Cats and moths or, Tannin, do I have a weird cat?

[Santilli]

Well, my little girl is 1/2 feral, and, she's NOT your normal cat. I have pics of her jumping straight up, oh about door handle height plus a foot, turning 180 in the air, using tail, and taking off chasing a fake mouse.

She also does things like jump over 6' from the ground, to my shower top railing. Then walks on the rail like an Egyptian temple cat.

We named her Alice Capone at birth, since she was the first cat to escape from her mom's area. However, due to her acrobatic jumping ability, we call her "Jumpster" now.


She's a black and white, tuxedo kitty, about 11 pounds, 2 years old, and she is a serious hunter. I've used every trick I've learned from BF Skinner in teaching handicapped kids with her, and she's more like a dog, following us around, and sleeping with us, then a cat. I also used the suggestions of the trainer of Bart the Bear, and we give her constant, positive reinforcement, and, alternative behavior for poor behavior, like clawing up the couch. It's worked.

She is an amazing cat, as viewed from other cat owners, and, her love of us seems to have carried over to other people. One of our friends came over, and she jumped on his back, then tried to do,

"Too sexy"

which is where she roles over, puts paws in the air like she doesn't care,
and lays on her back. Strange behavior to attempt, when on a 6 foot plus persons back. BUT, that's our cat.

Lately, my girlfriend lets in insects, and, she hunts them down, with a little help from me, and either toys with, and then eats, or just eats them, if it's been a hard hunt.

She responds to movement, and, she finishes her hunts with no problems.

She may play with a moth, or insect, but, if they give her a hard chase, she just eats them.

Is this diet ok for her?

I don't think I'm going to be able to change it, and, it's keeping the moths out of our clothes...
s

 

[blakerwry]

I've heard that cats can get worms from this, but our Himalayan likes to do this too. I pretty much let our cats do what they enjoy and I like to see them happy so I let them hunt the bugs (sometimes spiders) and lizards (for our puppy cat that likes to venture outside) around here.

 

[cquinn]

Sounds like a fairly normal cat, albeit considerably more athletic than
what is expected from a house cat.

I'm not a cat expert, but eating an occasional insect should not hurt
her, as a supplement to her ordinary diet.

It might help to know what varieties of moths exist in your area, but
if shes willing to eat them, they must not taste too bad.

 

[LOST6200]

Cats and dogs naturally eat all sorts of critters, usually with no ill effects. But if your cat gets a scorpion or certain venomous spiders, etc., it could be the end.

 

[Santilli]

I try and kill any spider I see first.

She seems to be more cautious about spiders then moths, insects.

s

 

[Craiglc1]

We have two cats.....both will track insects and one of them delights in eating them. Since we keep them indoors they dont get many of them. Our theory is that the powder on moths wings is actually a sugar coating. I would say your cat sounds normal to me.

 

[Santilli]

Just helped her with a moth. I knocked it off the ceiling, and like lightning, she bolted from the floor, onto the couch, jumped in the air, swatted the moth down, and pinned the moth under her paw, out of mid air. No wasted motion, and nearly faster then you could see. One second she's on the floor, next second she's pinned the moth, and frozen on the couch.

AMAZING:excl: :excl:

I throw fake mice, fairly fast, down our hall way, from 4-15 feet. She can hit the mouse, knock it down, and pounce on it, just like she did the moth.

For variety, if the situation presents itself, she will jump, grab the fake mouse with BOTH paws, and catch it, bringing it down to the ground. She's done this on mice thrown pretty hard, and up to door handle height.

On other occassions, she jumps straight up, soft paws the mouse, with one paw, and as she starts on her way down, grabs it with the other paw.

It's sort of like watching an outfielder jump, bare hand the ball to stop it's flight, and then grab it with his glove. Pretty amazing. :eekers:

She's more fun to watch then TV. Currently, she's on top of the fish tank, hunting for another, smaller moth.

s

 

[Santilli]

Jumpster showed me new heights yesterday. She jumped from the floor, to the top of my bathroom door, in persuit of a moth. Catwoman has nothing on this girl. :mrgrn:

s