Can cats create faux prey when they have no live prey around?

Question

We have a silver tabby named Luna who is two years old and a cutey-patutey! She is an inside cat and has always loved pawing at her water bowl and occasionally shredding paper. Lately, however, she has started (rather cleverly) shredding paper into long, skinny (snake-like) pieces and dunking them into her water. She will watch them being dunked and sometimes dunk them multiple times. She then fishes them out and carries them around the house and bats at them. Do you think she is just expanding on the paper/water idea or do youthink cats are capable of creating their own mock prey to play with. It should be noted that Luna is one of the smarter cats that I have had in my life. She also was a stray and was playing with bugs and insects when we found her. She also does have access to lot of cat toys but seems to prefer these wet, paper snakes that she can drown. Hmmm?

Answer 1

Yes.. cats have wonderful imaginations! My kitten loves those little 70 cent mice that just sit there on the carpet. Whenever she sees one laying around the house she will stalk it like its some poor little live mouse. Then she'll pounce on it, wrestle with it, and drag her catch away in her mouth. She also loves the giant packing peanuts! I have seen her dunk her head into a semi-closed box full of packing peanuts and pull one out with her teeth. It was like she was bobbing for apples, except.. packing peanuts!

Answer 2

Cats love feather toys (birds), little stuffed toys (mice), and balls (mice and bugs running). It is purely instinct. Cats also love string and yarn because it reminds them of snakes and worms, which are so fun to chase. Cats dunk things in water because they think of their bowls as their "nest," a safe place to keep toys that they like and want to play with later. My cat sometimes puts his favorite toys in his food dish, and he plays with his water too. He also has a million toys but prefers chewing on plastic drinking straws and plastic spoons that he can spin and knock under the pantry door over and over so I can go get them for him. In short, yes, cats make everything into prey because they are hunters by nature.  

Answer 3

Absolutely!

A lot of house cats don't even realize quite what prey is.  On the rare times that a mouse has been found in here all they do is play with it like it's a fancy toy.  They have no desire to eat the thing, just to knock it around until it stops moving (usually I can rescue them before that happens).  

It's instinct to run, pounce, and attack.  And cats all have their favorite "prey." Mine all like feathers on a stick and shoelaces, but one loves the little balls with a bell in them and likes to play fetch with them.  He will carry it around and drop it into boxes, water, and other areas to make it more fun for him.  I think he's really clever about it and it sounds like your kitty is a very clever predator too.  She likes to experiment so she can find ways to have more fun - very smart and cute!