I have been wondering for quite some time about a behavior I see in my cats that always makes me curious. Whenever they have a toy or a crumpled up receipt or anything small and crinkled they tend to play with it by themselves for long periods of time. However in my cats and in others I have seen it appears to be a compulsive behavior for the first few minutes, to the point that I think they can’t help themselves when given a small noisy object - they must play with it. Similar to the movement of a laser toy…most cats are almost complusively thrown into attack mode or stalk mode - like its instinctive. I wonder what part of their nervous system this behavior comes from?
definitely. Cats will play with other cats, for sure, but a lot of their solo play is instinctive I would think. Most species of cats are solo hunters (lions being one of the only exceptions) so a lot of what they do is, instinctively, done by themselves, especially when it comes to something like “stalking” a toy (or ball of foil, as my cats freakin love. Seriously, I stopped buying cat toys a long time ago, they love shoe laces, feet under a blanket or balls of tin foil FAR more than any toy I ever bought for them)
Cats is weird. Mine want to do almost everything by themselves until they feel the need to masturbate, then they plop down in the busiest area they can find and yowl and touch themselves inappropriately. This need is magnified if I have guests who have never been to my place before.:smack:
Mine likes the plastic rings from milk jugs and any kind of perforated cardboard zip strip. Like on a frozen pizza box, where you pull the tab and tear away the long strip to open. He comes running when he hears it being pulled. I curl it up and give it a toss, he bats it around a while and then brings it to me for another throw. He plays fetch better than my dog.
First, my proxy cat Finnigan’s site on catster. That pic is NOT photoshopped-
He belongs to my Idaho friend & I occasionally help her with his vet bills so he’s the closest thing I have to a cat.
When I read the thread title, I thought “play with themselves” meant… you know.
He does that in front of his Mommy (my friend), sometimes dropping his “love doll” (a stuffed pink froggy) at her feet before he humps it. I tell her “Well, you’ve been curious about a threesome!” However, he sometimes takes it to another room to do his dirty little business. To make the story even better, the doll is kinda getting worn so we found the exact same one on eBay for him…
Now he has threeways with them. Doing one, then the other. Putting them both next to each other & doing them both.
She actually sent me pics but I’m forbidden to show them.
My cat loves milk jug rings so much that he knows the sound a full milk jug hitting the counter! He comes running and meowing before I even tear the ring off.
Bella will steal any paper towel/napkin she can and tear them to shreds.
Spartacus will play with one of those track-ball things & his catnip mouse.
Merry… well yesterday was very interesting. She likes straws for some odd reason. I’ve seen here going for mine at times but I always catch her and stop her from biting it. Yesterday, I decided to watch and see what she does and the little bugger pulled it out of the cup and ran off with it, I found her playing with it in the next room. sighs I’m surrounded by weird cats.
We had a cat many years ago who ‘played’ with himself alright. Laying on his back with his back legs spreadeagled, he’d get a marvellous little kitty erection, and using his paws would pat his little pink/white penis back and forth like a game of tennis.
Explaining it to the kids was another thing altogether…
But SHAKES, you have no idea of the monsters that lurk under the covers. If your kitty didn’t wrangle the sheets (which is what my Wally does), you might be in mortal danger.
Cats have an almost pathological need to hunt. I suppose it could have been bred into them over the years, to make them better mousers, but it’s practically unnatural. Cats will stuff themselves at a food bowl, and dart away to try and catch a mouse, squirrel or bird, knowing full well they’re not going to eat it. Normal predators don’t do that, they hunt when they’re hungry.
