It’s said that humans are the only known creatures who kill for reasons other that hunger or self-preservation, but what are well-fed cats doing when they toy with a helpless mouse?
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There are records of both chimpanzees and bonobos commiting murder.
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Why is this in the Pit?
Dogs have been known to kill large numbers of animals for “kicks”. I’m sure there are other species with similar behavior.
Training.
They aren’t “toying” with it, per se. They are honing their reflexes, and practicing the coordinated moves needed to catch prey that is doing it’s best to not get caught. This is also why mother cats (mostly in the wild, though some domesticated cats will also do this) will bring thier litters mice, birds, rats, frogs, lizards, and what have you. At first, the practice prey the mother cat brings is almost dead, and the kittens practice how to kill. I’ve seen mother barn cats which have brought mostly well prey to their kits, so they can practice catching it after “the killing bite” is mastered. Usually it’s younger cats that will spend more time “toying” with prey. The more experienced hunters will kill it as effeciently as possible. Though, even they will work to stay sharp at times.
Hmm, I see I’m not entirely correct there. The first “prey” a mother cat will bring her kits is often dead, just to let them know what is good prey. When she judges they are old enough to try to catch and kill their own, she’ll bring almost dead, then somewhat alive prey for them to learn the art of the hunt with…
I guess this was in the Pit because the OP is a newbie. I moved it to General Questions, where it belongs.
Lynn
For the Straight Dope
I once watched my cat Tickle torture a baby bunny.
She trapped it at the end of a hallway that led off from our garage. She blocked its escape route, then bit off a random chunk of bunny. The bunny flopped around, terrified, spraying blood all over the walls. Periodically, she’d bite off another chunk.
Tickle was an excellent and efficient huntress. I know that she did this for her own amusement.
I think Zabali hit the nail on the head. It’s not evilness, it’s just a predator/prey behavior. No matter how domesticated out dear little puppies and kitties may be, we can’t completely breed out certain behaviors that are instinct.
The short answer is, unless you speak Feline, you don’t know “why” a cat does anything. There is ample evidence that many animals kill when they are not obviously looking for food, sex or protecting territory. Hence, we attribute the word “fun” to their actions. Are they “evil”? Myself, I think only creatures with Free Will and the capacity to understand the consequences of their actions can choose to be evil. All else is critters being critters.
On preview, I see that this has been moved to GQ. Darn you, Lynn! Now I have to come up with cites! 
Will some previous threads do?
Here’s one where I provided cites for the “many animals killl, etc.” assertation.
I speak feline. Of course, the language has only one word, ‘Meow’, which translates into English as ‘Now.’ Everything else is context.
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- Orcas and walruses will both kill penguins, and then not eat them–just toss them around. Orcas will also occasionally kill (smaller) sharks for what appears to be no reason.
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- Orcas and walruses will both kill penguins, and then not eat them–just toss them around. Orcas will also occasionally kill (smaller) sharks for what appears to be no reason.
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Did anyone else read this as "I once watched my cat tickle*-*torture a baby bunny?
It’s probably worth pointing out that most domestic kittens are taken away from their mother earlier than they would be in the “wild”, and that many cat mothers don’t have ready access to prey to bring back to their litter. In the end, it’s likely that John Q. Feline was never taught how to actually kill prey by its mother, and so ends up “toying” with a mouse it finds because it’s not quite sure how to finish it off.
I have read, and it matches with my experiences with numerous cats, that stalking and pouncing is more or less instinctive, but killing is learned behaviour in cats. Thus your cat will instinctively stalk and catch a mouse (Although they may be pretty klutzy about it if they haven’t learned the skills to go with the instincts) but will then treat it as a toy, not having learned what to do with it after it’s caught. A well-fed indoor cat will probably not even recognize the mouse as being food.
Actually, IIRC cats only seem use “meow” with humans. (Or in the case of one of our cats, rhiow.) Here are several links that touch on cat vocalization.
Yep.
Cats aren’t evil, they are just the way cats are. Because,
–if cats are evil, you punish them, inflicting suffering as great or greater than the torture they inflicted. Thus is Good upheld…not.
–if cats are just the way cats are, you remove the mouse (kill it quickly if appropriate) or in some other way, as practical, minimize/prevent the cat inflicting pain.
No offense intended but why did you just watch it happen and not intervene?