Funniest thing I've ever seen, playing fetch with a cat and a bird

[bradc]

Our big Mainecoon, Storm likes catching birds, this one that he bought in wasn't in great condition, if I picked it up to about 5 feet off the ground, it would sort of fly for about 10-15 feet before crashing into the floor, or chair or whatever.

Well I did this and Storm bought it back, so I did it again, and he bought it back to me and meowed. Well I did this about 7 times before he bit down on it a little bit too hard once and it didn't fly any more.

I thought it was damned hilarious, I've never seen a cat do that before. Here are some pics to show you the size of the bird compared to the cat - when it was still alive of course.

[Ryan]

Muahahah - you sadist. :P Mind you I would have done the same I guess.

The photos make it look like they are the best of friends :)

[bernmc]

Urgh. I love cats, but they're cruel bastards.

[Kenneth]

Arnie is similar (not surprising being Storm's offspring) except he seems to have a liking for the bigger birds. (lol at the other implied meanings of that sentence)

Minou the other cat brings in the small birds but she breaks their necks as soon as she catches them. Arnie on the other hand has (took him 4 birds practice) perfected catching without harming the bird (aside from mentally). The last one we took off him was put on a fence post and after a couple of minutes flew away :P

I must say that its a bit odd hearing the birds squawking and the noise moving around the outside of the house (usually he gets young birds that probably only just learnt to fly :P ) and the chorus of the birds' family following him.

The other one is Cicadas. Chirping outside is usual, but it sounds wrong when you hear the chirping move (pretty sure they cannot chirp whilst flying) and even odder when it comes inside muffled by the mouth of a large cat!

The chirping continues until a climax of chirp and crunch at the same time, followed by sounds of mastication.

[bradc]

We don't seem to have many Cicada's out here, but yes the sound coming from them muffled inside a cats mouth is really quite strange.

You can't play fetch with one though :)

[Kenneth]

We don't seem to have many Cicada's out here, but yes the sound coming from them muffled inside a cats mouth is really quite strange.

You can't play fetch with one though :)

Not precisely, you can take it off him and watch the antics as he charges around the house trying to catch it again though :P Seen back flips and all sorts after a cicada gets free

[Ryan]

... and even odder when it comes inside muffled by the mouth of a large cat!

The chirping continues until a climax of chirp and crunch at the same time, followed by sounds of mastication...

:D I've just woken up and this was the first post I read while the kettle boiled - what an amusing start to my day!

[Turbo_Steve]

:(

Storm brought him back for you to kill. It's a pecking order thing: he;ll be recognising you as alpha male. If you keep throwing the bird away and letting him bring it back, he's open to read that as rejection. Just so you know.

Our maine-coon couldn't catch a cold......she's not very bright.

The others, however, bring back all sorts: birds, rabbits, wood-pigeons, pheasant, you name it. If it's still alive, it gets the spade of mercy, and the cat gets lots of praise, because it brought the animal back alive for us as it felt it needed to reinforce it's relationship with the pack leader.

[Kenneth]

:(

Storm brought him back for you to kill. It's a pecking order thing: he;ll be recognising you as alpha male. If you keep throwing the bird away and letting him bring it back, he's open to read that as rejection. Just so you know.


Do you mind saying where you got that from? I am very interested as I feel it is important for animals to feel good as part of a family and while that sometimes requires some extra effort, it is always worth it in the long run.

What I heard was that cats bring home live pray to "teach" their humans how to hunt.

Recently (last couple of months anyway) I have worked out what Arnie wants when he comes in around 9-10am and meows, he wants to play. About 30 minutes later he has a different kind of meow which means he wants to find somewhere to poo.
The easiest one to work out was the "where are you, I want some attention" :P

[bradc]

That might be a valid point, but he was really enjoying it, when I picked it up, he was looking forwards in the direction I was going to let it go in, just like a dog does when he knows you're throwing a ball.

After one crunch too many I put it on his food bowl and patted him heaps, he seemed to take that as a sign to eat it

[bradc]

Lynx (Storm's son, Arnie's identical brother) is quite vocal compared to Storm, and if he comes into the house and can't find me he will just start meowing as loud as possible, until we call him or go and find him.

Storm is definitely part of the family, he has his own chair next to my computer chair and spends hours on it every day, until he decides he needs that little bit more attention and sits on my lap

[Ryan]

My understanding of why cats bring in dead animals for their owners, is that they are trying to be seen as "contributing" towards the pack's survival.

You feed your cat, now it is kind of trying to feed you too.