Do all cats do the bum wiggle before they pounce?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have a three year old short hair that’s tipping the morbidly obese side, he’s just over 7 kg. He’s a rescue I adopted after his owner died and he was already fat, I’ve tried putting him on special diet food but the neighbours also feed him so it’s hard.

Anyway he’s still a big kitten and loves to play. When he hunkers down and is about to pounce when I get a toy out he always always will wiggle his butt for 2 or 3 seconds before he pounces. I’ve seen this before, but I’m not sure if all cats do it. It would seem to be a disadvantage in hunting in the wild to telegraph your moves like this.

2

Maybe. Probably. I don’t know.

Cats depend on stealth and being hidden, so the bum wiggle would not be seen by the prey.

3

According to Purina,

4

My favorite bum wiggle gif -

http://i.imgur.com/LPtmwpd.gif

5

There is nothing that ALL cats do. But I would liken it to a pitcher’s windup – preparatory to putting muscle memory into action.

6

It may help to remember that a cat’s feet are actually entirely toes. They don’t have the wide base of support we do - their “heels” and ankle bones (tarsals) are up in the air, not making contact with the ground. Stand up on your tip toes and prepare to jump forward. Don’t you kind of want to shift around a bit first and make sure your balance is right?

Cat skeleton anatomy graphic: http://www.eurocatfancy.de/en1/nav/about-cats/cat-anatomy/images/skeleton_cat_en.jpg

7

Yeah ok, makes sense, I thought it was something like that but I wasn’t sure exactly how it helps them pounce.

8

I think most of them doing it because they know it’s adorable, and therefore the thumb-haver holding the toy gets distracted. YMMV.

9

I knew what this was going to be before I clicked. So ridiculous, and so hard not to smile at it. :smiley:

10

We had a cat who wouldn’t raise his butt in the air before pouncing, but pushed his aft end down hard to the ground. He still wiggled, though.