some cats apparently have a reaction to bleach that is similar to the
one usually associated with catnip.  Since pool chlorine and chlorine
bleach have similar odors, I'd say that the chlorine smell is probably
what Otis was reacting to. As to why he *bit*, well, some cats get
affectionate and sleepy with catnip, others get wild and aggressive,
and still others don't react at all.  One of my RB kitties would roll
and purr on the kids towels when they came home from the pool, and if I
was bleaching the kitchen dishrags I had to put them in a dishpan in
the hall bathroom with the door closed or she'd literally try to snort
the bleach water. A load of freshly laundered, bleached whites strait
out of the dryer was a magnet for her.  She didn't react to laundry
that had not been bleached, so there must have been just enough of the
chlorine smell to attract her even after going through the rinse and
dry cycles. She was the only one of my cats that reacted to chlorine.  
She was also my "water cat"...  she'd get in the shower with me and sit
in the sprinklers in the summer.  She also liked to go out in the rain
and play in the puddles. I still miss her- every morning when I take a
shower I think of Scamp and her wet footprints all over the house.

Katrina

One of my mom's cats goes nuts over the smell of bleach.