Do your cats do this?

[Tonya]

It's hard to explain, I hope I can...When my cats (Raven especially) are looking out the window, and they see a bird, there is this thing they do. They make this wierd sound, and their lower jaw opens wierd and it quivers. It like shakes. It's like they want the bird so bad. Do you know what I'm talking about? Do your cats do that?

[slick]

That's purrrfectly normal Tonya. Speckles does it all the time when a bird lands on the balcony railing.

[NKBurlington]

Oh yes. Perfectly normal and very funny!

[catnapper]

Yessiree! I do believe they refer to it as "acking" in the furminology dictionary. Ack ack. LOL. Silly kitties!

[Tonya]

Haha! I'm glad you don't think I'm crazy! What do you call it? Do you have a name for it?

I just call it Magoti. (I don't know the spelling.) My step-mom is Chamorro and that is a word that means when you want something or love something (or someone) so bad that you just want to squeeze it... There isn't really an English word for that.

[Tonya]

I just remembered a good example of magoti. When Jaden was a baby, he'd get so excited to see me when I got home from work that he'd bite me on the shoulder and not let go. Owwwww!

[krazyaboutkatz]

Yes, mine do it every time they see a birdie outside. I call it chattering.

In one of my cat books it calls it teeth chattering and it says that it's not really a communication noise but it's often produced when a cat sees something it wants but can't get to, such as a fly high on the wall or a bird on the other side of the window. The cat may be voicing it's frustration. The cat may also emit small bleating/nickering type noises as its teeth chatter.

[trayi52]

Yeap, Grover does it too! She looks so funny! Now when Stubby does, he somehow manages to get out there and try to grab a few birds. LOL, I put a bell on him and now the birds hear him coming!

Ouch, Jaden must have had a good bite on him!! Poor you, and the expression of love!!

Willie

[Tonya]

Chattering! That's a good way to describe it.

[jazzcat]

Ripley is my big chatter and "acking" boy around here. The first time he did it years ago it freaked me out and my husband had to explain what he was doing since I'd never been around cats before.

[nibblets]

Yep....everyday!

[Craftlady]

Skinny and Thumper do it. Eleanor just looks at the birds.
I always say, "you talking to the birdies" and they chirp louder and faster.

[Kirsten]

Ahhh yes!! The ack ack ack-sound!!! Mine do that also, especially Luna! It's so cute!

I think it's a result of over stimulation because they want to hunt so bad but cannot do it.

Kirsten

[smokey the elder]

I just call it talking to birdies. Just curious, Tonya, what language is "magoti" from? It sounds Japanese.

[rosethecopycat]

I'm familiar with the sound, but none of mine do it.

We don't have many birds outside, we live by a 'conservation area' (swamp)

The birds we do see are birds of prey, like hawks.
No outside kitties here.

And no 'acking'.