Wow, look at that. I’ve just expressed a complete thought simply by listing three different animals. Is there no limit to what I can accomplish as a writer?
Cats usually behave like this because they want something. It this case, we don’t know what the cat wants. I suspect the dog does, but has no intention of granting the cat’s wishes.
The secret lives of our pets: we’ll never know what’s going on in there.
I can think of two things the cat wanted: (1) attention, and (2) to see what this large toy would do when poked in different places (sort of like a human tinkering with gadgets). Note that when the toy started playing with its own toy, the cat walked away. Mission accomplished. Whatever the mission was.
Cats don’t like it when the tables are turned on them–by guinea pigs, for instance.