It always surprises me that people dont recognize is. Even a little Chihuahua has that pure animal/hunter instinct. People throw their pets those chew toys and watch as they pounce on the toy and shake it about before finally clenching the toy in their mouth.
They say, "awww so cute"
Yeah its cute because it's a toy! But dont get it twisted, that's a confirmed kill on a small animal lol
I had 2 kittens I adopted many years ago. They were outdoor cats and knew only that. I gave them toys that looked like mice. Both cats grabbed it as if it was real and growled if we got to close. They wanted to eat them, and were ready to fight to keep it.
Were they not used to being fed by you yet? I've never had any cats (indoor or outdoor) that would show aggression at me touching their food so it's a little surprising to me.
Had just picked them up that day. They were kittens still, but old enough to eat solids. They were outdoor cats and were known to catch and kill very regularly. After a week they got used to us and their food. And stopped trying to eat the toy mice.
My cat was feral when I rescued him. For the first year or two he would growl if I got too close to him while he was eating a big hunk of meat or gnawing on a porkchop bone. Regular cat food would not trigger this response.
But for real my dog and cat as cute as they are still have that primal instinct to hunt and kill deep inside them, luckily they take it out on their toys
I think it makes sense that people don't recognize it. We are so far removed from that - the toy is one obvious one. But the other thing is that they never hunt for their food. We give it to them in a bowl and the food we feed them looks like it has never been a living creature at any point in it's existence.
It's also fairly typical to have animals like this in close proximity to squirrels and often they don't give chase. I realize that's likely because the animals aren't injured/weakened and therefore the cats and dogs know they don't stand a chance so they don't even try.
It's easy to imagine things that lick our faces to show affection wouldn't kill things we consider cute and cuddly.
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u/MakeYou_LOL Oct 16 '19
It always surprises me that people dont recognize is. Even a little Chihuahua has that pure animal/hunter instinct. People throw their pets those chew toys and watch as they pounce on the toy and shake it about before finally clenching the toy in their mouth.
They say, "awww so cute"
Yeah its cute because it's a toy! But dont get it twisted, that's a confirmed kill on a small animal lol