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Are modern cats even that good at killing rats anymore? Haven't we mostly bred cats that have very rarely even seen a rat their entire life?
by jack_pp 3y ago
Are modern cats even that good at killing rats anymore? Haven't we mostly bred cats that have very rarely even seen a rat their entire life?
- distortionfield 3y agoMy house cat is a natural mouse killer. Idk what cars you’ve seen but they’re very much still hunters.
- shaftoe 3y agoSame with my cat. The instincts seem deeply rooted.
- mytailorisrich 3y agoAnd they are very good at eating them as well. My cat often brings mice and actually eat them. It's quite interesting, if gruesome, to observe because there seems to be a precise technique and it is very clean. He always starts with the head and usually there is nothing left apart from a very cleanly cut stomach, no blood, no mess.
- vlunkr 3y agoYeah, we don't really see rats where I live, but every cat I've ever owned has occasionally brought mice home.
- glxxyz 3y agoAdopted my cat at ~9 months, 8 years in an apartment, moved to a rural property and he knew exactly what to do with mice and how to stalk them. Even losing 3 of his 4 fangs didn't slow him down.
- Bradlinc 3y agoMine loves killing mice... rats may be a bit too big for her.
- jsiepkes 3y agoI wouldn't say my cats are smart but you can definitely see they are natural born killers. Everything they set their eyes on dies. Flies, spiders, you name it. Nothing is too quick for them. I keep my cats indoors (we take them in to the garden from time to time under supervision) for a variety of reasons one of them being fluffy cute little murders who kill birds and such just for sport... There are also birds which are smarter then cats where "killer instincts" don't work on. For example I've seen magpies "play" with cats to lure them away from their young. From the interaction it was clear the magpies were employing strategy while the cat was just reacting.
- arethuza 3y agoWhat I find fascinating is the ability our cat has to mimic a crying baby - this really upsets my wife. As I am the main cat servant in our household when our cat wants services (food, cuddle etc.) it complains to my wife who then issues the relevant orders to me.
- stevenwoo 3y agoI've heard coyotes make a sound like a crying child (I was in a nature preserve and went to the source until I saw it) so there is some cross species commonality in sound for some reason and there is evidence for recognition of crying baby primates by crocodiles. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/nile-crocodiles-recognize-and-react-to-the-sound-of-crying-babies-180982686/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/nile-crocodile...
- dylan604 3y agoI've heard this for years with the concept that the cat's vocal range developed to be like this. But not once had I ever heard a cat sound anything unlike a cat. Until...my recent adopted fur baby. He freaks me out how much like a kid he sounds. Just the other day, he let out a sound that even my coworkers on a meeting call thought I had a kid. It's a little unsettling at times
- qbasic_forever 3y ago
- VoodooJuJu 3y agoMy cat is good at killing birds, chipmunks, bunnies, and mice. I doubt she could deal with a rat - probably too big.
- thfuran 3y agoWhere do you live that rats are bigger than rabbits?
- VoodooJuJu 3y agoI'm talking about bunnies, not adult rabbits, and this is Northeast U.S.
- dylan604 3y agoI'm sort of laughing at the concept that we feel it strange that cats don't want to kill rats because of the size of the rats rather than the conversation leaning towards what are we doing that have caused rats to become so large.
- whynotminot 3y agoIn middle eastern cities I rarely see rats. But I see a lot of free roaming cats. In western cities I see rats but no cats. I suppose we’ve made our choice.
- dillydogg 3y agoI know you specifically asked about rats but domestic cats are killing machines. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23360987/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23360987/ We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.4-3.7 billion birds and 6.9-20.7 billion mammals annually.
- FirmwareBurner 3y agoThey don't make 'em like they used to.
- connicpu 3y agoYeah, there's a HUGE difference in behavior between a house cat that gets all of its meals every day at home, and one that has to go out hunting for at least some of its food. The laziness of an indoor cat is a learned behavior.
- b112 3y agoAnd thabk god they do, or we'd have our grain silos eaten bare in weeks. No, I'm not joking. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-57698822 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-57698822
- agloe_dreams 3y agoThis. Domestic cats are some of the most specialized killing machines in nature. Everything is raw murder machine. Massive muscle to weight ratio, optimized for extreme agility. 30mph top speed blows the doors off nearly anything it may encounter in nature. Tail allows for balance while running. Able to jump multiple times its own height. Able to fall a multiple of it's jump height. 20 built-in claws also act as tools to assist in movement and extreme climbing ability. Bite force enables additional attack vectors. Night vision. Ability to track small objects. Insane paw-eye coordination. Cats (big and small) are best predator. All to sleep on your lap. Edit: Also did I mention their incredible sense of smell and their built-in instinct to hide their tracks? Every. Single. Detail. Murder.
- tomjen3 3y ago>Cats (big and small) are best predator. And yet it is illegal for humans to hunt lions, but not for lions to hunt human (though unwise in the extreme).
- uncletaco 3y agoI’ve come home to a rat body missing its head and even letting my indoor cats into the backyard might yield a dead bird or lizard on the kitchen floor.
- prmoustache 3y agokitchen floor? you are lucky. Some cats will offer you the dead birds on your bed.
- euroderf 3y agoThe inspiration for the horse head in The Godfather ?
- hunson_abadeer 3y agoYes. There's plenty of rodents in urban and suburban areas, but above all, cats have an inborn instinct to murder small critters for fun, and don't need to be taught that. Rodents are their strong preference, but if bored, they will go after bugs, small birds, lizards... or engage in relentless "murder practice" using pieces of paper or cloth. This is very different than with dogs, which often have to be trained for specific tasks. Source: lived with 10+ cats (not at the same time).
- cameronh90 3y agoThe strength of those instincts does vary from cat to cat though. I have two cats, and one is a cold blooded killer that'll attack anything that moves, including my toes. The other will just sniff spiders and cuddles rabbits and hamsters. It did once chase a small mouse, but once it had it cornered, it didn't do anything.
- astrange 3y agoCats and rabbits get along well because cats think grooming someone is dominant, but rabbits think being groomed is dominant, so they both think they're on top. (Domestic rabbits have surprisingly big egos.)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- cameronh90 3y agoDomestic rabbits are the most attitude-y animals I've kept, with such surprisingly variable personalities. I had a rabbit that we'd let out in the garden, and if the neighbour's cat came in the garden, the rabbit would chase it out, and even attack it if it wouldn't leave.
- cantrevealname 3y ago> cats have an inborn instinct to murder small critters for fun, and don't need to be taught that If a cat has never seen mice before and no one has taught it to chase mice (and if it's not even hungry), then I simply can't imagine how this instinct is passed on through genetics. Is there a DNA encoding for "chase and kill small moving objects, preferably mouse-like objects"? Does anyone know how DNA would carry information like that?
- fouc 3y agoIf you take a kitten away from its mother within the first 2 weeks, and then keep it indoors 100% of the time, it might not get a chance to develop its hunting instincts.
- jakubmazanec 3y agoAs others said, the hunting instinct is ever present in cats. Our indoor-only cat is always hunting flies or moths; the flies are very fast, but she manages to catch them under her paw, and play with them before eating them. Sometimes the fly escapes, but the cat catches it again.
- euroderf 3y agoAnd there's that phenom where the fly is buzzing loudly in the cat's mouth and the cat is not really crunching down on it yet.
- colechristensen 3y agoCats not raised to maturity by their mothers with significant outdoors access will be worse at hunting on average, as some of it is taught or just learned at a young age. They all still have hunting instincts.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- forinti 3y agoIf you get a normal cat, not on of those weird breeds with short legs or flat faces, they are great athletes and terrific hunters. I have a couple of cats that are quite old: about 16 years. The male spends most of the day on the bed, but he can still jump about 5x his height.
- __s 3y agoMy parents are taking care of my cat while I'm away. Little black cat. They let me know she killed a bat that'd gotten into the house last night. Woke them up. She's an indoor cat