Cat Stalk. Play or Predatory? Leave a comment

Cat stalk for many reasons, stalking is indeed a natural activity. It’s an essential part of a cat’s feline essence, and you can bring limitless quantities of joy to your pet’s everyday life by promoting this activity in the right manner by engaging in play. If you keep her inside comfortably, this environmental stimulation is significant.

It all starts with your stalking cat’s inherent part as a professional tracker. As she looks at you with her sea-green eyes, sloppily lulling off to rest on your lap, note that her parents were wild cats and that they did not rely on a bowl full of delicious kibbles.

Both cats are born with the primary drive and abilities to stalk and hunt with their stealthy and quiet movement, sharp senses, and athletic versatility. Where necessary, during kitten-hood, they master the complexities of their moms.

Recommended Read: 5 Games to Play with Your Indoor Cat — Keep Your Cat Entertained

BestOfCatsAndDogs.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This means we may promote and supply links to products on Amazon.com and earn a commission for any resulting sales made. This comes at no extra cost to you.

How A Stalking Cat Likes To Play

You’ll typically find limitless levels of play in a litter of kittens, which will entail cat stalking, pouncing, and grappling. And with adults in a multi-cat household, cat stalking, chasing, ambushing, and grappling are likely to be heard, usually all in good fun.

Moves such as the stalking cat are a safe way for kittens to get exercise, and you need not be nervous as long as they do not cause any harm to each other.

The key is that the play has to be mutually beneficial; if there’s a case where an elderly pet who hates the idea in it is insistently stalking and pestering a young cat. It’s time to interfere and find ways to divert the stalking cat into multiple forms of having fun.

A play session that brings out its stalking and pouncing side is prepared to provide the stalking cat with some regular one-on-one focus. For a stalking cat, using a fluffy toy or rodent toy on a stick is a treat. A laser pointer, properly used, is also a good option.

You’re supposed to chuck the little toy away from the cat, still in her field of view, and you’re supposed to make it turn and behave like prey. Small gestures, especially at first, would probably intrigue your cat more than big sweeping ones. By having a few props in the space for her to disappear within or escape into, you can create an atmosphere favorable to hunting.

Keeping Those Stalking-Cat Behaviors Positive

Such daily play activities are a perfect way to reinforce your relationship with your stalking cat and offer her the exercise and relaxation that her body and mind require.

Cats can become sad, irritated, or lethargic if this desire is not fulfilled. Or to satisfy her inherent need to stalk, a bored cat can also set her eyes and claws on human organs (such as your feet!).

You will find that you cannot walk around your house without being attacked by a friendly predator.

(Note: This is not an activity with kittens to promote, so they are likely to develop into adults believing that this “game” is now appropriate. Make sure to give your kittens gentle instruction on behavior to mold them into mature cats with which you would choose to live.)

According to Stephanie Borns-Weil, DVM, head of the Animal Behavior Clinic at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, indoor cats are likely to be more passive than indoor-outdoor felines. Indoor cats will quickly become bored without appropriate and suitable stimuli.

They need an outlet for their hunter instincts as instinctive predators. Indoor-only cats will quickly get anxious and grumpy without adequate incentives and search for inappropriate ways to relieve their anxiety.

Why Does My Cat Try To Stalk Me?

Until you panic that your domesticated cat has gone feral, feline behaviorists suggest it’s natural when cats stalk humans. Most cats do it, and they have a few valid explanations.

Can’t Ignore Instinct

Our domesticated cats share 95% of their DNA with wild tigers, studies reveal. The leading hypothesis is that house cats and big cats come from the same ancestor, and from that ancient connection, they get a lot of their characteristics. That explains why occasionally, your pampered pet can behave like a wild beast.

In the wild, due to Instinct, cats thrive. They have an ingrained perception that shows them what is healthy to eat and how to control it. The natural hunting skill involves stalking their prey and assaulting them.

And while the life of your cat depends on your ability to fill their food bowl and not their capacity as a predator, the Instinct to stalk and pounce has not yet been lost.

The body of your cat is constructed for stealth, and its brain is programmed for stalking. So, as you drive back around the room minding your own business, without understanding it, the urge to stalk triggers in the mind of your pet. They don’t do so because they think they should make you a meal, just because it tastes right, they do so.

Getting Bored

Since all cats have enough Instinct to chase “prey,” if they don’t get the necessary amount of fitness and psychological stimulus, it may happen more frequently. Basically, as a way to relieve their loneliness, cats stalk people.

Frustration At Its Fiercest 

Because much of your cat’s stalking activity is fun and innocent, there are times when cats stalk or pounce out of anger on the person. It’s like you’ll get the urge to yell or smash anything when something doesn’t go your way. A type of catharsis is the release of pent-up agitation.

Why Does My Cat Pounce On Me?

For fun and love, the most prevalent causes cats pounce on the owners are. Cats who participate in this activity usually hide behind a corner or furniture and then leap out at the owner unexpectedly. Your cat can dig her nails into you and, with her paws, cling on or gently touch you and runoff.

If the cat digs in with her claws and begins chewing or kicking with her back legs, there is a greater chance of damage to the owners, and owners may find this disturbing. Bear in mind, though, that this is usually everyday playing activity for a cat.

 Note, though we, as humans, lack hair and are thin-skinned, cats have heavy fur and loose skin. We face the highest risk of getting injuries when our cats pursue this version of playing with us, but it is not due to our cat’s evil intent.

Similarly, some cats may have found out that the owner may call out or chase after them if they pounce on their owner. In this situation, cats learn that there’s more contact with you as they pounce on you, which most cats find satisfying. In several other words, for your pet, your response to being bound on has been “huge fun”!

In some instances, when she gets agitated, a cat can pounce on the owner. The root explanation for this is usually linked to other persons or animals in her atmosphere that may have induced the pouncing behavior.

Any cat, for instance, can see a neighbor’s cat going through the yard and get irritated. It can channel its violent actions against the closest living creature, who is always its owner in a home because the cat cannot run out and chase after the opposing cat.

The sudden motions of an owner around the house can even annoy some cats. The cat is quiet while the owner is still, but the cat can get irritated and pounce while running about cleaning or cooking dinner.

If your cat’s pouncing behavior has changed in severity and frequency, it is often a safe idea to have your vet evaluate your cat to find potential health issues that could lead to the behavior. Suppose the pouncing activity results in injury to you, and you wish to minimize it.

In that case, you might either want to talk to your doctor on how to redirect the “playfulness” of your cat with easy play games or food puzzles or have a referral to a vet behaviorist or licensed animal behaviorist who may help you.

Cat Stalking Prey

By chasing it, cats typically approach their prey. This indicates that the cat is in a crouched posture, with its head spread out. On the initial approach, sluggish movements are used that may escalate to a sprint the closer the cat gets to the prey.

The cat pauses and prepares to spring forward when the cat gets to a close enough distance to be able to catch the game. At this point, before a quick run, you may witness the cat holding itself in a tight posture and springing forward with one or both of its front paws to attack the prey.

Recommended Read: Cat Scared? Understanding Your Stressed Cat

Conclusion

As part of their hunting ritual, cats stalk Stealthy prey detection is an essential step in search of food for a cat, and they are masterful at it. Cats are natural talkers, with their slow gait, laser-like focus, acute senses, and fluid body structure. All cats have the innate drive and abilities to stalk and hunt, but during kitten-hood, they master the complexities of their moms’ skill.