If I wait long enough.....

[Kay]

Awww bless him. Brilliant pic.

[Janeburd]

Originally Posted by dandysmom

BC, tell him not to give up! My Misty was a terrible hunter (thank goodness!); she would sit in the garden in plain sight and chitter at the birds because they refused to leave the tree and let her catch them. Well, one day she was sitting in the shade under the peony bush and an idiot sparrow landed not a foot from her....the one and only bird she ever caught in her life...she was very proud of herself!

I would love to know why cats DO chitter at birds if anyone knows ?

[dandysmom]

Good question, and I really don't know why! All of mine have done it; I suspect it's just frustration at being unable to catch the bird.....

Any other ideas?

Edited: found this on CatsAbout link

Ever see a cat zeroing in on a bird he sees through the window? Suddenly there's a great deal of clicking of teeth, sometimes combined with an ack-ack gutteral noise that you've never before heard your cat make. This behavior is called "chattering" and it even has the experts stumped. Perhaps it's nothing but frustration, as the cat obviously would like to make a meal of the bird. Sometimes they actually salivate while carrying on, so this explanation could be a good guess.

[angieh]

messybeast agrees with you Eileen!

"Chatter - excitement, frustration e.g. when prey is out of reach or escapes (involves rapid teeth-chattering jaw movements)."

http://www.messybeast.com/cat_talk.htm

Both Merlin and Smudge (gone but remembered fondly) used to sit on the window sill and chatter at the birds on the feeders. I heard or read somewhere that a veterinary hospital in USA did some research on convalescent cats and found that those who were shown videos of birds seemed to perk up quicker than those who were not shown the videos!

[babycakes]

All my cats have chattered to birds but some have done it in frustration at lights etc too.

Denis doesn't do it all the time but then I think he thinks he's a dog not a cat... and he hasn't learnt how to be quiet and sneak about like a cat. When he goes out he runs around the garden crying as though he is saying 'I'm here everyone I'm here' and if he jumps down from something the noise is as though he is going to come through the floor!!

[dandysmom]

Originally Posted by babycakes

All my cats have chattered to birds but some have done it in frustration at lights etc too.

Denis doesn't do it all the time but then I think he thinks he's a dog not a cat... and he hasn't learnt how to be quiet and sneak about like a cat. When he goes out he runs around the garden crying as though he is saying 'I'm here everyone I'm here' and if he jumps down from something the noise is as though he is going to come through the floor!!

That's always amused me! They can jump into or out of the bed as lightly as a feather wafting down, or as heavily as if someone dropped a ten pound bag of flour! And coming down the stairs sometimes Leia (and her predecessors) sound like the Russian army invading... kaTHUMP, kaTHUMP, kaTHUMP....

Cats ..don't you love 'em?!

[babycakes]

Originally Posted by dandysmom

[/b]

That's always amused me! They can jump into or out of the bed as lightly as a feather wafting down, or as heavily as if someone dropped a ten pound bag of flour! And coming down the stairs sometimes Leia (and her predecessors) sound like the Russian army invading... kaTHUMP, kaTHUMP, kaTHUMP....

Cats ..don't you love 'em?!

Most definitely do

[angieh]

Absolutely positively!

[Janeburd]

Haha , ahhh bless .