I've had two cats over the years that suddenly started fetching as kittens. The behavior in one lasted about a year. In another (current cat) it continues, though less often (he's 3.5yrs old now). In both cases the behavior seemed to emerge spontaneously - we never taught them to do it and never offered any treats for doing it. They'll bring a favorite cat toy and lay it down near me and then I throw it and the process repeats sometimes for quite a while. The current cat will sometimes get quite insistent for the toy to be thrown. He seems to get a kick out of the chase.
Same behavior in my cat as in the first one you describe. Did it for a year or two, not my idea, the cat is the one that thought it up. No treats or training involved, the cat would bring me the ball to throw and then go get it.
Doesn't do anything like that now, sleeps most of the day, 17 years old now. Still gets the zoomies once in a while but not like back then, same as me.
What’s the difference between “playing fetch” and ‘using humans as clay pigeon throwers’? Presumably your mom’s cat wasn’t shooting things out of the air with a shotgun.
This is true. You can tease dogs with it before throwing, and they'll be all over you. A cat will watch you acting silly, waiting for you to finally throw it (unless they get bored of you first).
At least that's my experience.
Incidentally, the laser pointer is the only thing that almost all of my pets have universally chased. Cats. Dogs. Even fish chase it at the bottom of the tank! Just be careful to not get it in their eyes.
Interestingly our various birds have never seemed to care much about it at all.
Breed has a part to play. My sister in law has a maine coon, which is a famously dog-like breed. I visited once when it was a kitten and it spontaneously fetched a toy several times on a row.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38404397