Understanding Your Cat

Archive for the ‘Kittens Learn to Hunt’ Category

Cats have been famous for hunting mice and rats for as long as cats and people have been together. As strange as it may seem to some people, cats are not born knowing how to hunt. It is a skill they learn from watching their mothers. If the mother cat is a good hunter, then her kittens will learn to be good hunters. Interestingly, kittens seem to learn the best from their mothers. They do not seem to learn as well or as quickly from watching other adult cats.

At about five or six weeks of age, a mother cat will begin teaching her kittens how to hunt. At first she brings dead mice to the kittens. She will eat some of the mice in front of the kittens. In this way she is showing them that mice are their prey and that they are good to eat. As time goes on the kittens begin to play with the dead mice their mother brings them. Before long the kittens are flinging the dead mice around and pouncing on them. It’s a good idea to stand clear of them when they’re at this stage. You might get smacked by a flying mouse if you don’t!

After awhile, the mother starts bringing mice that are still half alive and releases them for the kittens to practice. Very soon the kittens are leaping on and flinging these mice around as confidently as they did the previous dead ones their mother brought them. Then, mother starts Read the rest of this entry »

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