Why your cat likes to knock things off surfaces

Why do cats like to knock things off shelves or tables or kitchen counters and watch the object fall to the ground, bounce around and perhaps sometimes break? It looks a bit destructive. A little like the actions of a naughty child. I'm sure some cat caregivers react to this feline behaviour as if they were reacting to their child misbehaving. They shouldn't of course because the motivation is completely different.

On the internet, there are millions of articles on this topic. It is a highly competitive area for the search engines. That's the reason why I am writing this again because I have the same title on another website but that page has died over time and so I am trying to revive this content.

Some ideas on the reasons

There are several reasons why domestic cats knock things over and often watch them fall to the ground as described. These are my thoughts.

Boredom: a lot of indoor cats become bored. They want to try and recreate the kind of mental stimulation that they would enjoy outside. They can achieve that goal temporarily and very artificially by knocking an object off a table. The object moves. It temporarily (and using a lot of imagination) becomes a prey animal which they can then jump after and sniff. That is sometimes the response of the cat after they've knocked the object off the mantelpiece. The owner should not be annoyed with their cat as they need to look to themselves for the solution. 💕😉

Playfulness: it's another attempt at trying to entertain themselves. And once again it engages their minds. And in doing it they are physically active in a very minor way. It is therefore a form of play in the same way that when cats are genuinely playing they bat things around. I've just written an article on the four basic themes of kitten play in which I have an Infographic. You might like to read that by clicking on this link.

Attention seeking: this is quite a good reason. Once again it almost emanates from boredom. Boredom that their owner is not interacting with them and stimulating them so they create a scenario which attracts the attention of their owner and they therefore have this interaction afterwards which is better than nothing. It might not be a particularly pleasant interaction, however 🙄! Especially if the object that was knocked over was a precious vase.

Hunting behaviour: this is an extension of the other items above. You knock something over and it moves and they can believe that it is an animal and hunt it. As mentioned it requires imagination. But kittens and cats are very good at playing with objects as if those dead objects are living animals. That's why, by the way, it is best that cat toys are soft and can be destroyed because they then replicate a living animal. Hard plastic toys manufactured commercially sometimes can become boring to a cat because they can't sink their teeth into it and claw the object to death!

Checking if the object is living! Once again an extension of the above. Cats do like to prod and poke animals they have killed to try and reanimate them to allow them to continue entertaining themselves. Prodding an inanimate object may be a similar form of behaviour and if it falls off a high surface so much the better.

Territorial marking: some say this is also a form of territorial marking because they have scent glands in their paws and that scent is deposited on the object. I'm not so sure about this but it's worth including in the list.

Common thread: I think you might see a common thread to the above. It comes back ultimately to mental stimulation; to find something which at least very temporarily stimulates the mind. It looks naughty but it's just trying to create something out of nothing. Which leads me nicely to the next item:  enriching the environment. Vital in the cat's world when stuck inside the home (understandable in today's world).

In a truly enriched environment you will find that domestic cats don't engage in this "naughty" behaviour. You've got to provide plenty of toys and activities to keep your cat engaged. You've got to play with your cat on a regular basis if you have the time. You've got to provide high places and climbing poles and runs et cetera. They can be within the home and outside the home in a cat proof enclosure or a catio. I'm afraid that very few people enrich their home environment enough to the point where the cat will never knock things off a mantelpiece!

Hope this helps a little. Hope it gets seen! As I said it is a very competitive area of cat behaviour in terms of online articles.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

The reason why kittens, adult domestic cats and small wild cats play

Playing for both the domestic adult cat and kitten and in general small wild cat cubs is about self-training and practising for improved predation for survival and to defend their home range.

Play is for honing motor skills in practice for predation. Image: MikeB

I would argue that for the small wild cat species, as stated, it is normally only for cubs/kittens to play and who do it intensively in order to train themselves in terms of coordination and general motor skills to become better predators (and survivors) when they are adults. And it is fun.

For the domestic cat it is a little different as they are cared for by their human caregiver. The human caregiver is a surrogate mother and this tends to keep the adult cat in the mental state of being a kitten and therefore they tend to have a kitten attitude or personality which translates to kitten-like behaviour which in turn translates to playing as an important aspect of their lives even when adult. 

Domestic cats and kittens play a lot because it's instinctive but it doesn't stop when they become adults. That's the point I'm making.

Experts have observed small wild cat species playing with prey animals such as mice in the same way as domestic cats. Some people think that the domestic cat is torturing a mouse when they do this. And they criticise the domestic cat for it. It's not true. It's normally because they might be a little frightened of being bitten because they lack practice in predation or they are instinctively practising predation and killing as was observed in a Geoffroy's cat in a captive environment.

The point is that the underlying reason why the small cats which includes domestic and wild cats play is, in the words of Jim Sanderson PhD, "to develop their motor skills". That's the purpose behind it rather than simple entertainment.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Does this adult cat want to play with this kitten or is he being mean?

The owner of these cats wants to know whether the adult cat wants to play with her kitten or whether he is being mean-spirited towards the kitten? I feel that I can say with considerable confidence that this adult cat simply wants to play and he has a kitten to hand to carry through on that desire. 

Curious to get opinions, is he playing or being mean to our kitten? I feel like he’s batting at her so gentle it could be playing, he’s actually swatted at her in a mean way a few times but I’m still nervous to let them interact without supervision
by u/racheljobe in cats

The problem is that the kitten is a little too small to play with. I think both the kitten and adult cat realize this but as the kitten grows older, I am sure that they will play. 

I don't see anything mean-spirited in this adult cat's actions. My assessment is partly based on the fact that immediately before the adult cat approaches the kitten he was playing in the tunnel. 

He was stimulated to play; to have some fun. And his natural instinct was to go to the kitten for a playful interaction. 

They tap each other's paws as if slapping each other. I've seen this before quite a lot. It's as if cats are boxing each other and it's a kind of vestigial form of aggression which has been de-tuned to be play and no more. 

I do not see anything wrong with this behaviour in any way and I'm sure that these two cats will get along well in the future.

It appears that the owner has introduced a kitten to her home where there is a resident cat. If that is true, from what we see here, I believe that they are going to get along well in the future. I hope so. There is a possibility that they won't because when the kitten grows up, she or he will want their own home range which may be a friction point between the two.

Cats bring back prey because they know they can play with it without being attacked by predators

A form of feline behaviour which all cat owners are aware of and which the experts have spoken of is bringing prey animals back into their caregiver's home where they either eat the mouse if it's dead or they 'play' with it until it dies and then perhaps eat it.

Cat bringing prey home. Image in public domain.

Normal explanation

The normal theory for this form of cat behaviour is that domestic cats are bring their prey back to their natal den within their natal range because they have the mental state of a kitten and they are kept in that state by their human care givers who provide for them completely. They are bringing prey back to their mother in the den as she teaches them how to hunt (and see below - role reveral).

That is my preferred theory. 

New theory

A new theory has been proposed by Celia Haddon in conjunction with Dr. Daniel Mills FRCVS in their book Being Your Cat: What's Really Going on in Your Feline's Mind.

They say that domestic cats bring their prey to their owner's home because they want to play with it without being attacked by a predator. I have thought about this and these are my thoughts if you are interested.

Their suggestion indicates that the domestic cat makes a positive rational decision to bring prey back into the security of their owner's home to avoid predators and where they will have time to be cruel (in the eyes of humans) to the prey animal by playing with it.

Reasoning

Cats don't make rational decisions like that. They make instinctive decisions based on indoctrination. And their answer begs the question as to why domestic cats "play" with prey? The classic answer to that is that cats are not deliberately playing with a mouse to be cruel. 

Because they normally have little opportunity to exercise their natural desires to hunt, they want to extend the hunt by not killing the mouse immediately.

Secondly, they want to play safe by battering the mouse and killing it in a safe way rather than placing their mouth up to it and getting a bite which may harm them.

These are the classic responses to that scenario and I prefer them. The one aspect of Celia Haddon and Dr. Daniel Mills' response which is correct is that domestic cats will go back to the security of their home but this is for a general reason of security and to bring the prey animal back to their owner who is their surrogate mother.

Role reversal

Sometimes domestic cats kill the prey animal in a role reversal. In the wild, the mother teaches her offspring how to kill animals in the den. And in the classic domestic cat-to-human relationship, the cat is the kitten and the human is the mother.

But when an adult cat brings prey back home, they become the mother and the human becomes the kitten. The position in which the domestic cat is placed in the human home can be confusing to them. 

For example, it is automatically confusing for them to be constantly provided for as if they are kittens. They never grow up and have the opportunity to adopt the mentality of an adult cat except when they are allowed outside and suddenly within seconds, they become a wildcat until they return home again where they flick the switch and within about 15 minutes become a tame human companion. 

At that point in time, they are adults as they've just left the wild. When cats are outside, they become adult wildcats. Back inside the home and they adopt the characteristics of a tame kitten.

"Cats try to RUIN Christmas trees" discuss!

It is that time of year when websites sometimes discuss the interaction between cats and Christmas trees 😎. And this is where it goes wrong 😢. There's one website from New Zealand called Stuff which has a title as follows: "Watch: 12 times cats tried to ruin Christmas trees". This is a big website with an influence, and I don't like the title (Kiwis don't like cats!). I am being too serious, but this is a title which imports speciesism into the discussion.

Domestic cat pulls over Christmas tree. See video below.

Domestic cats don't try and ruin Christmas trees. They try and climb them because that is what domestic cats want to do. They need to entertain themselves in the sterile human environment in which they are placed and forced to live. Strong words.

@yoilseari please send tips so this won’t happen again #cat #catsoftiktok #christmas #cats #fyp #foryoupage ♬ original sound - Ilse ◡̈

So why criticise them for trying to ruin Christmas trees? They are simply climbing them and enjoying the experience. If that results in the Christmas tree falling over and smashing to bits so be it.

It is not a conscious effort by a domestic cat to ruin a Christmas tree. I am spelling out the obvious and I'm sure that I am being incredibly tiresome and boring in doing so.

However, the title that I refer to on the Internet is a misdescription and a form of speciesism.

No doubt there are many videos of domestic cats pulling over Christmas trees. There are an equal number of methods to protect Christmas tree such as putting kitchen foil all around the tree. This works pretty effectively because it looks sort of Christmassy while at the same time protecting the tree because domestic cats hate to walk on tin foil. They don't understand it and it makes a funny noise which puts them off very effectively.

My theory is that the sound of tinfoil being walked on sounds a bit like a viper or a rattlesnake. Cats don't like snakes although it must be said that they are very effective at killing snakes particularly the sand cat. This is made possible by the fact that the domestic cat's reflexes are sharper than those of the snake!

Back to Christmas trees. The video on this page I think is priceless. That is a bit of a pun because there is a financial price to pay when a cat knocks over a beautiful Christmas tree as we see in the video.

Domestic cat's instinctive desire to entertain themselves based on hunting

This charming, short, video of a ginger tabby cat playing on a loose flagstone and with water is novel in my opinion. It shows a domestic cat instinctively using his hunting skills to entertain himself through play. 

And he's observed that when he pounces onto a corner of the flagstone water is ejected. The pouncing behaviour is reminiscent of the hunting technique of the serval which often hunts for small prey animals such as rodents in long grass. 

Domestic cat's instinctive desire to entertain themselves based on hunting. Screenshot.

The serval picks up the sound of these rodents even though they can't see them and then leaps into the air and stuns the animal when they make contact with the ground.

This 'stunning technique' is very clear in this video. The cat is effectively hunting, and it is not clear to him why the water is being ejected upwards as the flagstone squashes it underneath, forcing it out and up.

It is a variation on play-hunting in using whatever is available as a "toy". It caught my eye but please note that this is an embedded video from the Reddit.com website which may well end up being converted to a link to that website or the video may disappear. If that happens, I'm sorry but I have no control over this.

Cat doesn't know it but they are entertaining themselves

 This is a highly amusing video on Twitter. The cat is sitting on a laptop keyboard which is not that unusual as we all know. The attraction is the heat from the computer chip which leaks upwards through the keyboard and via the cooling fan (which is probably blocked by this cute cat). And they are depressing a couple of keys one which turns the letter into a capital and the other is the letter 'a'. 

Cat self-entertains without knowing it. Screenshot.

And so, we have a rapid production of a capital 'A' being rolled out on the computer screen which this cat enjoys watching. It's an example of self-entertainment without any knowledge of it. It is a version of cat television. Cat television normally refers to watching the comings and goings outside the home through a window.

RELATED: Cat Television – a good example.

I think you'll have to click the play button twice. It is a cute video though.

On a technical note, I wonder how long that could go on for before the computer objected! You could end up with a document that was millions of words long and you might start coming up to a memory problem.

Cat plays with Ukrainian machine gun bullets

I find the juxtaposition of this cat playing with deadly armaments rather sickening to be honest. On the one hand we have humans killing each other with deadly force and on the other hand we have a playful cat who has no idea what is going on in respect of human warfare playing with machine gun bullets. It goes right over their head. Until they are killed in a Russian bomb explosion or a bullet or the apartment in which the cat lives is destroyed.

I'm told in a report by Nathan Winograd, an American animal advocate, that more than 300,000 animals have been killed in Ukraine after the Russian invasion. It is not talked about enough, hardly at all but it is in the background and it is horrendous and it should deeply trouble the world's animal advocates.

Screenshot. Cat plays with bullets

But Ukraine must keep on fighting until they have kicked the Russians out of their country. And it has been argued today that they will have to kick them out of Crimea as well. And it is a fallacy to argue that the West is fuelling this war. 

The war has been created by Russia and nobody else. It can be stopped by Russia and nobody else. To argue that the West should stop supplying armaments to Ukraine as a way of ending the war and negotiating a settlement in which Ukraine hands over a part of the country to the Russians is a false argument. 

If you do that the Russians will simply take more of Ukraine in the future. It is an argument of defeat and failure and there comes a time when you have to do the right thing. There are occasions when things are black-and-white, good or bad and this is one of those occasions.

On World Cat Day, Ukrainian combat cats help the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to load the tape with cartridges😺🇺🇦#CatDay #CatsOnTwitter #CatsofTwittter #Caturday #cats #Ukraine #UkraineRussiaWar #Ukrainian #ZSU #ArmedForces pic.twitter.com/gtTNxjl4Yv

— Vitalis (@VitalisViVa) August 8, 2022

Note: This is an embedded tweet. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Are these cats playing or fighting?

A Reddit.com user asks whether, what appears to be siblings, are playing or fighting. My response is that they are doing both. When young cats play together, the basis of their play is fighting. It can get quite rough but the 'victim' at any one time tells the other when it has become too rough by screaming at them. 

Screenshot from video below.

This helps to keep the "violence" down to a reasonable level. But you see slapping, biting and kicking with hind legs et cetera and it's all roughhousing play. One might invite the other to attack by laying down belly up.

Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source or the video is turned into a link which would stop it working here. I have no control over this.

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I guess it is all preparation for independence when, if they lived in the wild, they would have to leave the natal home range and set up their own home range and defend it against incoming intruders with whom they would have to fight.

So, play for young cats as we see in the video is play-fighting. This is the default situation. There is a set of kitten play postures which include: belly-up, standing over, side-stepping, pouncing, chasing, vertical stance, horizontal leaping and face-off. You will notice that they are all to do with fighting an enemy which will no doubt happen in the future.

You will see play between offspring and mother which is not it seems to me "violence-based". Although even in this instance there is often a hint of violence because for example the kitten may bite their mother's tail or their ear. A modicum of violence appears to underpin all domestic cat play throughout their lives.

The other form of play that domestic cats engage in is also centred around violence namely play-hunting. All the toys that you can buy for cats are based upon hunting, chasing and attacking an object. The classic home-made toy is a piece of string which your cat will chase, catch and bite. This form of play is fine tuning a kitten's ability to catch prey. It is called object play. 

Adult cats also engage in "object play" and clearly, they aren't practising for the time when they will become adults because they are already adults but, in their minds, the adult domestic cat is still a kitten because they are cared for throughout their lives by their human caregiver.

It is interesting that domestic cat play is so closely tied to violence and aggression. The only reason I can think of as to why is because they are super predators. The cat is one of the world's best predators. Everything about their anatomy, being and mentality is to chase and kill. It is their raison d'être. We sometimes forget it because they become cuddly companions.

But at heart they are still that killer cat that is their wildcat ancestor who is still out there in Africa and Asia hunting rodents.

Siamese cat tries to start a play session with another cat in a novel way

Siamese cat instigates a play session with another cat in a novel way.

I have always believed that domestic cats understand hard floors. You will see many videos of domestic cat sliding along hard floors. They recognise its properties which allow them to use the floor to please themselves and some cats like to slide along hard, tiled floors. 

In this instance the Siamese cat has used the hard floor to propel himself along it on his back into his cat companion to ask whether they would like to play. The response cannot have been to his liking because the other cat jumped out of the way, somewhat shocked by what has just arrived. It appears that cats like the feel of the floor on their back. 

I think that this is a similar pleasure that domestic cats experience when they roll around on their back on the ground, normally loose earth in a flower bed or something like that. It's a pleasant sensation for them. 

My cat actually likes to roll around on hard concrete which has been quite roughly finished. That roughness massages his back and he finds it pleasant.

In order to get the video to play, please click the centre play button and then the button bottom-left! That is the way you get Google Blogger videos to play these days it seems to me. If it works normally, good for you.

Cat body language 101 - exposing the belly is not an invitation to be petted

The video covers a number of domestic cat body language signals. I will let you explore them (Galaxy is good) but one of them is always important. It is when a domestic cat goes 'belly-up' and presents their belly to their human caregiver. How do you interpret it? And I think the answer actually is not a black-and-white one. And it is also difficult to generalise. Different cats respond in different ways.

But you'll find that Jackson Galaxy makes one essential point. He says that when a dog presents their belly to the human caregiver it is a request to be petted in that vulnerable area. This is not the case with domestic cats, however. It is not an invitation to pet their belly but more a signal that they trust you and even love you if you believe that there can be love from a cat to a person.

RELATED: ‘Cat love bites’ – what do they mean and why do they happen?

It is a signal that a cat is relaxed in the company of their human caregiver and in the home. And to take that as an invitation and pet the belly may result in the cat doing what Jackson Galaxy calls the "wraparound". This is when your cat grabs your hand and arm by the hindlegs and forelegs and then bites the hand, all at the same time. And it can be quite difficult to extricate your arm from that sort of clamp! This is due to overstimulation. It can happen when petting too much in any situation.

RELATED: ‘Cat Whisperers’ don’t just read cats’ facial expressions but body language too (plus a quiz).

However, if you pet very gently when your cat does this it may work out okay or even well. It depends on the cat's character, which is why I have to say that, sometimes, domestic cats do invite their human caregiver to rub their belly albeit gently. My cat does this. It seems to be instinctive to them. Perhaps it is a natural extension of the signal that the cat feels reassured. 

Provided you do it very gently and with great respect, I believe a cat can take pleasure from having their belly rubbed. Once again this points to different circumstances and different reactions from different individual cats. 

Jackson Galaxy talks cat behavior. Screenshot. In this still image Jackson is talking about cats' pent-up energy like a balloon expanding.

Some people think that when a cat presents their belly to a person or another animal it is an act of submission. I think that you will find this argument no longer holds water. However, you will see cats who are friendly to each other and playing when one rolls over onto their back to invite more play.

However, it cannot be denied that the one sure signal that a domestic cat sends to their caregiver when they lie on their back with their belly up is that they feel confident enough to do it i.e. present a vulnerable part of their body to others. They need to feel reassured in their own home to do it. They need to be sure that the people they are living with won't harm them. This all comes about because of a great relationship between person and cat and a calm, agreeable home.

And it is not too uncommon that domestic cats roll onto their back when they are very warm i.e. on their human caregiver's lap. Or on the bed next to them. This combination of warmth plus being in contact with the owner creates a feeling of great reassurance which sometimes results in the cat having enough confidence to present their belly.

Two cats: one somersaults in a plastic container. The other fits tightly into a tiny box.

Two cats messing around in containers. Screenshot.

Two domestic cats messing around in small containers. The cat who somersaults inside a small plastic container is priceless. What's he up to? Cats love small containers; usually carboard boxes. The one of the right totally ignores the antics of the cat somersaulting.

I love how cardboard cat is doing everything in it's power to pretend plastic cat doesn't exist!😂 pic.twitter.com/4eLkOzzA6q

— 🍃 Ɣ 🍃 (@V_its_me888) November 19, 2021

Note: This is an embedded tweet. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Why do domestic cats love small containers to much, especially cardboard boxes? It must be to do with the sense of security they feel. If that is true it means that they feel insecure. And if that is true we are in big trouble 😕.

Well, domestic cats live in the human world. They're used to it but it is alien. No one knows how cats perceive us. No one, not even the greatest minds on cat behaviour. We can guess. They probably see us as surrogate mothers sometimes, kittens at other times and giants when frightened by us. Sometimes, the human world is scary for domestic cats. But it beats being abandoned and stray or feral.

Mama cat brings her kitten to the family's baby to play

The young woman who made the video, and who lives with the cat and kitten, has a voice which seems to emerge from the long distant past of filmmaking. Her voice is mysterious, perhaps magical, and it certainly adds to this rather strange video of a mother cat bringing her kitten to the family's baby (Blossom or is that the cat's name!) who is lying on the floor. The cat is a Ragdoll, incidentally. Very beautiful as is the kitten and the baby :) .

Mama cat brings her kitten to the family's baby to play

The woman believes that her mother cat is bringing her kitten, 'her baby', to the human baby to say hi and perhaps play. That is the interpretation. And it kind of makes sense because the cat might not recognise the human baby as a human. Perhaps this female cat sees the human baby as another feline, a young baby cat much like her kitten.

On that basis it makes sense that she wants them to be together and perhaps play. It might be far-fetched but if you have a novel and interesting interpretation of the video then please leave a comment on this page. In fact, the female cat might perceive both the child and her kitten as one and the same thing: her offspring. We have to mind read and I am unsure what is going on in the video but it is charming whatever it is.

A less prosaic reason is that the mother cat wants to be in the room with the woman (her caregiver) and decided to bring along her kitten so she could watch over him/her. The cat may have no particular interest in the baby.

@pearlsragdolls

Blossom's smile at the end 🥰😍 even she's excited for a kitten play date

♬ original sound - Pearl’s Ragdolls

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Cat plays with shop window display (video)

Cat plays with shop window display (video)

This quiet, little, wandering cat episode is very cute. The shop window balls caught her eye and drew her in. She ended up playing in the shop. It seems to me that (1) the cat is an indoor/outdoor domestic cat as I believe I can see a collar and (2) the shop is in a shopping mall. Sometimes cats wander into malls for company and excitement. She found it.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Why do kittens throw toys in the air over their shoulder?

This is an instinctive fishing action by a kitten who knows how to do it even if they weren't taught by their mother. It is not a kitten trying to create a bird flying through the air which they then catch and bring to the ground. In a study, it was found that kittens learn to catch fish from ponds at about seven weeks into their life. If they were taught to do it by their mother, they did it at five weeks-of-age. They learn faster when taught by their mother but it is still in their DNA to hunt like this.

CLICK FOR MANY ARTICLES ON CAT PLAY

Why do kittens throw toys in the air over their shoulder? To replicate fish hunting. Image: Pixabay.

There are three primary animals that cats hunt namely mice, fish and birds. Of course, they also catch insects quite often and other prey animals such as reptiles and amphibians. It is the hunting action when catching fish which is replicated in this kitten play behaviour.

They scoop the fish out of the water with their sharp claws and throw it over the shoulder onto the ground behind them. They turn, pounce and kill the fish with a bite. I would expect them to eat the fish while it is still alive.

Catching birds is a different process. They stalk and pounce but often the bird takes off. The cat has to leap up and grab the bird in their claws. If successful, they bring it to the ground and then kill the bird with a nape of the neck bite or a suffocation bite.

As for mice, often cats wait incredibly patiently by a mouse den. When the mouse emerges they pounce and kill with a bite. They immobilise the mouse with their front paws. This is essentially a stalk and pounce process again but a variation on the bird hunting technique.

Of these three techniques the kitten throwing a toy into the air most accurately replicates the fishing technique. Kittens will do this over and over again and pounce on the toy at the end.

Some people think that when kittens do this they are trying to make a bird fly. This appears to be a misconception because very rarely do cat owners see their cat hunting fish but it is commonplace to see them hunt mice and birds if they are allowed outside.

Domestic cats don't understand smartphone and iPad cat games

This video tells us that when push comes to shove cats are bemused by mice and fish wriggling around computer screens. They want to look under the device and are generally confounded by what they see. They have a similar or same reaction to looking at their reflection in a mirror or when watching television. I have seen cats look behind the TV to find the cat on the screen. Their mentality is rooted in reality. They can only understand natural events because they don't understand human devices. And rightly so. They are not meant to understand them. Link to this video (opens new tab/page)

Domestic cats are bemused and ultimately frustrated by phone cat games. Screenshot.

So, the question which comes from this observation is whether the phone and iPad cat games are a minor form of cat cruelty. A very minor form of it. They can't be defeated. The cats can't attack the mice and fish and eat them. This might cause minor frustration and confusion. It we deliberately frustrate our cat is that a form of minor cat cruelty? Maybe, but the intentions are very genuine. Cat owners want their cats to be entertained and there are a lot of apps on phones and iPads which purport to achieve this. 

It is just that they are unsuccessful in the long term. Short term they work but soon the cats realise they can't get at the prey animal leading to frustration. The bottom line is that the best cat toys are the old-fashioned ball of paper and string. They invariably work well and both can be damaged by the cat which mimics a real prey animal. Do cats scratch iPad screens when playing with games?

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Cat sits on owner's lap and reacts 'weirdly' every time he spins a coin

The title to this Daily Motion video is in fact: Cat Sits in Owner's Lap and Reacts Weirdly Every Time he Spins Coin on Table. And although the grammar is poor that is not the point. The word "weirdly" is the problem for me because I do not think that this cat is acting weirdly. I think we can explain what he or she is doing. 

Cat prepares to pounce on spinning coin. Screenshot.

You can see the cat placing their right foreleg over their eye and partly over their head when their owner spins a coin on the table. I think this feline behaviour is misleading because all the cat is doing is preparing to pounce onto the coin. 

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

The position of the foreleg is incidental. It looks rather strange and as if the cat is deliberately making this action for some 'weird' reason but he is not. He's simply holding his paw and leg in this position so that it is ready to grab the coin. The cat perceives the coin as a prey animal. It is moving in an interesting way which catches his attention and to all intents and purposes it is prey to be attacked and in the last segment of the video he does just that.

So, this is predictable feline behaviour and it's a game. All cat play is based around hunting and attacking. That's why it is said that the best cat toys are those that can be destroyed by the cat because the toy better replicates or mimics an animal to be hunted, destroyed and eaten. When domestic cats become bored with toys that have been brought with great care by their owner, it is because they can't be destroyed as they are made of plastic. The argument is that cat toys should be made of some other destructible material.

One of the best toys is a ball of scrunched up waste paper. That can be chucked around by a cat and partially destroyed by raking the hind legs over it as it is grasped in the forelegs. Home-made toys are often better than the commercial variety.

Timid cat edges forward cautiously wishing to attack

This short video has been described as showing a cat who wants attention but is too shy to ask. I disagree. It is a female cat who is inherently timid and her owner - out of frame and doing the filming - is enticing her cat towards her with a cat tease. The cat sees a prey animal and wants to attack but this desire is resisted by her innate timidity. She therefore edges cautiously forward by placing one paw ahead of the another while placing them gently. It is cute.

Timid cat edges forward cautiously wishing to attack. Screenshot.

I prefer to see confident cats as they can live fuller lives and interact more freely with their owner and other visiting people. This is both good for the cat and the humans.

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Note: sometimes videos like the one above stop working for reasons beyond my control. If that has occurred I am sorry.

Cat ignores laser pointer while the kittens go nuts (video)

I think this is a video of a mother cat and her two kittens. She is completely unmoved by the laser pointer which is unusual as laser pointers are almost bound to stimulate the hunting instinct as they are fast moving objects. This sort of movement normally triggers a cat's hunting instinct; the stalk, attack action.

In this instance, two kittes are enjoying the laser pointer's red dot. I think that the kittens are hers. The reason why she is disinterested is possibly one or both of two reasons (1) she has played with the pointer and become tired of it because she is unable to catch it, attack it and kill it. Laser pointers are inherently time-limited in use because they don't adequately simulate real thing i.e. attacking an animal in killing it and (2) she may be tired out because they are her kittens who are running around anyway tiring her out and she has had enough of playing in general, be it with her kittens or the laser pointer. Her disinterest is notable and unusual on the face of it.

Coronavirus pandemic might encourage cat owners to spend more time with their cats

This morning I was listening to the radio. A woman who had three children said that she had grown closer to her children during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Before the lockdown she admitted that everything was done in a rush. She would get the kids to school after having rushed breakfast. In the evening there was more rush. She did not recognise that she was failing to give herself quality time with her children. She was trying to fit parenting her children around her work and was as far as I can tell run off her feet.

We can thank the coronavirus pandemic for more of this. Photo: public domain.

Working at home during the pandemic and having more time with herchildren flicked a switch in her brain. She realised that she needed to spend more quality time with her kids and work out a better work-family balance. She did not want the years to go by without enjoying spending time with her children.

This got me thinking. The exact same conclusion might be drawn with respect to cat companions. During lockdown, in the UK, many millions of employees are being furloughed and therefore receiving 80% of their pay. They have had a lot more time with their cats.

I've not heard any reports about this online but it must have happened. If it didn't then cat owners have failed to take advantage of a great opportunity to give their cat the interactions with them that their cats deserve. I'm convinced that in many households domestic cats are left alone too much. People can't be blamed because they have to go to work. They rush out of the house and when they come home they are perhaps too tired to want to play with their cat.

I hope that the lockdown has open the minds of cat owners - who in the past failed to be great cat owners because of work pressures - to the possibility that they can do better and try and find a better work-family balance. It is reported that many firms will be allowing their employees to work from home where suitable.

Certainly Facebook has accepted that about half of their workforce will, in the future, end up working from home. In addition, Twitter, as I understand it, is allowing almost all their workforce to stay at home to work. This will be a permanent arrangement. These are good examples of how employees of companies involved in digital media can take the advantages that the pandemic has offered to alter their lifestyles to the advantage of their domestic cat companions.