The influence of hunger on object play by adult domestic cats

Abstract We have tested the hypothesis that object play by adult domestic cats Felis silvestris catus may be indistinguishable from predatory behaviour at the motivational level, by examining the influence of hunger on play. Cats were presented with either a large toy or a small toy, either 0 h and 16 h after their last meal. The small toy elicited more play overall. After the longer interval, play increased in intensity and avoidance of both toy sizes declined. The character of the play also changed as a function of the interaction between toy size and increased hunger. Cats performed more close contact play with the small toy after the 16 h interval than when they had just eaten. However, with the large toy they showed an increase in limited contact, exploratory behaviour patterns after the 16 h interval, compared with largely avoiding it immediately after a meal. These results are similar to those from a published study on the influence of hunger on the actual predatory behaviour of cats with hunting experience, in which the probability of a kill (possibly equivalent to contact play in our study) could be predicted according to the prey size and the hunger level of the cat. This suggests that object play and predation are similarly affected by hunger and the size of the toy/prey, and may therefore share a common motivational basis.

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