Behavior: Predatory Insticts
Predatory Instincts
Young kittens begin to demonstrate their predatory instincts at about six weeks of age. The mother cat will encourage this behavior in a number of ways. She may find a piece of meat and start batting it around to attract her kittens to it. She'll throw it in the air, pounce on and generally act like it was live prey such as a bird or a mouse. The kittens will usually be attracted to their mother's odd behavior and may join in on the pouncing.
At this age the kittens begin to practice their own hunting movements- crouching behind furniture ready to attack and pouncing one another by making mock attacking runs. The mother will also sit quietly behind something with just her tail showing and move it back and forth in an irrististable motion, provoking her children to pounce on it.
Cats have excellent vision, even in poor lighting situations, and very acute hearing as well as whiskers to help them feel their way around in the dark. The soft pads and retractable claws on their feet allow them to move silently through the underbrush. Cats are excellent hunters and when attacking, they do so in one swift bounding action and grasp its victim with the death bite on the neck. Domesticated cats really have no need to hunt for food because they are well fed will play with their prey as a game before they actually kill. (This is an unfortunate thing for the poor animal the cat is stalking.)
Even the most docile cat will hunt when given the oppertunity simply because it is in the cat's nature to do so.
Cats that are kept indoors at all time should compensate for their lack of hunting oppertunites. They should be encouraged to play with interesting toys to to keep them active and reduce obesity. I find that there is no need to go out and buy expensive cat toys. A small rubber ball that are sold in the 25 cent machines, a feather or pipe cleaner attached to a string or a mouse or bean bag filled with catnip are all adaquate toys.
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