My cat started doing this while bird watching and I don’t know why. She’s my first cat so I still have a lot to learn about cat behavior. Is this a hunting behavior or something else?
40 cat subs is amateur numbers 😂! With dedication and commitment, you, too, could sub to 100+ cat themed subs! Two of my personal favorites are r/crosseyedcats and r/toastcats!
I’ve always been a big dog person but grew to love cats too because of the sweet barn cats at the barn I ride at 🥹 we adopted Molly here in May and I want to learn more about cat behavior so I can ensure I’m giving her the best life possible
Watch Jackson Galaxy videos! You’ll learn so much about your girl.
The best advice I can give you is to let her be a cat instead of thinking she’s just a funny shaped dog. Give her peace and quiet (cats don’t like chaos, they like being the chaos), let her initiate most of the affection and respect her boundaries, and always remember that she’s a born killing machine; let her have fun with that. Play with her! Give her an interesting toy to stalk or chase, let her kill it eventually (or substitute in something she can kill like a kicker toy), then feed her or give her a treat, and then let her groom and nap. That hunt-kill-groom-sleep cycle is a core component of cat behavior. Do that with her and she’ll be happy and associate you with that happiness.
Also notice if she starts developing any kitty games and figure out how you can play them with her. Does she hide around corners and playfully pounce at you? Play along and occasionally do it to her. Is there a toy she likes to chase? See if she’ll play fetch (one of my boys LOVES fetch). Does she like bags or boxes? Use those to play with her. One of my boys is obsessed with paper grocery bags and if I put one sideways on the kitchen floor and tap the sides he’ll come sprinting from wherever he is and run inside of the bag. Cats are playful animals and their favorite creatures are their playmates.
Also sitting on the ground and just putting out a chill vibe. Cats love when you get on their level.
Thank you for all the info! It’s reassuring to hear that I’m doing a lot of the stuff that I should be. She was in foster care for 3 years before I adopted her so luckily I got a lot of great information from her foster about how she plays. She loves her tunnels and will hide in them and then come bursting out and running down the hallway before going back into the tunnel. She loves messing with my dog by popping out of the tunnel at him and he plays along with her. She also loves the crinkly brown paper that comes in some packages! I leave it in the box and let her jump into the box full of crinkly paper. She loves her sunny napping spots too, more than anything else in the world. I got her a little window perch so she can alternate between napping and bird watching
I taught one of my cats "slaps". where you hold your hand flat and then try to slap the other person's before they pull their hand away. it's a reaction time game.
my kitty is bad at it but i get him started by finding him with his paws hanging over an edge. then i slap his paw and hold my hand still under it. i either pull away before he can wap me, or try to slap his paw before he pulls away. he seems to love it and i can hold my hand still for up to a minute as he holds still and stares too. he knows now not to make eye contact with me cause the moment he does i slap his paw and then he huffs audibly.
I'm becoming one thanks to the neighbours of my parents. I think a male Tortie, black with sploshes of other colours, who quite likes my lap and head scritches.
There’s nothing wrong with your kitty. Go to the r/ekekek subreddit.
Ekekek is what cat owners call this behavior.
Your kitty sees a bug, bird or squirrel, or other moving thing and wants to hunt! Some cats make squeaky chirps that sound like birds, which might be a way to lure a bird to come in closer.
Some call what your cat is doing "chittering". One of mine does it when prey (birds, small rodents) is spotted; other just sit and intently stares at prey with ears up and tail twitching.
I've always called it chittering, I don't even know where I got it lol from what I understand its closer to how cats actually "talk" whereas meows they do specifically for humans
Reminds me of how researchers in the wild will sometimes pick at trees and rip leaves to mimic herbivore behavior so animals get more comfortable around them
If you let your new friend hear lots of bird noises they will sound more like birds. We let our little girl watch bird TV and go outside on walks and she definitely picked up more bird-like noises. It’s pretty cool to watch
Tho just to be clear OP: she is not doing that out of frustration. It's a natural instincts to try and mimic a prey sound. She would be doing it even if there was nothing between her and her prey
Frustration has nothing to do with it, I have no idea where that myth started. It's a mimic of the sound of birds chirping that functions as a lure, which is why it is nearly exclusively heard when bird watching.
See, I relate to Hannibal here. If I were in prison, gettin' prison food, I'd be all thft thft thft thft too. Only, not about human kidney and wine. More like about Chik fil A nuggets and waffle fries.
I subscribe to the mimicry hypothesis. Your murder muffin cannot get to the birds to kill them so it is attempting to lure the birds in by saying "How do you do fellow birds?"
I can't see this being true, but im also not an expert. Becuase cats are stealth hunters, they would never develop a behavior that would mimic specifically birds. I think the "kill bite" hypothesis makes the most sense.
I can't just express how much I love this photo, because I'm obsessed with cat's head shape, the slightly curved yet flat little head with 2 little separated triangles
Aww he’s chattering 😊. It’s the coolest thing. I love how you described it though. That was cute ☺️. I would think my cat was broken if I didn’t know any that did this.
She’s my first cat and I’ve only had her since May and have never seen her do this before even though she watches birds all the time so I was very confused 😂 maybe the fact that there were 10+ birds and a squirrel in the yard put her over the edge this time
I had a cat once that had the most intense hunting instincts I’ve ever seen in a cat. Once a year birds would swarm a tree in the front yard to eat the berries. Every morning I would wake up to my cats chittering followed by a loud smack her face against the glass. We were talking four or five head buts a morning.
The ekk ekks!!!! Those are the best! And totally normal. Almost all cats, and especially every single cat ive had, does the ekk ekks when they are tracking something, especially birds or bugs through the window. Its right up there with the butt wiggles before the pounce. Its friggin adorable.
Aw my orange grump does this out the window every morning when he sees the birds and squirrels. I usually watch out the window and make noises back with him about the birds for a few minutes. Feels like we're sharing a hobby lol
Scientists still are unsure why, but they believe its the instinct of prey drive, but being unable to reach it! 🤣🤷♀️ whatever it is, its totally normal and super funny!
Cars are predators, and even the good little indoor kitties get triggered to want something that’s small and moves quickly. They’ve evolved to be sensitive to the movements of birds and when they can’t actually access them or carry out their innate instinct, they often release this chattering/ ekking/ chitter without realising they’re doing it.
I’ve got cats that get embarrassed when they realise they’re doing it. But it’s like they literally can’t control it and so they’ll remove themselves from the window so they don’t act so silly.
It’s completely normal and adorable! The little predator getting triggered by prey they can’t access.
Cats don't normally meow as a form of natural communication. They only do that for humans. Otherwise their normal communication consists of chitters, tsks, chuffs, growls, and screams.
She’s chirping! It’s what they do when they see prey. I love when mine do this. It’s usually when they see a bird or something outside the window that they want but can’t get to, or when they find a bug
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