Domestic house cats are highly skilled predators and outdoor cats living near or adjacent to natural areas are likely to prey on many of our nature neighbors. A domestic cat's motivation to hunt is strong and even your well-fed cat will prey on local birds, small mammals, and reptiles if given the opportunity.

Understanding your cat’s prey preference has several advantages. Firstly, knowing your cat’s prey preference allows you to provide them with toys that mimic their favorite prey, which can result in more engaged and satisfying play sessions.

Of those, 62 cats (34 female, age range from one to 12 years old) brought home prey items (between one and 58 prey items per cat) during the year or so of the study, for a whopping total of 667 dead animals!

Identifying your cat's "prey preference" allows you to buy or make toys that your cat will be more likely to play with rather than ignore. You can identify your cat's prey preference by paying close attention to the way he/she reacts to toys with specific qualities:

Taken overall, the results show that house cats sometimes exhibit marked individual preferences for particular types of prey, and will hunt these prey selectively and efficiently even when these prey types occur at very low density.