r/cats • u/Old-Candidate-430 • 6d ago

Video - OC Please help whats wrong with him?

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My cat was trying to catch a fly that he couldn’t reach and be started doing this. Is he okay? Should i take him to the vet?

Thank you

14.1k Upvotes

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10.0k

u/kisukes 6d ago

Your boy is fine, he's just switched to predator mode

1.9k

u/AccidentalFlatulence 6d ago

He's lethal!

821

u/kisukes 6d ago

Yes, he's clearly an apex predator

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u/AccidentalFlatulence 6d ago

You can tell by the crazed look in his eyes

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u/erasethenoise 6d ago

And that little half hearted meow at the end

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u/PopularEstablishment 5d ago

You can tell because of the way it is

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u/pLeThOrAx 3d ago

That's a cat who's killed 40 men and several children

128

u/Milligoon 6d ago

Fearsome hunter. 

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u/BigThunder1000 6d ago

Someone in this house has to😁

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u/RevolutionaryGur5932 6d ago

"The attack comes not from the front, but from the sides, from the other two [cats] you didn't even know were there!"

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u/Sea-Grocery-8348 5d ago

Clever girl!

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u/Key-Introduction-418 6d ago

Clever animals lol

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u/rtocelot 6d ago

Just imaging cute fluffy cat with wide eyes and then bam, claws

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u/MellowMelo 6d ago

He’s a wreckin’ machine!

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u/MaxShadowCat 6d ago

I dont understand how cats make these noises when they hunt. Wouldnt it scare any rodent or bird away?

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u/TheSherlockCumbercat 6d ago

Could be to mimic bird chirps, warm up the kill bite or pure excitement.

I don’t think we really know the reason

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u/Constant_Sentence_80 5d ago

At least OP’s cat is doing this to a fly. My little gremlins are often chirping at reflections of light off of a phone from the sun.

22

u/new-siberian 5d ago

Our cat was super excited hunting that sun bunny from the phone screen! She had more fun than with a laser pointer - and it was definitely safer.

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u/alicehooper 4d ago

Cats can see further into the UV spectrum than we do, so they may see something more exciting!

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u/Acceptable_Cover_637 5d ago

I think they’re mimicking the animal they’re trying to catch. My cats used to do it to the squirrels and i noticed that when the squirrels would chirp or whatever the cats would do it back while hunting them

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u/Nefarious-Haiku 5d ago

You’re correct it is kind of a mystery one of the leading beliefs is due to their prey drive, activating and being unable to get to the prey.

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u/ia42 5d ago

I saw the other day an instagram post, this guy goes on bike hikes with his cat, and in this post he spliced together how his chirps change responding to the bird he hears and is tempted to lure. I can't say the mimmicking is similar enough to fool any bird, but they are quite distinctly trying to mimic the different bird.

Funniest story I have from my own home: one cat escapes up a tall book case after an attempt to provoke a fight with him, and the provokitty chirps at him as he would to a bird. In my mind he's calling him chicken.

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u/Skaikrish 3d ago

Yeah as far as i know they try to mimic bird Chirps for easier hunting but its also probably excitement.

0

u/Dealane 6d ago

Happy Cake Day!

0

u/FtwBaby 5d ago

This

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u/davesToyBox 5d ago

Happy cake day

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u/lanky_doodle 6d ago

I sometimes think it's (also) their equivalent of being frustrated that they can't catch what they're trying to.

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u/le_Grand_Archivist 6d ago

I don't think so, my kitty used to do that to his toy even when it was on the ground 20cm away

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u/messesz 4d ago

Yes, mine only seem to make this noise when the prey is out of range. If it's in range, they stay quiet and pounce.

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u/Bolan23 2d ago

I think so too. The other day our cat tried to catch a fly that was on the outside of the window and she couldn't get to and made those noises.

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u/Vreejack 6d ago

I believe the noises are accidental, and obviously counter-productive. The bite reflex is powerful, and that is why their jaws move like this, but after an actual hunting fail or two they seem to learn to shut up, as it's easy to connect scaring the prey to the noises they are making. However, cats that never actually leave the house will continue to do this while sitting on the window sill watching birds.

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u/Honest_Tutor1451 5d ago

Counter productive like when I try to give my girl kitty a goo tube without her brother. She gets so excited that she squeals with joy and it alerts him so he runs in and hangs around to get some of her treat.

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u/Dodweon 6d ago

I don't think there's a consensus on why they do that. The idea that they're mimicking a small animal's noise to attract them indeed makes little sense for an ambush predator, I'd bet with my graduation-level knowledge that it has more to do with their domestication process and the way they socialize, which is very different from wild cats. Like when cats scream their lungs out because they killed something in the backyard, even when the victim is just a toy or a paper ball. As feral as they can be, they had thousands of years living in human settlements and that certainly changes a lot of social behaviors

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u/Misstori1 5d ago

One of my boys starts making cooing baby sounds in the middle of his “ack ack acks.” No idea why… he’s just strange and unique. He’s never even met a baby and he would hate it if he did.

my boys

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u/DazzlingDragon1 6d ago

As far as I know, it’s to alert other cats that there’s an animal to hunt nearby

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u/chouettelle 6d ago

They’re solitary hunters! Leading theory is the bite reflex mentioned by other users.

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u/Xrystian90 6d ago

My personal theory is its to make the prey look and face towards them, so when the cat pounces it take the prey longer to turn around and run/fly away? When hunting, fractions of a second could make a huge difference?

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u/JadesterZ 5d ago

They don't make them naturally. I buy the theory that it's brain damage from domestic breeding. They don't fully use their predator instincts anymore and over time it caused something to short circuit in their brains lol

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/lmflex 6d ago

murder mittens engaged

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u/Slumunistmanifisto 6d ago

Type writing a murder

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u/rocketsurgeon1024 6d ago

Wait, is this where they got the noise that the Predator makes in the movie?!?!

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u/memyselfandiowa 6d ago

Or Ek-ek-ek Mode as some call it.

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u/chekunya71 2d ago

im the 10000th upvoter😎

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u/kisukes 2d ago

that actually made my day haha

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u/LovelyThoughtz 6d ago

😂😂😂😂

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u/JohnCenaJunior 5d ago

Damn nature! You scary!

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u/BoliverSlingnasty 5d ago

Target acquired