Probably the most important thing you'll ever read.

In playing with our cats I've noticed clear differences in their abilities. Let's use the string example. You know, when you're shooting the string over their heads or along the ground. Yeah. cats love this.

Kraepelin is the worst at it. Him lunging at the string looks like he's having a seizure. Limbs all akimbo, often jumping with both forepaws extended, which makes him land in a poor position for another takeoff. He's impatient and his eye-paw coordination doesn't seem to be very good whcih is weird, considering how much damage he normally does around the house. What's that you say? Maybe he does so much damage because he's such a clutz? Well played stranger. I'll definitely take that into consideration. Although it does remove from teh equation much of the malice towards objects he clearly possesses.

Slightly better than Kraepelin is Purkinje. She has a similar spastic lunge at the string that Kraepelin has. Also a huge proponent of the double-paw reach even when the string's position does not warrant that. Both of these seem unable to wait and judge when the most opportune time for string assault is and often overextend themselves when the string is located in a bad position (such as moving away from them on the backswing), making future attempts less than textbook. All-in-all, these two are our most excitable cats and I think they just get too worked up to strategize and enact a plan to actually capture the hated string.

Surprisingly, Nala is pretty proficient at the string game. Unlike the other two, she's patient and will, like the praying mantis, wait for a good spot to attack. She's is also able to accurately gauge when two paws are needed or only one. Proper use of the one-paw grab is essential to become an expert in string-catching.

The absolute best at string is Penelope, and it's not close. Seriously, she's a fucking ninja. She's rip that fucking string right out of your hand. She hardly ever does the two-paw lunge. She's incredibly patient and will just sit there, seemily uninterested in the string, but tracking it nontheless. Then, all of a sudden - WHAM! - one paw shoots out with lightning speed and grasps that fucker. One other aspect to string is actually catching the string in the paw. See, contacting it is not enough, you must extend the claws at the right time and angle based on the strings location, direction, and speed in order to catch it. This is another facet where P-Lo dominates the other cat. Very little wasted movements. One swipe - one kill. Where Nala can hit the string fairly often, she often has some trouble locking it in the claw.
Interestingly, P-Lo is our only nonpurebred cat. We rescued her from a shelter in Chicago so maybe her life on the streets is what honed her skills at killin'. The ohter ones are clearly fancypants, blue-blooded pussies. Represent!