Hey fellow catties!
I have two cats, brothers, Burmese (and, need I say, the light of my life).
They have a strange habit which I'm intrigued by, and wondered if anyone
else's cats do the same, and if you know why. They bite each other on the
throat, as much as they can get into their mouth, then stay like that for
about 30 seconds (occasionally they will fall asleep with their mouth full
of throat!).Sometimes this leads to a play fight, other times its just part
of mutual grooming. Its not an aggressive thing, nor part of grooming, and
they do it equally, neither one is dominant. Its weird, I'd have thought if
it was either mating or mother/kitten related behaviour it would be the back
of the neck, not the throat. Any thoughts on it?
--
Troodle
Michelle Fulton - 01 Aug 2003 15:01 GMT
> They bite each other on the
> throat, as much as they can get into their mouth, then stay like that for
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> it was either mating or mother/kitten related behaviour it would be the back
> of the neck, not the throat. Any thoughts on it?
I would think that instinct is driving them to practice the killing of prey,
you know, the way you've seen lion siblings playing on National Geographic
or something like that. I've never had more than one cat, so haven't seen
this behavior, but I have a dog and a kitten now and the kitten loves to
play at killing the dog and I've seen the dog with almost the whole kitten
in her mouth. They both seem to know it's play and don't apply any pressure
with teeth or claws. It's so much fun to watch.
M