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#41
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KFC today
On Jul 15, 2:46*pm, Marina wrote:
wrote: There is something a bit horrifying about delivering a live mouse to a cat (or pet snake) in a situation where the mouse has almost no chance of escape. It reminds me of those "canned hunting" ranches, not that I'm blaming the cat, of course. They passed a law here a few years ago, banning the use of live animals to feed pets. I've often thought about buying frozen mice for Miranda, but she wouldn't know what to do with them. Oh, how I wish she'd have had just one summer with Nikki on the island. Nikki would soon have taught her what to do with prey. She brought home a vole the other night. Didn't eat it. She thought you could send it to KFC. -- Will in New Haven -- Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki. |
#42
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KFC today
Marina wrote: wrote: There is something a bit horrifying about delivering a live mouse to a cat (or pet snake) in a situation where the mouse has almost no chance of escape. It reminds me of those "canned hunting" ranches, not that I'm blaming the cat, of course. They passed a law here a few years ago, banning the use of live animals to feed pets. I've often thought about buying frozen mice for Miranda, but she wouldn't know what to do with them. Oh, how I wish she'd have had just one summer with Nikki on the island. Nikki would soon have taught her what to do with prey. She brought home a vole the other night. Didn't eat it. Was it somewhere on this newsgroup, or on some TV program, that I learned that although the "hunting" part is instinctive, a cat must be TAUGHT to eat its prey? (They learn to use a litterbox a lot faster when mama's around to teach them, too.) |
#43
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KFC today
Christina Websell wrote:
I'm glad I didn't take the vet's advice about sending her to RB just yet. She continues to drink her rehydration fluid in preference to plain water - she has a choice. It has made a real difference to her, so thank you to those who suggested it. She is eating as well as a CRF kitty can. Turkey mince 12 secs in the microwave goes down well. Tomorrow I will offer her beef mince. What she really liked was when Boyfie brought her a vole on Sunday, she scarfed it down in a minute and a half which produced a good litterbox result the following day. I wish I could buy voles for her. Wonderful news! Continued purrs, Polonca and Soncek |
#44
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KFC today
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:
Was it somewhere on this newsgroup, or on some TV program, that I learned that although the "hunting" part is instinctive, a cat must be TAUGHT to eat its prey? (They learn to use a litterbox a lot faster when mama's around to teach them, too.) I learned on nature shows that all felines have a *chase* instinct: something runs away from them, they chase it, without having to be taught. (This seems to be true of dogs, too - maybe all predators?) But they have to be taught how to kill prey once it's caught, and they also have to be taught that the dead prey is food. That's why the mother cat brings live prey to her kittens first, so she can show them how to kill it. And then she eats it in front of them so they know it's food. At some point in their kittenhood, both Smudge and Licky must have been taught about hunting. Smudge certainly knows how to catch, kill and eat prey. (Charmingly, she ate a bird right in front of my front door last weekend - I went out the next day to find feathers and other remains on the doormat.) I'm not quite as certain about Licky, but when I throw something for him to chase, he's dead serious about it. Don't know if he'd know how to follow through with the kill and the eating, though, since the thing I throw is usually inanimate. (OK, always. ) Roxy on the other hand does not seem to have had that education. She chases things, but then veers off and scratches the scratching post in excitement. She likes the fun of chasing and the general stimulation of attention and running around, but I'm sure she really doesn't get what it's all about. Which makes her appear a bit dim, but it might just be that she lost her mother too young to have been taught, or wasn't part of a feral colony where she might have learned from other cats. -- Joyce ^..^ (To email me, remove the X's from my user name.) |
#45
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KFC today
On Jul 15, 5:40 pm, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote: Marina wrote: wrote: There is something a bit horrifying about delivering a live mouse to a cat (or pet snake) in a situation where the mouse has almost no chance of escape. It reminds me of those "canned hunting" ranches, not that I'm blaming the cat, of course. They passed a law here a few years ago, banning the use of live animals to feed pets. I've often thought about buying frozen mice for Miranda, but she wouldn't know what to do with them. Oh, how I wish she'd have had just one summer with Nikki on the island. Nikki would soon have taught her what to do with prey. She brought home a vole the other night. Didn't eat it. Was it somewhere on this newsgroup, or on some TV program, that I learned that although the "hunting" part is instinctive, a cat must be TAUGHT to eat its prey? (They learn to use a litterbox a lot faster when mama's around to teach them, too.) Well, I have often said how surprised I was that Feather was able to learn to kill mice when he had been raised in a mouse-free environment. He went through a period of bringing me live mice, often pretty much undamaged, of about eight months, until he was a little over sixteen months old. Then he developed the killing nape-bite and never brought in a living mouse again. I had heard, from reliable sources, that they had to be taught and I was NOT about to bite a mouse to show him. -- Will in New Haven "Max moved, gathering Ellie in one arm and urging her on. Behind them Sam Anderson turned to face his certain death... dropping to one knee and steadying his pistol over his left forearm in precisely the form approved by the manual”. - Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) _Starman Jones_ (c. 1953) |
#46
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KFC today
wrote in message ... "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote: Was it somewhere on this newsgroup, or on some TV program, that I learned that although the "hunting" part is instinctive, a cat must be TAUGHT to eat its prey? (They learn to use a litterbox a lot faster when mama's around to teach them, too.) I learned on nature shows that all felines have a *chase* instinct: something runs away from them, they chase it, without having to be taught. (This seems to be true of dogs, too - maybe all predators?) But they have to be taught how to kill prey once it's caught, and they also have to be taught that the dead prey is food. That's why the mother cat brings live prey to her kittens first, so she can show them how to kill it. And then she eats it in front of them so they know it's food. At some point in their kittenhood, both Smudge and Licky must have been taught about hunting. Smudge certainly knows how to catch, kill and eat prey. (Charmingly, she ate a bird right in front of my front door last weekend - I went out the next day to find feathers and other remains on the doormat.) I'm not quite as certain about Licky, but when I throw something for him to chase, he's dead serious about it. Don't know if he'd know how to follow through with the kill and the eating, though, since the thing I throw is usually inanimate. (OK, always. ) Roxy on the other hand does not seem to have had that education. She chases things, but then veers off and scratches the scratching post in excitement. She likes the fun of chasing and the general stimulation of attention and running around, but I'm sure she really doesn't get what it's all about. Which makes her appear a bit dim, but it might just be that she lost her mother too young to have been taught, or wasn't part of a feral colony where she might have learned from other cats. Jake learned to kill on his own. He was too young to have learned from his mother and there were no other cats around here. Sam was quite the predator too, and didn't have a teacher that I'm aware of. Both of those boys were pure bred meezers. Jo |
#47
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KFC today
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message . Was it somewhere on this newsgroup, or on some TV program, that I learned that although the "hunting" part is instinctive, a cat must be TAUGHT to eat its prey? I think they need to learn not how to eat it but how to deliver that killing bite. Boyfie was useless at that for years. He would bring prey into the house and let it go, alive. Fortunately he's got the hang of it now. |
#48
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KFC today
Christina Websell wrote: "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message . Was it somewhere on this newsgroup, or on some TV program, that I learned that although the "hunting" part is instinctive, a cat must be TAUGHT to eat its prey? I think they need to learn not how to eat it but how to deliver that killing bite. Boyfie was useless at that for years. He would bring prey into the house and let it go, alive. Fortunately he's got the hang of it now. Well, of course they have to kill it before they can eat it ;-). I thought they also had to learn it was edible, although I suppose a homeless cat would probably experiment out of sheer hunger. (Sometimes necessity is an effective teacher.) |
#49
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KFC today
DP, vegetarian, is appalled that Kumani and Tyche figured out how to catch, kill and eat bugs all on their own. HE certainly didn't teach them that! I wonder if Smokey did? Thing is, I've never seen Smokey eat a bug. (We do not have access to mice or birds in our high-rise.) --Fil Was it somewhere on this newsgroup, or on some TV program, that I learned that although the "hunting" part is instinctive, a cat must be TAUGHT to eat its prey? |
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