Yesterday, I was taking care of the trash. I took out the regular black trash bag and opened it through swinging it around (I hope you get what I mean). I was in the kitchen, which is right next to the stairs.
When I started 'swinging' the trash bag, one of my cats started running down the stairs like she was being chased by a dog. Long story short, she ran down the stairs so quickly, and then she dashed right under the trash bag and ran for the living room.
From my understanding, she must have been on the stairs, because I expected her to run as far away from the sound of the bag (she should have ran upstairs in this case), yet she went downstairs.
Now, here's the dilemma. Around 5 minutes after my cat dashed to the living room, I went upstairs and found something dark on the floor right on top of the stairs. The room wasn't lit up at the time so I touched it to verify what it is. It was poop, and it could be easily said that it was recent. This is the first time it happened. I mean, my cats already heard the bag and so I already know that they are terrified of the sound it makes. They have never had an accident with releasing faeces or peeing anywhere other than the litter box.
The thing I am confused about is whether that bag really scared her. I mean, the poop is there and that's a clear sign that it all happened at the same time, but my cat was at the top of a fairly long staircase. It's so long that I really doubt she would have ran down the whole set of stairs, and if anything she would have ran to a room upstairs.
What do you think? Is it likely that she released faeces due to getting scared?
Rejected edit note: Suggested edit has changed the word "faeces" to "feces" only in the title, while the edit should have also pursued the spelling of the word in the question body. Faeces and feces are both the same. I am using faeces due to the area I live in. Feces is used in North America according to this site, however both versions are technically correct.
