The reason so many people say to me, “Jackson, my cat doesn’t play,” is because they expect playtime to look like your cat is just running laps around the house for an hour. But remember, play (i.e., “the hunt”) is not all about action; the preparation, or the “stalking,” is just as big a part (if not a bigger one) of the process as the “pounce and kill” action part. The exhaustion that comes from hunting happens even when the cat isn’t continually moving; watching the moth on the ceiling exhausts, the stalk exhausts, those short bursts of energy exhaust. It’s the mind-body focus that exhausts
...more
