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WilliamPitt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:14 PM
Original message
I have a cat question
My cat loves to sit in the window and watch the birds flit to and fro on the power lines. When they get close, she gets into deadly pounce mode and does this really weird thing with her mouth. The best way to describe it is she chitters. She opens her mouth and goes "ka-a-a-a-a-a-a-e-e-a-a" real soft, with her jaw twitching each time and her teeth pretty much bared.

What is that all about? My other cats have done that, too. What is that behavior?
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flamingyouth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:16 PM
Response to Original message
1. It's their hunting cry
And boy, do our cats ever get mad when we laugh at them when they do it.
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Bertha Venation Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:16 PM
Response to Original message
2. I don't know why they do it, Will.
Mine do it too. It is common cat behavior for when they're watching birds. I love it.

Wenchzilla also does it when she's disobeying. We'll tell her to get down from, say, the mantle, and she'll chitter at us. Then knock something off. THEN get down.
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MidwestMomma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:20 PM
Response to Reply #2
6. Now that's really scary
See my answer below :D
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SOteric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:18 PM
Response to Original message
3. I've wondered if it was a bird call...
But I don't know for certain what it is. All my kitties have done it.
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MidwestMomma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:18 PM
Response to Original message
4. I actually know an answer for something!
That weird thing with her mouth is what she would do if the little bird's neck was in her mouth...it's how they crush the little preys neck.

Kind of creepy huh?
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thelocalkgb Donating Member (132 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:21 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. Patches v. Walter
Man, it freaks me out when one of our cats does that to another one of our cats.

Almost as much as replying to you on a thread when we are sitting in the same room.
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Womblestuffer Donating Member (90 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:19 PM
Response to Original message
5. mine do that too, kinda weird
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VelmaD Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:22 PM
Response to Original message
8. That just your kitty's way of saying...
"mmm...tastes like chicken" :-)
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HEyHEY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:22 PM
Response to Original message
9. Off topic, I've heard bears do it too.
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SOteric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:23 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. Bears do it,
Bees do it....
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WilliamPitt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:26 PM
Response to Reply #10
12. You've got my face!!!
:)
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SOteric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:28 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. Yeah.
But I'm still much prettier than you in a dress. :7
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HEyHEY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:27 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. now that was funny and well -timed
:-)
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Mz Pip Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:26 PM
Response to Original message
11. Anticipation
Edited on Wed Feb-18-04 11:27 PM by mzpip
of something yummy coming their way?

My little feral kitty does it when she is stalking flies. Then she pounces. Then she catches them. Then she eats them. Flies are like candy to this kitty. Go figure.

MzPip
:dem:
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bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:29 PM
Response to Original message
15. My cats all do it
I swear, they are imitating the birds at the feeder, the sounds they make are bizarre and adorable!
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Zomby Woof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:30 PM
Response to Original message
16. our cat does that!
Sounds almost like chirping... a decoy call, lol. :-)
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XanaDUer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:32 PM
Response to Reply #16
17. Ours, too
He is getting ready to kill, I think. Also does it when he sees other cats outside.

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DarkPhenyx Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:51 PM
Response to Original message
18. Yes, they are delicious.
Oh...that wasn't your question. Sorry mate.
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absyntheNsugar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-18-04 11:53 PM
Response to Original message
19. She thinks she is a tiger
Housecats are proof God has a sense of humor. Take the mind of a predatory killer and put it in the body of a fuzzy care bear.

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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-19-04 02:20 AM
Response to Original message
20. Mine love to "cackle" at the birdies outside
It might be a warning to the other cats nearby.. "That juicy grey one on the left is MINE.. back off "
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neebob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-19-04 02:46 AM
Response to Original message
21. My cat does that, too -
I have a loveseat that's backed up against a window, and every morning she crouches down on the seat, peeks up over the sofa back as if the magpies outside can't see her, and makes that noise. I call this ritual "peekin' the birdies."
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non sociopath skin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-19-04 05:45 AM
Response to Original message
22. Here's an interesting thing...
Our two American cats both do the hunting cry thing both when watching birds and chasing insects (we call the latter "Dances With Flies").

But our Brit cats DON'T do it!

So a whole new question opens up. Do American cats have different behaviour patterns from their American cousins?

The Skin
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