teeth chattering...

hi everyone. i have another question.

whenver i play with madison and hayden (my two kittens) via this little feather and bell at the end of a wand, they go nuts chasing it! if i hold the wand up above their head, they circle around it, chatter their teeth/jaws very rapidly and make these noises (i guess meowing?). is this them communicating with each other about who will get the feather? is it a nervous thing all the chattering? i only have seen them chatter while playing with teh wand...

thanks,
keith

My former roommate's 13 year old cat used to do that while watching birds outside. It's kinds of an excited, I-can't-contain-myself gesture. I'm not sure why they do it, but it's pretty cute.

I have a cat that does that, but only when bird watching. To me, it seems like she is trying to imitate the bird calls and lure the birds to her. Whatever it is, it's sure CUTE!

Three of mine do it when they are excited over something, a bird, a fly, a toy.

Gizmo doesn't chatter, but the nontalkative Cat Upstairs (Soleil, with six toes) chatters madly when playing with a laser toy. I think it is a sign of excitement.

I read somewhere, I don't know if it's true, and it sounds a little gross. It's part of their prey drive and they are practicing the kill bite to the back of the neck of their prey.

That works for me. So Soleil is aggressive (true) and poor little Gizmo never chatters since she is aware that she is playing with a toy and not REALLY killing a mouse. Though I once saw her with a ferocious look in her eyes, carrying a rabbit fur toy. Even the most timid cat becomes, as they say, a lion at night.

I found this which backs up that theory completely

My boys also do that when watching birds through the windows lol. It IS cute!

Anya does that when she gets really excited about a bird out the window too. I figured it had something to do with her going into "hunting mode". Of course I think its adorable.

I heard Maui do this for the first time this weekend!! I thought it was soooo cute but that "kill bite" thing kind of has me creeped out I think I'm just going to pretend I never heard that and the chattering is him just being excited

thanks everyone for the replies... i'm glad to know that this is normal behavior.

along the same lines, whenever my male kitten (hayden) plays with a toy that he can grab in his mouth and walk away with he starts to growl and will not let go of the toy for anything. if he's growling and has the toy in his mouth and you try to take it away he'll even claw at you! i get afraid that he's going to have a heart attack the way he growls non-stop with the toy in his mouth. this is practically the only time he ever shows signs of agression (the other times are just playfully fooling around with his sister).

again, normal?

thanks,
keith