> This has been confusing me and I though someone here might know the 
> answer.
>
> I live in a cold place where the temperature has been around -15 c and 
> quite dry.
>
> I pet my cats quite normally, starting with the head and down the back to 
> the tail, the back to the head again.
>
> But if I touch the cat's ears, zap!  An audible and in the dark quite 
> visible shock.  The cat feels it, too.
>
> This seems confusing to me.  I would totally understand if I petted one 
> cat and touched another cat's ear and gave it a shock, but on the same cat 
> with the same hand, that don't seem right.
>
> I though of grounding myself with one of those things people use to fix 
> motherboards, but I don't have one.  Of course wetting the cat first would 
> make the shock go away, but the cat doesn't like it.
>
> Seriously though, why does the same cat using the same hand get a shock? 
> Anyone else experienced this?
>
> Brrrr,
> Lindy

Lindy,
the cats fur is an extremely good insulator.
when you pet it you collect charge on your hand. the more you pet it, the 
more charge you collect. when you get to the ear where it doesnt have that 
fur, you discharge your hand through the ear (charging the body of the cat).
try standing barefoot on a non isolating surface, or touch some big metal 
part (ouch!) before touchign the cats ear.
Just dont go near a PIC microprocessor after petting your cat or you might 
program it in a way you dont like. ;-)

Lembit

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