My female Bengal has some really unique hunting mannerisms

soozsong

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I have two Bengal cats. One is an older male(Guido) who has been fixed and I recently brought a new female(Cleo) home. They get along fine thats not an issue. My older male is one excellent hunter! We live out in the AZ desert and while our neighbors have rodent problems, we have none! My question has to do with my younger female. We just recently started to let her out during the daylight hours, (At night around here unless youre a seasoned "Desert Dweller" a domestic animal could wind up as dinner for a coyote or even a large bird of prey) Anyway, when she is outside, she has this odd stalking behavior.... she crouches like the normal felines do, however, her mouth kind of clicks open and closed and her head bobs up and down and from where I'm standing, it looks as though she's talking to whatever bird she is stalking! Its quite comical! Our first Bengal we had out here (Lazlo) didnt last very long because of his totally dauntless behavior- I never saw that beautiful creature ever CONTEMPLATE anything- he just did it! I think that is what led to his demise- lack of fear of ANYTHING. Anyway, Lazlo as a kitten used to sit on the front steps and have what appeared to be some lively conversations with desert Roadrunners- his mouth opening and closing and hid head bobing and weaving. Cleos mom is Lazlos sister, but Guido is from the same set of parents as Lazlo, just a different litter, and I've never seen him do anything like the other cats do. What is this , Some kind of wild hunting behavior? If anyone has a cat that does this I would like to know about it
Thanks
 

sassyfras

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I have had a couple of inside-only cats who would do this as they birdwatched. They also made a kind of clacking noise as they did this. All I could think was that this sound was cat-speak for "here birdie, birdie, birdie!"
 

donna

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My cats who are all indoors, do the same thing. I call it cackling. They see birds on the telephone wires, squirrels, etc. and immediately go into their act. Their little butts wiggle and they make the weirdest noises while clicking their teeth. It's some kind of hunting ritual. I even tried to record it once because no one believed me. Unique little buggers aren't they??
 

missyc

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My cat, Soltie, does the clicking/chattering when she sees a bird outside. She is totally inside cat. However, my sisters cat does the clicking/chattering when she sees my sisters granddaughter.
 

6april6

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The reason cats make that "crackling" sound is because they are trying to trick their prey into thinking there is a small rodent or bug on the ground for the prey to eat. It is a natural instinct in all cats so even ones that never step foot outside will do this when there is a bug up high or (as in my cats' case) when you point the laser light up high out of their reach
 
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