Cats

How old does a cat need to be to catch mice? You will learn more after reading this! We all know that catching mice is a cat’s instinct, although many purebred cats now have more functions. It is a companion, so the owner will not deliberately require it to have the ability to catch mice, but as a cat surviving in the wild, finding food and hunting are basic skills that need to be learned.

1. Cats’ ability to catch mice comes from their mother’s teachings

Cats catching mice and eating them as food are usually taught by their mothers. When the cat is one month old, the mother cat will bring the caught mouse and eat it in front of the kitten. This is to let the kitten understand that the mouse is a delicious food. When the kittens are two months old, the mother cat will bring the mice she caught for the kittens to eat. After tasting the delicious food, in order to exercise the kittens' ability to catch mice, the mother cat will catch live mice for the kittens to play with. Slowly, the mother cat will stop catching mice for the kittens. It will naturally catch mice when it is hungry.

However, today’s cats leave their mothers very early and cannot learn the skills of catching mice from their mothers. In addition, there are very few mice in cities now. Cats who don’t know that mice are delicacies will naturally not know how to catch mice. Catching mice. Even if you meet a mouse in daily life, you may regard it as a friend to play with for a while.

2. How old does a cat have to be to learn to catch mice?

Once a kitten's legs and feet are fully developed, it can begin to chase moving objects. At the same time, I exercised my physical strength and practiced how to grasp the timing of flying jumps. When they get a little older, the difficulty of "playing" escalates, and they can skillfully complete a series of actions such as ambush, sneak approach, and finally jump up to capture the prey. If it is a wild cat, at this stage, it can start real hunting, and after experiencing many failures, it can acquire perfect hunting techniques. Generally, this level can be reached 4 to 5 months after birth.

3. Can domestic pet cats learn to catch mice?

Even for cats raised by humans, if they are raised outdoors, through some outdoor practice, they will catch some small bugs at first, and slowly they will be able to catch mice and small animals. Bird. However, if it is raised indoors, it will stagnate before the "try real hunting" stage due to lack of opportunities for practice. When they are older, if they are suddenly attacked by a mouse, they may even startle and ask, "What is this?!" Some cats will be so frightened that they run away. Recently, more and more cats have never seen a mouse in their lives. Cats like this continue to play a game of hunting, so they will never catch mice in their lives.

4. Cats whose nature is hard to change

Nowadays, the number of stray cats is increasing. Many people, out of a kind heart to rescue, save cats. Catching it back and raising it yourself will often give the cat a good life, but most cats will have a good life after they reach adulthood.Stray cats cannot adapt to life with humans. They want to escape from such an environment. Rather than saying that stray cats like freedom, it is better to say that they have adapted to the wild environment and are more cautious, lively and accustomed to hunting. This is a This is an innate habit, so if you adopt a stray cat, try to raise it from an early age to change its habits, so that such a cat can better adapt to life with humans.

In fact, whether a cat can really catch mice has nothing to do with age. It does not mean that when a cat grows up, it will definitely be able to catch mice. The skill of catching mice is learned in childhood and continued to improve after growing up. Many owners believe that it is instinct for cats to hunt mice, so they will survive well if they are released into the wild. In fact, this is not the case. Many kittens that leave their mothers when they are young have not learned hunting skills. In the natural environment, it is very difficult for them to survive. Maybe he starved to death before he learned how to catch mice.