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No, this is not a kitten that talks too much!

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This is a video described as “Kitten Talks Too Much“. The cat is looking out of the window and chattering. This cat is not talking. The noise this cat makes is not a form of communication. Although we can’t see what she sees, it is very likely to be birds. She is doing the next best thing to preying on an animal. She is opening and closing her jaw rapidly to apply a bite to the nape of the neck of the prey while at the same time trilling and making excited sounds.

This is a form of practice for killing prey with a bite to the upper spine to break the neck; or the cat killing equivalent of playing air guitar. Her tail is also swishing from side to side indicating excitement and uncertainty as to what to do next – a result of the competing forces of wanting to hunt but being unable to.

This cat is almost certainly an indoor cat. This is as near as she gets to expressing that most fundamental of drives: hunting and killing animals.

This page: cat sounds, has another video of a cat chattering. Chattering takes various forms depending on the individual cat. I am sure we have all seen it. All indoor cats who can look out of a window might chatter like this depending on how active their residual drive to hunt is.

Comments

No, this is not a kitten that talks too much! — 5 Comments

  1. I was very happy to read this post. I had been wanting to ask about this behavior but I wasn’t sure how to describe it. I hadn’t observed it before about a week ago. It was in the middle of the day, I heard that dreaded sound of cats doing the fight dance outside. I was sure it was Marvin, and it was. I went out to see what the raucous was about. I saw Marvin doing his slow walk in a circle around the rosemary bush, he was making that chattering sound, and his mouth was going a mile a minute. Finally I saw his foe. A smaller gray tabby with a bobbed tail. I’d never laid eyes on that cat before, but there are new folks moving in on our street. All the loud noise was coming from the gray tabby, screeching that is. He was clearly losing, even though no blows had been thrown. I didn’t interfere, but tried to attract Marvin’s attention, but I wanted to watch his dance a little. He was moving in closer to the little tabby, so I was more forceful in my wanting to get his attention. He saw me, changed his facial expression instantly and meowed his familiar meow, and out the tabby ran for dear life up the hill. Everyone without a scratch.

    It was formidable to watch really. Marvin the warrior, protecting his turf. That little cat didn’t stand a chance.

    How this big orange chunk of love and hugs can be such a natural Tom cat is amazing to watch.

    That chattering was a fun new experience to observe, though I do wish he didn’t fight. His ears are chewed up enough.

    Thanks for the lesson.

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    • Your comment is very interesting to me. It seems that Marvin, the consummate warrior cat, was practicing his bite on a smaller prey who happened to be another cat. Gosh, that is unusual, I believe. If I were a cat, I would not want to be smaller than Marvin.

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  2. OOPS:

    OK, YouTube added a Pinterest button to the share area, so you can still Pin. Just not from the Pin It button on your browser bar. Does anyone use that Heart It site? It looked kinda girly for my taste, so I never really used it after the first time. I figured I’d pin some RHC/RCKC stuff there if it got bigger, but I hardly even hear of it anymore.

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  3. When our boyz do that out of the window if they spot a bird, we call it ‘singing and playing their castanets’
    Strangely enough they don’t do it outside if a bird is around, I suppose because the noise would warn the bird that a cat is around.
    It all must go back to their days in the wild not making a sound within earshot of their prey and it makes me sad that we have deprived cats of the life Nature intended for them ‘as free as those birds’
    A cat indoors knows he has no chance of catching the bird so he can sing about it all he likes as it will make no difference.

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  4. I agree with you 100% on this. Any observant cat owner has seen their cat respond to possible prey. Some meow at you to go get it for them. Others are like this cat and they make those cool noises. She needs some hunt-kill-eat through play time. Using fly-toys to lead them on the chase until they are panting enough (not too much. Just to where they need a break) let them catch it and ‘kill’ it. Than feed them. This MAY help feed that poor things instinct to hunt. She really needs an outlet.

    DID YOU NOTICE?

    YouTube no longer allows you to Pin their videos onto Pinterest. I think Michael had is finger on the pulse of the Pinterest user, when he published his article about a lawsuit against Pinterest. I think there will be more websites blocking usage of their media and I know a lot of companies are using it for free advertising. A good idea.

    All in all, I think the lawsuit was a good thing. It will change the dynamic of the site overtime. In this case, a very good thing.

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