Burmese cat

　　We all know catching mice is a cat’s instinct. Although many purebred cats bred nowadays mainly serve as companions, so owners do not deliberately require them to have the ability to catch mice, wild cats need to learn basic skills like seeking food and hunting to survive. So, how long does it take for a cat to learn to catch mice?

　　1. A cat’s skill in catching mice comes from the mother’s teaching

　　Cats catching mice and eating them as food is usually taught by the mother. When a kitten is one month old, the mother cat will eat the mice she catches in front of the kittens to let them understand that mice are a tasty food. When the kittens grow to two months old, the mother cat will bring the mice she caught for the kittens to eat. After tasting the delicacy, to train the kittens’ ability to catch mice, the mother cat will catch live mice for the kittens to play with. Gradually, the mother cat will stop catching mice for the kittens, and when the kittens are hungry, they will naturally catch mice by themselves.

　　However, nowadays cats leave their mothers very early and cannot learn the skill of catching mice from them. Moreover, since there are very few mice in cities, cats that do not know mice are a delicacy naturally will not catch mice. Even if they encounter mice in daily life, they may treat them as friends 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 well-developed, it can start chasing moving objects. This also exercises stamina and practices the timing of leaps and jumps. When a bit older, the “play” difficulty upgrades, and they can skillfully perform a series of actions such as ambushing, sneaking up, and finally leaping to capture prey. If it is a wild cat, at this stage it can start real hunting, and after multiple failures, it will acquire perfect hunting skills. Generally, this stage can be reached around 4 to 5 months after birth.