One of my cats was adopted from the county shelter as a 5-week-old kitten. DH was down in the floor playing with him, and noticed that he got a little riled up when DH breathed on him. DH breathed on him some more, several times in a row, and it kind of made a panting sound. The kitten went haywire, going after DH's face with both front feet (claws in). He'd bat with his left paw, then bat with his right paw, as fast as he could go. DH had to cover his face. He never did THAT again! ROFL!

Although it was hilarious to watch (mostly because of DH's shocked expression!), it was sad, too. We think that perhaps a dog had tried to get ahold of him at some point before we adopted him. DH's "panting" probably reminded him of the sound the dog made.

One of my other cats flinches if we raise our hand too quickly. He was a shelter kitty too. We've never hit any of our babies (they are our children), but at some point, somebody must've raised a hand to him. He's almost grown out of it, but every once in awhile, he still flinches slightly. Poor guy. :-(