Expert Hunters
Domestic cats, as their wild parents do, teach very soon to their kittens how to hunt, and the first class consists on moving their tail in front of them to tempt them to catch it. This way, the kittens begin to "hunt" different objects that they find at their surroundings. Quarreling and fighting in jest, between each other, imitating the behavior of a natural hunt.
On the wild world, mothers takes their offspring with them on hunting expeditions to teach them how to find and, if necessary to kill their preys.
At home, the hunting has to constitute an important entertainment, and the owner must encourage this behavior on the kittens and try to invent new ways of distraction for them not to get bored. It is interesting to know that cats that haven't received this kind of teaching from their mothers, they frequently end up being adults without any interest for hunting or if they do they are very poor at it, which makes them be very bored and they begin to wander from one place to another without any real destiny, as if their purpose for living had been stolen.
When comparing hunting techniques between cats and dogs, the first clear difference is that the cats art is more economic, more methodic and more effective, and what jumps up to the sight is that cats reserve their energy for the last stage of the hunting.
Does that are not trained and not having in mind of the running is worth or not. On the contrary, feline techniques are more precise and elderly.
Entering to kill: The hunting is divided in three stages: locating the prey, to capture it and to kill it.
A cat alerted by the prey, dedicates a considerable period of time to observe and puts to work their sight, smell and hearing at its maximum potential.
Once selected the victim, they begin the stalking: the animal goes forward with its belly grazing the ground; ears pointed forward, eyes well opened, and absolutely concentrated on its prey. If the objective moves, this acting may be interrupted and retaken once and again until the feline concludes that its position is the most fit for giving the jump. Its whole body trembles and the hind legs move silently. Just then, when the movement and the position are exact, the animal impulses itself forward with their front claws unsheathe, maintaining almost always the hind legs firm on the ground.
And this is the moment of truth, referring to the hunt, moment in which the rodent or bird can slip through the claws, overall if they aren't expert hunters. Then a persecution takes place and it doesn't end until the cat catches its prey.. Sometimes, a cat may let the prey escape just to add more emotions to the hunt. Then comes the time for killing the prey. Cats favorite method for killing is to drive its fangs into the preys neck to damage their spine. This does not always work at the first time, and sometimes they only injure their prey turning it in a simple toy under its paws until its time for the kill.
When preys are of a bigger size, like a rat or a rabbit, they will jump several times on top attacking them with their front claws until they are reduced.
Cats are always very cautious and they calculate the size and the strength of their victims to avoid unpleasant surprises.
In case of rabbits, for example, most cats prefer to attack weak and sick exemplars because they know how painful their kicks are. In the case of rats, cats usually stay at a respectful distance because they know how bad their bites are, even when they are about to die.
