Yes, some cats like to play fetch. It’s science!
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IncorrigibleTroll
Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
One of mine has developed a fondness for kale. He also likes green beans, but more as a toy than a foodstuff.
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The tortie I grew up with has a fondness for peas. Ate almost a whole pan once. The ensuing evacuation was... 'vigourous'..
She learnt that cats really, really are not omnivores. Still ate peas though - just not in the same quantities.
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Ah, milk rings. We had a cat that loved them. Would come running into the kitchen if she heard them being snapped off. We'd toss them on the floor, she'd bat, toss, chase them well past when we'd leave the kitchen. We became conditioned to automatically throwing the rings on the floor every time we opened a new milk.
Fast forward to a few years later when we moved the stove. There must have been at least a hundred of those rings. But at least the cat was happy.
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I'm a cat person, and I don't like it when dog people tell me dogs are better. They are different, yet still animals that would eat you when you're dead.
There are plenty of video from Ukraine front lines where dogs eat dead solders.
And there are plenty of example with out war.
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.u...e going to take,an assortment of bone shards.
No need to lie that dog won't eat you.
People would eat dead people when they have nothing else to eat.
----
P.S. edit
I couldn't reply to the original post you quoted.
This is indirect reply to that rather than you, Wheels Of Confusion
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No surprise about Siamese being the best at fetching…they were hunting companions for royalty. They were taught to retrieve birds.
Owned Sealpoints for 60 years. Now have 2 Snowshoe Siamese. All of my Sealpoints were avid fetchers. The new kids? Only their toys, and on their terms.
Owned Sealpoints for 60 years. Now have 2 Snowshoe Siamese. All of my Sealpoints were avid fetchers. The new kids? Only their toys, and on their terms.
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Sounds like someone who doesn't know anything about cats.Does the cat even care in the slightest what shape the clicker is? That sounds like a you problem
If they can judge you for something, they will....
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If you train them well enough, noisemaking isn't a problem. Mine knows that making excessive noise at night (whether it is meowing or knocking things over) just gets him in trouble, so he is fairly quiet overnight.
Of course, that also means he knows when I should be getting up, so if I try to sleep in on a holiday...
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I have a cat that loves to play fetch with hair ties. When we first started you'd have to kind of hide that you were launching the hair tie to really get her going. The whole surprise thing. Now though she doesn't require stealth. She'll happily chase and retrieve it however you launch it.
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Protip: you can train cats to let you trim their claws. It's easiest with two people (one to hold the cat & one to do the trimming), but it can be done.
We've successfully done this with three different cats. Just be sure to watch a video, you have to be careful not to take off too much (same as you don't want to trim your own nails too far back).
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My cat will play fetch every day, multiple times a day with his favourite toy. He will beg even ignoring his food to do so. So he definitely beats that 10 times a month, he could average 60!
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This is Sunshine. I'm pretty sure she'd not fetch the defibrillator if you were going into cardiac arrest.
But we're told she's quite fetching, and we love her.
But we're told she's quite fetching, and we love her.
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One of our cats will play fetch, and it actually surprises most people when they see it. "I've never seen a cat play fetch!" He'll bring the ball (or whatever) to you too. The other cat (his sister) doesn't like to play fetch, and interestingly enough, out of the two dogs, only one likes to play fetch.
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IncorrigibleTroll
Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
Results vary by cat. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. Starting early definitely boosts the likelihood of success to be sure.
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I doubt the shape of the clicker will play into that much though. They'll judge you for having a clicker in the first place. And for trying to make them do something.
(Also, my ex-landlords cats favorite toy was a small squishy rubber dog bone. I suspect because it had a rather unpredictable bounce pattern when thrown or rolled.)
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No purchase necessary. Subject to credit approval. Void where prohibited. Do not taunt the happy fur ball.
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Appreciated. I am aware of how to do it. I rarely catch a claw badly, so I just ignore it. And despite a lot of practice I’ve still managed to nick a blood vessel on rare occasions.
It’s as much that Simon hits hard, even without flaws connecting. He likes to punch me in the face if he thinks I am not paying suitable attention to him or it is feeding time
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We've had a couple of cats that played Fetch for a bit, until bored, but one took the prize:
She was a (typically) bossy, cranky Cali, and one day she was pestering me while I was clearing up some dirty clothes in the bedroom. Out of frustration, I picked her up and (gently, thank you!) lobbed her 10-12 feet away, onto the bed. She proceeded to fetch herself repeatedly, until I got tired of tossing and laughing! Never did tire of her game...
She was a (typically) bossy, cranky Cali, and one day she was pestering me while I was clearing up some dirty clothes in the bedroom. Out of frustration, I picked her up and (gently, thank you!) lobbed her 10-12 feet away, onto the bed. She proceeded to fetch herself repeatedly, until I got tired of tossing and laughing! Never did tire of her game...
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This is the equivalent of something I used to do with my dad, when I was pre-school age. He'd pick me up and swing me around and around until finally tossing me onto an extremely overstuffed velvet couch (yes, it was the '70s, for those curious), after I stopped giggling, I'd run back to him yelling, "Again! Again!!".
I know a lot of folks say being a critter parent is not the same as parenting a tiny human... but there are overlaps.
Heh, hadn't thought of that in years. Miss ya, Pop.
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Nah, I had a mixed (but markings, eyes, and looks were seal point siamese) cat that literally played Fetch. Would wait for me to say 'go get it!' and everything.
It started as the article points out spontaneously one day. There was a tangle of broken AV cables that I had while fixing some stereo stuff and he was pawing at the cables so I tossed them out of the way and then after he chased after them and 'killed' them he brought them back. So I tossed them again, and he brought them back. after few times I had him to where he would wait for me to tell him to go get it before he took off to attack it for a second and then bring it back and wait again for me to throw it and tell him to go get it.
I tested it by not telling him to go get it, and he'd just sit there, primed to spring and wriggling, but waiting for me to tell him to get it.
So, yes, cats can play fetch-fetch. It just depends on the cat
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My first cat was a Manx who loved popcorn. She'd sit on the back of the couch next to my head and snatch popcorn out of my hand as I brought it to my mouth.
A couple of time I ended up with a mouthful of furry paw instead of popcorn.My second cat was one of her offspring. He also loved popcorn, but only if you threw it for him. I think he saw it as a treat for catching it or chasing it.
I don't remember which one, but one of those two also really liked Cheese Pleasers. They'd steal them from the bowl when you weren't looking.
None of my cats have been fetchers; they've all been chasers. You throw it, they chase it and play with once they catch it. Then they look at you, waiting for you to come pick it to throw again.
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For my anecdotal evidence, I've only had one cat that played fetch. The other 5 cats I've had in my lifetime have not brought things back after chasing them down. My current two would much rather me walk over to where they caught it and throw it from there.
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DEAR ARS: many, MANY more stories like this please! Not only is this an uplifting, feel-good story, the ratio of upvotes to downvotes has got to be some sort of record. Almost all upvotes, and only a few downvotes (presumably by people who have no soul. Or dogs.)
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Wait the article itself can be voted on? Where? How?
DEAR ARS: many, MANY more stories like this please! Not only is this an uplifting, feel-good story, the ratio of upvotes to downvotes has got to be some sort of record. Almost all upvotes, and only a few downvotes (presumably by people who have no soul. Or dogs.)
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Growing up I had an orange tabby that sometimes would play fetch. We caught him one day dropping his toys through the banister, running down stairs to retrieve the toy, bringing it back upstairs, and dropping it again.
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Things most definitely get fetched. Just not always to me.
Yes, the catnip mouse will often be returned when I throw it, provided food dishes are full, no other crucial issues pending, and someone else hasn't thrown a piece of garbage, most of which is apparently infinitely more fetchable than anything purchased for the purpose.
But then the plastic milk-seal things have to be fetched too – one at a time, week after week, from the kitchen trash to under the sofa where the vacuum bot regularly chokes on them. And then there are pens and pencils on my desk, which must be fetched to the bathtub three stories above promptly at 2:00 am. Any snail mail sitting on the sideboard waiting to be put in the mailbox may also be fetched during the 2:00 am session, to anyone's face or feet. Loose paper of any kind must be fetched to the living room rug and shredded, though on no particular schedule. Checks are of course given priority. The compost container must be examined daily, and any pizza crusts fetched to the pizza crust depot deep under the guest bed (see choking Roomba, above). Any clothing guests drop on the floor must be carefully fetched to the area behind the guest bath toilet (where, if they had better manners, they would have known to put it without busy cats having to tidy up after them). Cardboard shipping aren't so much fetched as mulched into drifts (which the robot vac quite likes).
The world is disorderly. Things move that should stay still. Other things sit on their asses when they should move. A good cat’s fetching is never done.
Yes, the catnip mouse will often be returned when I throw it, provided food dishes are full, no other crucial issues pending, and someone else hasn't thrown a piece of garbage, most of which is apparently infinitely more fetchable than anything purchased for the purpose.
But then the plastic milk-seal things have to be fetched too – one at a time, week after week, from the kitchen trash to under the sofa where the vacuum bot regularly chokes on them. And then there are pens and pencils on my desk, which must be fetched to the bathtub three stories above promptly at 2:00 am. Any snail mail sitting on the sideboard waiting to be put in the mailbox may also be fetched during the 2:00 am session, to anyone's face or feet. Loose paper of any kind must be fetched to the living room rug and shredded, though on no particular schedule. Checks are of course given priority. The compost container must be examined daily, and any pizza crusts fetched to the pizza crust depot deep under the guest bed (see choking Roomba, above). Any clothing guests drop on the floor must be carefully fetched to the area behind the guest bath toilet (where, if they had better manners, they would have known to put it without busy cats having to tidy up after them). Cardboard shipping aren't so much fetched as mulched into drifts (which the robot vac quite likes).
The world is disorderly. Things move that should stay still. Other things sit on their asses when they should move. A good cat’s fetching is never done.
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They sure do. Surprised took this long to get published. Almost 4 decades ago a cat I named Byte started retrieving crumpled up sheets of paper from the trash can and bring it to me. So we started playing fetch. Sitting on the floor I would throw it then Byte would chase and retrieve it. My wife was quite amused playing fetch. Seems I was the only one Byte played fetch with. Also every time I crumpled up paper to really throw it away Byte would go retrieve it to play some more. He loved it.
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I'm of the firm belief that cat's actually domesticated us through some form of mind control; there's simply no other explanation why so many of us love an animal that at best tolerates our existence, and only so much as we feed and house them. I've had multiple cats in my life, and I have loved all of them dearly, and I'm sure they have all loved me in their own way (for as much as an animal can feel love...); but I am under no illusion that if it benefited them somehow, they would happily murder me in my sleep
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Haven't had cats since I was a child while none of well over a dozen siamese and odd burmese ever played fetch, I do remember they would bring an intact mouse and deposit it at your feet. The mouse would eventually make a dash for freedom and the cat would pursue, recapture and represent the mouse. This would repeat until you tossed both the cat and mouse out of house.
I am wondering whether fetching is some sort of displacement behaviour or sublimation found in housebound or otherwise constrained cats replacing the original hunting trophy behaviour.
Our cats roamed over several hectares but the siamese while pretty intelligent in some things were daft as a brush about practical things - not one could climb a tree (and get down again - fetch ladder and towel), or actually hunt anything. Peculiar creatures altogether - not particularly domesticated nor wild - definitely a product of human meddling with nature.
I am wondering whether fetching is some sort of displacement behaviour or sublimation found in housebound or otherwise constrained cats replacing the original hunting trophy behaviour.
Our cats roamed over several hectares but the siamese while pretty intelligent in some things were daft as a brush about practical things - not one could climb a tree (and get down again - fetch ladder and towel), or actually hunt anything. Peculiar creatures altogether - not particularly domesticated nor wild - definitely a product of human meddling with nature.
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My cat Samson, I really miss him, used to love to play with a tennis ball. I would rub it on the carpet, making a noise, and he would hide behind a piece of furniture. When I rolled it rapidly by him, he would leap out and snag it, bite it a couple of times, bat it back to me, then return to his "hiding" place to wait for the next one.
One day, I decided to try bouncing it to him. It took him by surprise the first time but then he really got into it, leaping out to catch it in mid-air. He could leap up to 5 feet in the air and catch it almost every time.
One day, I decided to try bouncing it to him. It took him by surprise the first time but then he really got into it, leaping out to catch it in mid-air. He could leap up to 5 feet in the air and catch it almost every time.
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Had to come back and thank you for mentioning about those plastic spring toys. Got them and keeps both cats amused whenever they rediscover one.
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Just dont think this is right!
My cat will play fetch with me for an hour if i have the time, but with my flatmate she becomes disinterested after a minute or two, despite no difference in type/quality of play.
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