in the sink, when I noticed to my left one of the cats stroll past the open door of the dining room. I couldn't tell which one, since they're both the same size and a similar dark tabby colour. The dining room light was switched off, and the kitchen was lit only by the soft undercabinet lights, but I made a mental note to chase the culprit out from the dining room before shutting the door for the night.

Hands dried, I crossed over to the dining room and flicked the light on... no cat. Now, I'd been turned towards the doorway the whole time, and despite the low light I know that nothing had walked past me in the ten seconds or so between seeing the cat and then entering the room - and even if one of them had sneaked past, I certainly would have heard the collar bell jingling. The folding double doors between the dining room and living room were shut tightly. I checked under the table, behind the curtains... but nothing. I hurried upstairs, and there were both cats - the younger one already asleep on the bed and the older one lying down washing herself languidly on a rug (she finds the stairs difficult in her old age, creeping up them one at a time, so there could be no question of her dashing up them ahead of me).

Well, ok. So I was mistaken. Late, tired, etc. Fair enough. And I'm sure I would have forgotten all about it, if it weren't for what followed.

The next night, a Sunday, MrsQ and I had been busy sorting stuff in the attic out until after 9pm, and were now very much enjoying a takeaway from a lovely Thai place from down the town. Chicken pad thai, prawn rice, glass noodle rolls, undemanding telly on - bliss.

Suddenly, we both heard a loud miaow coming from the hallway behind, followed quickly by another. Two cries in total - loud, quite close, slightly muffled and a little bit frantic. A cat that wanted to be heard. MrsQ and I looked at each other, and set our bowls down.

My first thought was that the older cat had contrived to get herself locked in the cupboard under the stairs - the cry sounded a bit like her. It's also the kind of stupid thing she'd do. We'd been hauling things in and out from under the stairs, so it was conceivable she'd doddered in and I'd accidentally shut the door on her. But, on going out to the hall and flicking on the understairs light, the cupboard was quite bare of cats. Perplexed, I went straight upstairs to find the older cat curled up asleep on the rug in the back bedroom, and the younger one also sound asleep on the bed in the front room.

I came down again and advised MrsQ that it couldn't have been either of our two - they were both upstairs, conked out. But we'd both heard the sound, very clearly and at the same time.

We checked all the other rooms in the house, just in case a stray had come in through the cat flap in the back door, but found nothing. Now, the cat flap is one of those four-way locking jobs, and we had it set up so that if one of ours was out in the garden, they could come in - but they couldn't go out of their own volition, so it was effectively a one-way door. If another cat had come in, it couldn't have got out again without breaking the door (yeah, that's happened). But no surplus cats were to be found, nor any damage to the door.

We flicked on the outside lights and checked the gardens front and back, but there were zero felines to be seen in the vicinity. Shrugging, we floated the possibility that maybe another cat from the neighbourhood had for some reason stuck its head through the flap, shouted twice, then gone away again. Maybe. There's a heavy curtain in front of the back door and we hadn't heard the flap rattle, and it definitely sounded like it came from the hall, not the kitchen but... what other explanation could there be? I changed the settings on the flap so it was locked tightly both ways, and we went back to our (now cold) noodles.

A few nights later we were sitting down with a pot of tea in the living room, around 10pm; the younger cat was in the room with us, fast asleep on a cardboard scratching device just behind us on the settee.

Again, the miaowing noise suddenly sounded from out in the hall. Just once. This time, not only did MrsQ and myself both hear it, but the younger cat also shot bolt upright, suddenly wide awake with her eyes huge and ears pricked, staring at the door out into the hall.

I rushed into the hall to find it empty. On going straight upstairs, the older cat was there in her usual spot in the back bedroom, curled up on the rug and in a deep sleep. Downstairs in the kitchen, I confirmed that the catflap was still locked both ways. On a cold wet miserable night, you can be sure all the doors and windows were shut tight, with blinds and curtains firmly closed.

A few hours later, after tidying everything away and switching off the lights, the younger cat wouldn't come upstairs as usual. She remained downstairs, with her back to the front door, just staring down the hall towards the kitchen and letting out occasional yells and squeals. Eventually I came down in my pajamas holding a torch to see what the issue was; sometimes a fly or a spider is enough to get her hunting instincts primed. But there didn't seem to be any of that. She just stayed there, staring fixedly down the hall at apparently nothing, her head bobbing slightly as if she was following something I couldn't see. After a while, I started to get a bit creeped out and returned to bed. In the morning, I found her beside me on the bed, pressed in tight.

I haven't seen or heard anything since, although MrsQ - not really a big believer in the paranormal - has mentioned a couple of times in passing that she'd seen one of the cats somewhere, only to find they were actually somewhere else.

If it were just me seeing and hearing all this, I'd assume I was simply imagining things late at night - but the fact that both of us heard the cry, and clearly the younger cat heard it too, moves this up a notch for me.

Now, one school of thought might take it that somehow, the much-loved cat we lost was making his presence known. While I'd love to think that, the problem there is that the 'displaced' cat we've both seen was brindled tabby, while he was a smooth smokey grey Russian Blue. He also had a totally different cry from the miaow we heard on two separate nights - his voice was quite squeaky and high-pitched, making a very distinctive "weeeeeEEEE" sound (we had to neuter him rather younger than we'd planned, as he was becoming a bit of a sex-pest towards our much older, already neutered female), while 'the cat in the hall' had a much deeper voice, making more of a traditional "miaaaaaow" noise, which doesn't sound much like either of our two. The younger one makes more of a high "eeeeeEEEEeeee" screech, while the older one makes more of a low, grunted "whuurr" sound, although she will very, very occasionally miaow - which is why I initially thought it was her under the stairs.

Cats are weird.

You don't have an outside window well or something that has a space a cat could have become trapped in?

editted to add: I see several people already asked about this. I'm a little behind on my reading

 

[Quercus]

Maybe one of your cats is astrally projecting

I don't think we can rule anything out yet - but if so, out of all the places in the universe to project one's astral being, how very Cat to choose four feet to the left...

You don't have an outside window well or something that has a space a cat could have become trapped in?

editted to add: I see several people already asked about this. I'm a little behind on my reading

Hey, that's fine - I appreciate any assistance in trying to get to the bottom of this one!

No, there's nothing like that at all outside - it's just a very boring-looking '80s brick box on a development of identical houses. No garage, no nooks or crannies, and not even any foliage near the property that could conceal a cat.

Any noises seem to eminate from a spot right in the middle of the house, rather than from anywhere round the edge. But I don't see any way for a cat to have gained access to under the house (and I spent today sweeping and tidying outside, so I'm now certain there are no ingress points through broken vents or anything like that).

The mystery rolls on...

 

[Nosmo King]

I don't think we can rule anything out yet - but if so, out of all the places in the universe to project one's astral being, how very Cat to choose four feet to the left...

The cat might have only just learnt how to do it, it just trying out areas its familiar with before it ventures further afield

 

[brownmane]

Maybe the cat is from Cheshire

 

[PeteS]

I don't think we can rule anything out yet - but if so, out of all the places in the universe to project one's astral being, how very Cat to choose four feet to the left...



Hey, that's fine - I appreciate any assistance in trying to get to the bottom of this one!

No, there's nothing like that at all outside - it's just a very boring-looking '80s brick box on a development of identical houses. No garage, no nooks or crannies, and not even any foliage near the property that could conceal a cat.

Any noises seem to eminate from a spot right in the middle of the house, rather than from anywhere round the edge. But I don't see any way for a cat to have gained access to under the house (and I spent today sweeping and tidying outside, so I'm now certain there are no ingress points through broken vents or anything like that).

The mystery rolls on...

I posted a while ago about hearing a cat's bell on several occasions in our lounge, when cat fast asleep on the settee. So loud that it woke up the cat, who seemed to recognise what it was, and would pace about looking for the apparent intruder. It's not occurred for a long time so I assume the spirit cat has moved on to wind up animals in other households.

 

[Timothy]

Cats are magic. I cannot count the number of times I have seen my Mothra walk down the hallway to her room (She's taken over the guest bedroom as her's) only to see her reappear from the other side of the House later on. I know she is just being a ninja kitty and sneaking back out but it still seems like she is teleporting.

 

[Marshdweller]

I find it really interesting that when I read about human ghosts or similar, my immediate assumption is that they are malevolent (and I think the majority would agree with me - why else would we be scared of them?) but for some reason the idea of a ghost cat doesn't provoke the same reaction.

 

[catseye]

Years ago we had a pair of ginger cats who we'd taken on from a couple who had become allergic (!). The male cat was particularly attached to me - so much so that, when my then husband and I were having Words on one occasion, cat strolled in, peed up my husband's arm, and then strolled out again.

 

[brownmane]

The male cat was particularly attached to me - so much so that, when my then husband and I were having Words on one occasion, cat strolled in, peed up my husband's arm, and then strolled out again.

Yep cats have their own people

 

[Vardoger]

A video claiming to show a cat teleporting has been shared by her US owner.

The clip shows Cuddles the cat in the lounge of the house in Cartersville, Georgia and disappearing out of view, behind what looks like a reclining chair.

According to the owner, Sharon Brown, Cuddles had entered the kitchen. But then, as seen on the home security camera, Cuddles casually re-enters the lounge from the hallway - and not through the kitchen - from an entirely different direction.

"No trick photography, no twins," the owner wrote online.

For a puzzled Sharon, there can be only one explanation.

She told Newsflare: “The Canary security camera caught my cat Cuddles in the act of teleporting. You see Cuddles in the frame, she takes a couple of steps then vanishes only to reappear coming from the hallway."

“This is a ‘shotgun house’ - the front door is behind the camera and the back door is straight through the kitchen, no other entries or exits,” she continued.

https://www.newsflare.com/video/283945/animals/teleporting-cat-vanishes-in-strange-video-clip

 

[escargot]

A video claiming to show a cat teleporting has been shared by her US owner.

The clip shows Cuddles the cat in the lounge of the house in Cartersville, Georgia and disappearing out of view, behind what looks like a reclining chair.

According to the owner, Sharon Brown, Cuddles had entered the kitchen. But then, as seen on the home security camera, Cuddles casually re-enters the lounge from the hallway - and not through the kitchen - from an entirely different direction.

"No trick photography, no twins," the owner wrote online.

For a puzzled Sharon, there can be only one explanation.

She told Newsflare: “The Canary security camera caught my cat Cuddles in the act of teleporting. You see Cuddles in the frame, she takes a couple of steps then vanishes only to reappear coming from the hallway."

“This is a ‘shotgun house’ - the front door is behind the camera and the back door is straight through the kitchen, no other entries or exits,” she continued.

https://www.newsflare.com/video/283945/animals/teleporting-cat-vanishes-in-strange-video-clip

My cats can do that. I let one out of the front door and by the time I've leaned out and glanced up and down the street and closed and locked the door, Tim or Simbah will be walking back up the hall behind me. A minute and a half at most to run round the front and side of the house, jump up the high gate, cross the back yard and enter through the cat flap.

They do it so quickly I often think they've sneaked back in while I wasn't looking.

 

[Trevp666]

There is no time stamp - awful on security cameras, they should always have one - so I'm calling 'motion sensor camera' that missed when the cat walked back across shot the first time around. Especially likely if there is very little contrast between the black 'obverse' side of the cat and the dark background.
I've re-watched it on 'full screen' and if you look up at the wall on the right hand side there is what appears to be a small round clock hung there, and you can definitely see a slight change in that area between the cat disappearing off to the left and then reappearing on the right.
And I'm not 100% certain but it looks like there is a movement on the 'clock face', suggestive of the hands advancing by a few minutes.

 

[Mythopoeika]

There is no time stamp - awful on security cameras, they should always have one - so I'm calling 'motion sensor camera' that missed when the cat walked back across shot the first time around. Especially likely if there is very little contrast between the black 'obverse' side of the cat and the dark background.
I've re-watched it on 'full screen' and if you look up at the wall on the right hand side there is what appears to be a small round clock hung there, and you can definitely see a slight change in that area between the cat disappearing off to the left and then reappearing on the right.
And I'm not 100% certain but it looks like there is a movement on the 'clock face', suggestive of the hands advancing by a few minutes.

The camera probably records video when there is a change in the scene, possibly as you say through means of a motion sensor or through 'scene change sampling' - a minute-by-minute comparison of the scene with an earlier sample.
So after the cat went off, it probably stopped recording. The cat may have run into the other room without triggering the camera, then returned - this time, triggering the camera.

 

[Trevp666]

Sometimes I feel like I'm an armchair Fox Mulder or the other one.......what's her name....Scully?

 

[Lb8535]

Sometimes I feel like I'm an armchair Fox Mulder or the other one.......what's her name....Scully?

Mulder was the one who said it was all a big mystery. Scully was the one who figured it out.

 

[escargot]

re my cats' translocating activities -

Last thing at night we'll start moving towards upstairs and the cats will notice.
Simbah will amble to the kitchen where Techy will be locking the back door, putting the milk away and serving the finest kibble.

Meanwhile Tim will go to the front door and I'll call out to Techy 'Tim says he's popping out for a slash!'

I'll let Tim out, put a foot on the doorstep and glance up and down the street and then close and lock the door, by which time Tim will already be in the kitchen tripping Techy up and demanding supper.

Tim's doing a quick check on the boundaries of his kingdom rather than befouling the lawn.

 

[Trevp666]

Mulder was the one who said it was all a big mystery. Scully was the one who figured it out.

Aaaah.....well I'm somewhere in the middle then.
I like a mystery but also like to try and figure it out.
"I want to believe" but the cynic in me wants to prove me wrong.
So I guess I'm either Sculder or Mully.
Or maybe I'm more like Fred 'Freddie' Jones, but without the dress sense (or lack of it).

 

[IbisNibs]

Or you are Sculder and/or Mully.

So, translocating cat Cuddles--was there any evidence presented that the kitchen was NOT connected to the hall?
What's a hall doing in a shotgun house anyway?
That's another thing that will keep me awake tonight!

 

[PeteS]

Our latest permanent visitor is an absolute expert at translocating - I've never known a cat like her. Having said that she is wholly camouflaged by being exactly the same colour as the stained floorboards on the ground floor, so a bit like the appearance of The Cheshire Cat you sometimes only see her when her eyes appear from nowhere.

 

[Trevp666]

Or you are Sculder and/or Mully.

I am both, until observed.
Like some kind of 'Schrodingers Investigator'.

 

[joeosker]

More details, please, Joeosker.

More details, please, Joeosker.

Sorry its a bit late , just the usual dog wants to go out, let her out close the back door , dogs back in the house , I suspect miss direction , our new pups not done it yet , but im sure he will ; o)

 

[IbisNibs]

The older one is still teaching the younger. Younger hasn't passed the practical exams yet.

 

[asparagus]

Our junior purrer Splodge is a translocating cat. Yesterday morning I unlocked the cat flap and she jumped through, less than a second later I glanced out the window above (which has a full view of the ground and all the road) and she had instantly vanished. Even running at full speed there was nowhere she could have gone.

She has form at this sort of thing though. The cat flap makes a big racket when a cat comes through, and some months ago I let her out, sat on the sofa and a few minutes later looked up and she was sitting on top of the piano. She had definitely gone out and there was no other way back in except through the cat flap.

The most spectaculat example was a couple of years ago when we had only had her for a few months. She went missing from early in the morning, we'd searched our tiny one-bedroom cottage with a toothcomb, and the whole neighbourhood, eventually Mrs. Asparagus and I went to bed but left the cat flap open just in case. At 2.30 am in total silence there was a slight rustle on the bed, we switched on the light and there Splodge was, curled up between us calmly washing herself.

She and her partner in crime Treacle drive us crazy but we would not br without them!

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

I got worried when my Mum told me she was seeing her departed elderly cat. When she would wake in the morning, she would see the cat sleeping as always at the end of the bed, then it would disappear.
Wasn't long before my Mum was gone.

 

[IbisNibs]

Condolences to you!
Sounds like your mother had nice company when she passed, tho'.