it's learning

I recently bought a toy for my cat. In the past I've given her toys stuffed with either synthetic fluff or more entertainingly, catnip. This time I decided to pick up a toy that would require more active movement, as she's quite a plump kitty, so I bought a wand to which a small mouse is attached by wire.

It's the type of toy that requires the cat to use hunting skills, so I knew it wasn't something that should only make special appearances every once in a while. It lives in a closet and has only been played with twice, before last night. The first time, Willow was fascinated at the prospect of having something to hunt. The second play session I realized that she'd decided a certain patch of carpet was a staging area for investigating her prey, no matter where it'd been caught. But last night's session taught me that the feline brain is more perceptive and calculating than I already knew.

The second time we played with the mouse, I noticed that Willow was equally aware of the toy at the end of the wire as she was with the wire itself. She didn't quite know what to make of the wire, but she knew that it was "connected" to the mouse in a manner which probably gave the mouse it's life. Last night, after the second pounce, she proceeded to position her body between the mouse and myself (a first!) which allowed her to roll her body onto the wire, trapping it on the ground and immobilizing her prey.

I'm going to start locking my bedroom door at night.