Hunting

Nothing in the wild rivals the cat for the deadly accuracy and speed of its hunting; and no other species appears to take such delight in tormenting its prey. These ancestral instincts clearly emerge in the daily activities of the domestic cat. Play teaches the cat to think fast and to develop quick reactions which, in turn, train him to be a skillful hunter. Unfortunately, the victims are often beautiful garden birds, and it is virtually impossible to convey to your pet cat that although you approve of him keeping the rat and mouse population under control, you do not appreciate being presented with a mangled mass of feathers while you are busy grilling the breakfast bacon.

A bird, however, represents a real challenge to the cat's ingenuity. After the first few failures have at last convinced him that the prey can fly up and away, he will develop a special technique for the final pounce. After the long, careful stalk, he will so judge his run and culminating leap as to compensate for the bird's take-off and trajectory. Lucifer, our large Foreign Red cat, had worked out this technique so accurately that he could sit on the outhouse roof and take the starlings in mid-air as they left their nests in the eaves.