Okay, so what are cats actually looking at when they freak out and zoom out of the room for no apparent reason?

Ask Barnabus. Cats are mysterious and like secrets. Shhh.

I always thought it was just a way of getting rid of pent up energy. They suddenly need to de-energise and start climbing the blinds, curtains etc. It always makes me laugh.

@Bellatrix Maybe, but sometimes it looks like he’s really tracking something! Then he goes for, then BAM! It must travel at the speed of light into the bedroom, cause thats how fast he’s moving. lol

:-) funny little things aren’t they? Ghosts?

Mine obviously has no extra energy. He is zzzz zzzz zzzz.

Did he find some catnip you forgot about?

@FutureMemory No, he does it almost every day. Although I did catch him in the planter, eating the cat nip from the root a few days ago. Hilarious. We can’t keep it growing because he keeps chowing down on it as soon as it sprouts.

We always say ghosts.

I don’t think they know. When one of my cats used to do this, the other would kind of roll her eyes at me as if to say “Bonkers.”

My favorite part was when she made a horizontal dash across the Venetian blinds.

We call our kitten (whose actual name is Mouse) the Parkour cat, because when she does it she bounds off just about every surface along the way. She likes to jump right over our older cat on her way, too. Who knows what they’re thinking? Crazy kittehs.

Sounds like someone found a misquito…...

Any chance it can be an eye floater?

Because they’re daft buggers.

They’re plotting to kill you and when your cat does this it’s actually a failed ambush!
see here

They sense these

They are hearing transmissions from their mother ship and are racing out of the room for better reception, and so you cannot hear their transmissions back to the ship. At some point all cats will be released by their alien controllers and will take over the earth.

I agree that it is because he’s up to something, like plotting to kill you:)

I like @elbanditoroso ‘s answer best. Probably right.

I just watched Barnacle roll around on the floor swatting at it, with very wide eyes, then scan the ceiling, then he sprinted off. And this is why I don’t have to own a TV lol.

@LuckyGuy I thought this was a common thing cats did, so no I don’t think it’s an eye floater.

Yes, I think it is about pent up energy and play. My new cat I have had for 11 weeks now this week has really blossomed and he does this nightly. Races through the house and does these crazy jumping over and richoceting off the furniture maneuvers. It’s hilarious.
He’s a huge cat, about 15 lbs. and his gallop is thundering. lol Both he and my female go into these modes almost every night, especially in bad weather when they can’t go out.

You know, I always ask, but he never answers. Just last night I was pleading him to tell me. He just looked at me as if to say “bitch, please”, got up and left. No more lasagna ! I said.

Secret cat business…

@scuniper I plead with Barnabus as well. Then, like your cat, he gives me a “bitch please” look, and leaves. And I yell “WHY DONT YOU JUST GO IN THE CORNER AND PUT ON SOME MORE BLACK LIPSTICK, GOTH!” (because he has black lips) and then I laugh for ten minutes.

@deni Now, are we a bad influence on them, or they on us?

@scuniper Thats a tough one. I know that Barry just makes it too easy and irresistable to make fun of him, so I spend a majority of my time doing so. He shows me how much he doesn’t appreciate it by snubbing me whenever I call him over to sit on my lap, especially when guests are around. If I’m being honest, he started it. Rude little bugger.

@deni Ah, well, I bet it’s my fault, I spoil him, but then, he’s my cat bro, we grew up together, and such a good listener. When he’s not around, I start muttering to myself lunatically.
And isn’t crazy cat lady better than crazy lonely lady? ;)

That’s why I love cats. When I haunt a place, they’re the only ones that aren’t afraid of me; they like to play with me, instead!