It's always fun to watch cats as they interact with each other as well as other species. They usually exhibit prey stalking when they play with you with an interactive fishing pole type toy. Some cats prefer to see it fly like a bird while others enjoy it wiggling across the floor like a snake. There are also cats who enjoy both.
Our friends at HooplaHa have shared a video of cats exhibiting this behavior. They call it Cats Trying to Scare You and they do note how patient cats are while watching their prey.
I'd like to note that some of the clips involve cats outdoors which is something we don't recommend in the U.S. There are far too many dangers outside including disease, other animals who might attack them, cars racing down the road, etc. Indoors with environmental enrichment keeps them healthier and they will live a whole lot longer.
Now for your enjoyment, and education if you want to study the body language of each of the cats, is the video.
7 comments:
Great video, Darlene. Thanks for sharing it. I love watching cats stalk and I have yet to have one that does not exhibit stalking behavior. I also think it is interesting to watch the big (wild) cats stalk their prey. A cat's patient, wild or domestic, is pretty amazing and we humans would do well to emulate a cats patience more in our own lives.
Loved the video and your comments, Darlene. It's always a pleasure to watch cats stalking, something that they are very expert at. Having said that, we feed the birds in our garden every day and find it annoying when our neighbour's cats stalk, or lie in wait for them. We were fortunate that our own two cats didn't go after the birds. They never ventured further than our back garden and the birds would come down to feed, even when the cats were there. Many thanks for sharing the video and your own observations.
Love it! Memories of all my cats doing this. They all seemed to have their preferred method of stalking. Particularly enjoyed the wiggly cat in the video.
Rescuegal, I love your comments. It's so true. The behavior is exactly the same whether watching big cats or our household pets. Fascinating!
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Gordon. I can understand your annoyance. If only more people would learn about environmental enrichment and make the indoors more interesting for their cats! Or they can build a catio so the cats are out but can't get at the birds. I hope your neighbor's cats are at least belled so the birds can hear them coming.
Thanks so much for your comments, dawgawthur. Yes, that wiggly cat is really adorable. I'm so glad you liked the video!
Oh, Darlene, this is so funny! I loved this video, and it was a good time for agood laugh. Thanks!
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