Curious about toy aggression?

[Mochiandme]

Coby my 1.5yo neutered male is crazy about this toy that came with the cat wheel from One Fast Cat. My mom spent $20 just on the toy and laser pointer and I would have stopped her but I'm kind of glad she did. The toy is a fuzzy mouse thing with leather strings on the end (photo). Coby recently caught and killed a mouse outside (he's indoor but escapes sometimes and doesn't go anywhere). He grabs on like a dog would and pulls while growling; I have to pry his mouth open to get him to let go and as soon as he does he goes for it again. He's so aggressive with it and won't let anyone/cat near it and I have to hide it when he's not looking, but he still looks for it when I hide it. So I'm curious if he thinks it's his food or maybe a real mouse. Any thoughts? When he was little, we fed him mush at 5-6 weeks old and he was aggressive with his brother when syringe feeding.

 

[verna davies]

Maybe there is catnip inside the mouse, that drives some cats crazy.

 

[Hellenww]

It sounds more like intense play than aggression. If it was aggression he'd attack you when you try and pry it out of his mouth. Growling and hissing isn't real common when playing with toys but some cats do it and it's very cute. When Yoshi was about 6mt he'd carry a toy and if he passed another toy in his journey he'd hiss at the second toy. Let him drag it away a few times in a play session so he gets the satisfaction of getting his prey.