Fun Or Taunting

[Ghoulofnagoya]

I am considering buying one of those acrylic bird feeders that suction cups to window so my cat can watch birds while I am at work. But since he is an indoor cat is that taunting? He can see them but never hunt them. Is this fun for an indoor cat or frustrating?

Any opinions would be helpful

 

[Jem]

I honestly don't have a definitive answer, other than to say that my cats loved to watch the birds and chipmunks/squirrels in our yard. We even trained one of our chipmunks to hand feed so he would always come right up to the patio doors and look in to see if we were around, then move on if we didn't go out and give him a peanut. Our one cat would literally vibrate in anticipation when that would happen as he would be sometimes be only inches away from the chippie, but behind glass, so, no go on getting him.
So I imagine it may have been frustrating at times, but they never showed any adverse effects or behavioral issues from it. I honestly think it was way more fun and exciting for them then it was frustrating. But we also played with our cats. We made sure they got their hunting and catching experiences from toys in the house. And we also made sure that WE played WITH them, using interactive toys, not just little balls and mice that they had to bat around to make move.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi! I don't think it is taunting. My Feeby is on our screened patio a lot. She loves watching the birds and squirrels (I have bird feeders and squirrel feeders). She always goes either into stealth mode or whackadoodle when they come up close (they know she can't get them), but she loves just watching and she knows she can't get them either!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

... so my cat can watch birds while I am at work. ... Is this fun for an indoor cat or frustrating?
...

F U N!

 

[Kflowers]

All our cats have enjoyed watching the birds, chipmunks, and squirrels. We had a feeder in a second story window. The squirrels would climb up to it, which was fine. Squirrels are as interesting as birds. One squirrel was a frequent visitor. One cat would sneak up on the window and pop her head up. Frequent visitor would clutch his heart with both hands, flip over backwards out of the feeder. What we didn't see at first was that with the flip he landed on the brick wall and climbed back up. The cat loved it. It took mom awhile to recover.

Now we tend to throw bird seed on the deck and step back.

One boy cat would get so excited he would lunge at the window and smack it head first. (He was never outside) This didn't hurt him. Sweet Gum bats the window with her paw, she's not into head slamming.

So I guess the answer is, it only taunted my mom.

 

[DreamerRose]

My cats love it and spend hours watching the birds and squirrels. They don't lunge at the slider anymore unless it's a visiting cat or raccoons.

Our feeder is a hanging one that I hung on the chain for a pot of flowers. It seems to me that those suction cup feeders don't stay stuck for very long.

 

[Ghoulofnagoya]

ok so the consenus seems to be fun. Okay I’m excited then! He will have alot of fun.