Why do cats play with mice?

Cats often play with prey such as: pounce, fiddle, scratch, bite and chase before making a fatal bite to reduce the risk of being attacked while killing it.

Domestic or domestic cats are often provided with daily food by their owners, but their natural hunting instincts are still very strong. Most adult cats will display hunting behavior if they see small animals such as mice, lizards or cockroaches. Wild instincts also explain why cats tend to play with prey, even when their victims are dead.

Cat and mouse.

According to Martina Cecchetti, conservation scientist who studies cat behavior at the UK's University of Exeter, cats often play with prey to tire it out before taking the final fatal bite. This will reduce the chance of getting hurt while killing it.

In addition, feral cats are known to be active predators. They hunt all day long and do it "even when they're not hungry". This natural instinct is not completely lost when cats are domesticated.

According to a study published in 2013 in the journal Nature Communications, feral and domestic cats slaughter as many as 1.3 billion birds and 6.3 billion small mammals each year in the US alone. In many cases, they just hunt and play with their prey to "satisfy their passion".

Hunting is also a way to practice hunting skills, and cats will take advantage of any opportunity they can to do so. This is especially true of domesticated cats that don't have many hunting opportunities. Sometimes, they play with dead animals or food that is already on the plate.