A Michael Broad Blog
The infographic summarises the four different fundamental types of kitten play in instinctive preparation for adulthood in the wild. The catch here is that adult domestic cats behave like kittens as humans keep them mentally that way and therefore, they continue to play as kittens into adulthood. We expect that but it is arguably …
There are four fundamental types of domestic cat play: Play-fighting – practice for defending against predators and subduing prey. The mouse-pounce – practice in stalking small prey animals. The bird-swat – practice in attacking escaping birds by taking flight. The fish-scoop – practice in catching fish. You’ll see them during play either between kittens …
A cat owner on the social media website Reddit.com asked the question in the title and I have provided the answer in the title. Kittens and young cats play a lot as we know. I can think of three forms of kitten play all of which are based on varying degrees of violence! Kitten …
This article, social play in the domestic cat is based upon a research paper of the same title dated 1974 and prepared at the Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14850. The author is Meredith West. It was published on the Internet by Oxford Journals under the heading, Integrative and Comparative Biology. …
How to Break Up a Cat Fight (or play fight). Cats know how to do things best. Cats: How to Do It! This is a series of links to all the permutations and possibilities in relation to cats on the How To theme. This is a growing page. When you visit it there may be …
A kitten will sometimes throw a toy into the air when playing as an instinctive fishing action.
My opinion is that domestic cats do not have a sense of humour. I explain why in this article. Firstly let’s define “sense of humour”. It is a “person’s ability to perceive humour or appreciate a joke.” Note that the definition only applies to people! That doesn’t mean conclusively that cats can’t have a …
This is called “social play”. It is the way kittens interact with each other. It is different to how children play. Kitten playtime is based on fights and predation (hunting animals) whereas although children sometimes fight their play together is generally cooperative and not agonistic (genuinely combative). The fact that kittens fight-play and play-hunt …
