There's a theory that when cats do this they're bringing you food - either to say thank you for feeding them, or because they think you're a big dumb hairless cat who hasn't worked out how to hunt.
It's impossible to know for sure without asking the cat, and the cat isn't telling.
Cats do enjoy chasing and pawing at things - or at least, they're hardwired to chase and paw at things, which is not quite the same. At the very least it seems to scratch an emotional itch for a while.
It's understood in Africa that if you're stalked by a lion, you should either face it and run towards it, or make loud noises to try to scare it away, or maybe both - because if you try to run away, its stalking instinct is triggered and you'll be on the menu.
Cats are complicated, and learning how to communicate with a cat is like learning a non-verbal language. It took us a long time to stop misinterpreting our cat, and it took our cat a while to work out how to communicate more clearly. It's still a work in progress, and surprises continue to happen.
It's impossible to know for sure without asking the cat, and the cat isn't telling.
Cats do enjoy chasing and pawing at things - or at least, they're hardwired to chase and paw at things, which is not quite the same. At the very least it seems to scratch an emotional itch for a while.
It's understood in Africa that if you're stalked by a lion, you should either face it and run towards it, or make loud noises to try to scare it away, or maybe both - because if you try to run away, its stalking instinct is triggered and you'll be on the menu.
Cats are complicated, and learning how to communicate with a cat is like learning a non-verbal language. It took us a long time to stop misinterpreting our cat, and it took our cat a while to work out how to communicate more clearly. It's still a work in progress, and surprises continue to happen.