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Whether it’s an outdoor cat who brings the real thing, or an indoor cat who lovingly disembowels a toy mouse and leaves it on the bed, our cats are actually paying us a great compliment.
They are showing they want to feed us.
They are showing off their hunting skills.
They expect a fuss.
The fuss they get, especially with the recently or not quite dead gifts, are often not the ones they expect. When I had my cat rescue, I had a chain link room on the side of the house where the cats could go out, safely. One day Bubby, my Maine Coon mix, had left something for me in the middle of the living room. A very large, very dead, crow.
I came upon it suddenly, and Bubby, standing by for my reaction, got his feelings hurt by my screaming and fleeing. It was the surprise as much as anything else.
Later, when the dead crow was fussed over and discreetly disposed of, I kept telling him how amazing he was, as a way of making up for my first reaction. It was an extraordinary act of hunting skill for him to catch a crow, kill it, pull it through the chain link and the pet door, and then arrange it on the living room floor.
It was not his fault this loving impulse was met with such a poor reception.
So we should always make a fuss of some kind, because it is difficult to discourage cats from doing what they were born to do. Shrieking when it’s on our pillow and being happy when it’s on our doorstep or the kitchen floor will encourage a cat to show off their gifts in a way that will suit us better.
Mother cats bring prey to their kittens. Cats in colonies have been observed sharing prey with their kin, or even their friends. Lions in prides share their kills. So it’s a recognition of how much the cat values us, and how good our cat is at taking care of their friends.
We shouldn’t punish the cat, ignore their gift, or try in other ways to get the cat to stop doing that. They can’t stop doing that. It’s what they do.
What we can do is try to let the cat know we’d prefer their gifts certain places, and we’d appreciate being tipped off, first. Praising the cat’s hunting skills will often result in the cat “standing by” to view our reaction, which can let us know a gift is in the area.
We should follow similar procedures when we get a toy mouse left for us, and we can usually dispense with the startle reaction. Still, they are doing the best they can, and we should also make a fuss. Talk about what a fight it must have put up, and thank the cat for caring.
One time Mr WereBear pretended to eat the toy mouse Mr. Bond had left on the bed. Mr. Bond made his whole face into circles of astonishment, and kept giving me sidelong looks. Doesn’t he know it’s not real? Mr. Bond had meant it as a symbolic gesture.
Whether it’s real or not, cats appreciate our appreciation of their efforts, especially when they have gone to the trouble of setting aside a delectable part just for us. While bits of prey are even less appealing than whole prey, it’s that little extra that says they love us.
So we don’t need to pretend to eat it; this would be difficult to pull off in any case, and would only encourage the cat to take better care of us. Thank the cat, praise what fine hunters they are, and let the item be disposed of while the cat is not looking. They can assume we ate it, or they can assume, as Mr. Bond did, that we will know what they were saying.
It can mean the cat sees us as their kittens. It can mean the cat wants to return the feeding favors. It can mean the cat wants to show off in their area of expertise. It can mean all these things; we are many things to our cats.
But it is always a loving gesture, and we should treat it as such.
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Hee. This reminds me of the time my boy cat, dragged in a dead bird, left it on our living room floor and apparently proceeded to rip out its feathers and deposit them on my bed… while I was sleeping in it. Very sweet of him
He also brought me a live bird and a live snake… thankfully not in my bed. My girl cat also liked to bring things in.
These all happened during a period of two years in which I was away most of the time and couldn’t bring them, so my cats were under my father’s care (they are kept indoors under my care; he allowed them indoor-outdoor), and only did this when I came home for brief visits.
I guess they missed me?
Yes, they missed you. They were hoping hot lunches would lure you back.
I love it when they do this. It’s the one thing I really, really miss about outdoor cats. My best outdoor cat, Twindle, was a shockingly good huntress who brought home prey routinely enough that she seldom wanted the food we gave her. She often left me food on the front porch, mostly mice and other small rodents. One year on my birthday she brought me a whole intact mole with not a mark on it, and another time she brought me a very large and still-twitching rabbit. That rabbit she didn’t want me to take, she just wanted me to see that she had killed it. She ate half of it and left the other half. Perhaps I was meant to eat everything below the kidneys, I don’t know. I was very proud of her, though, and told her so every day for a week.
A childhood cat of mine had the rather unnerving habit of breaking into my sister’s small animal cages, killing the residents, and giving them (or select portions of them, like a hamster’s FEET) to my mother as tokens of affection. I thought it was tragic but hilarious, but my mother and sister were not nearly as amused.
It’s what they do. Hunting. I could never be upset with them for showing they love me, or for being what they are.
I recently had to switch our youngest cat’s diet to a prescription food for her UTIs. I thought I had made the change gradually by mixing the foods, but when I got to all new food, she started leaving dissected toy mice by her food bowl. She’s offering to help me catch something tastier!
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My cat brought me a dead mouse in the middle of the night he is an indoor only cat. I saw him him jump off the bed and chasing it then the trotted back to bed jumped up and deposited it on the blanket
Two things I was very glad of.
1. it was dead
2. I was awake
I praised him on how good he was.
I’m glad of those two things, too!
I work at a zoo. The female lioness takes a liking to hunting birds, doves and malards that unwhittingly fly into the exhibit. On one particular occasion, she dropped four dove kills right in front of the viewing glass where visitors and zoo staff come to see her and the male lion. I’m wondering if she likes the attention from all of the visitors, or perhaps, maybe the “presents” were intended for certain individual(s) that work at the zoo. I fully believe that these creatures are multi-faceted, in that, they have the capacity to form social bonds, experience emotions, and display afffection. Most certainly these are unpredictable and dangerous predators, but to only see them in that light is a single-dimensional view point.
That’s amazing… but I am also not surprised. Our cats all have a lot in common.
We have… or had 7 outdoor cats (1 recently passed away) so now we have 6. Years ago, our head tomcat would leave me mouse stomachs – or at least it looked like a stomach, on the front doorstep from time to time and he would generally be in the vicinity when I came out – and I would praise him for the “wonderful” gift. I used to leave it to see if they wanted to eat it but they never do – once it’s been “gifted”, apparently it does not cross back over into the “food” category, with the exception of the rabbit. I noticed it one night – told them what good kitties they were, then left hoping it would be gone when I got back. Well, I checked around midnight and I was half-right, it was half-gone. Nice. I went to bed, hoping in the morning there would be less carnage on the front matt (aka the killing field) and all that was left was two hind legs and a tail. Not bad I thought… until one of our two cocker spaniels (both huge carnivores themselves) walked out the door and ate the legs and the tail immediately. Ha. I never thought anyone would eat the tail, you’d think it would be like eating cottonballs. Since then we’ve gotten complete mice, not just stomachs and a few whole birds (not as much praise is given for birds) I know.. harder to catch, but we’ve gone from having no birds and no trees to 15 trees and some birds so it’s hard to see them die.
I got to experience a full-on mouse killing spree one summer day a few years ago. We moved some wood planks that had been left out in the yard and there was a mouse colony under it. Carnivore cocker spaniel #2 is a better mouser than most cats – she ate at least 5 or 6 that day and two of our female cats ate about 10 more… it was crazy. The funny part was our head tomcat sat on the hill just above the mouse-mayhem watching… he never got in on the action. It was as if this kind of hunting was not sporting enough for him – if he could talk, I’m sure he was saying “amateurs” under his breathe. He never did get a mouse that day – ha, and neither did I, but that was okay with me.
People’s stories about their cats always make me laugh.
My old outdoor cat, sadly passed away now, bought me a whole array of ‘gifts’. She specialised in nighttime treats!
I had a live mouse dropped on my chest whilst I was sleeping, awoke to her dangling a dead rat over my face one time and to a fish flapping next to my ear another. That cat had skills!!!
a different, but reliable solution faces http://www.mouse-lock.de to leave the mice outside with help of facial recognition cat flap
It’s a great post and I came across it whilst researching for my post on ‘Presents of Love or Annoyance’. I’ve referenced you in it as I found this really interesting and relevant. I’ve added you to my blog list too as a cat owner and lover you’ve taught me a few things I didn’t know. Thank you
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My 4 cats are always leaving me gifts on my doorstep,and I think it very sweet.I feed and pamper them and in return,they are returning the favor,letting me know they care as much about me as I care about them.
When I had outdoor cats, I’d usually get birds or mice bits on my doorstep. Now that I have indoor cats, they always leave me their favorite toys on my bed. I love it! I think it’s so adorable how they show their love. I, of course, return the favor with treats and lots and lots of attention!
I have to say, just about half an hour ago my cat (female) brought home a dead mouse, she does this about every day or so in the summertime and sometimes in the late winter period. Mostly at night.
Problem is, I throw it out without a thought, cause she jumps into my room from the window (second floor) with a dead mouse – onto my precious items like PC, Collectible books etc.
I want to praise her, but I end up hurting her I believe. I sounded angry (I think) when I opened the window and let her in, saying “no” several times while she tried to take the dead mouse in… she managed anyways due to me give her a small compliment on how good she was, the first thing she did was run under my bed and “meow” a bit.
Now the thing is, she use to come into my bed and sleep next to me (on my arm, under the blanket) whenever I sleep (or she thinks I do).
Any suggestion about what to do with the repeating “Bring-home-dead-mice”?
~ Stelgim
my cat has just recently been bring home gifts…i have found a dead bird in my yard which i didnt mind but now two bunnie and last night the one was squealing and i actually saved the bunny…i feel bad because i read where i needed to praise my cat but i am a girl and well i was actually freaked out…even a mouse would be better but baby bunnys and the one was kind of big..i dont know why he is just starting to do this but i guess i need to sleep with the window closed!
My grandma’s cat has a habit of decapitating prey and leaves them right outside the toilet door, where people who have just woken up are usually too sleepy to pay attention to where they’re stepping, haha. One morning he left a mice’s head on the aforementioned area, complete with innards, which I promptly stepped on right after I woke up.
these stories make me laugh! Although my cat isn’t as good of a hunter compared to other cats, he only manages to kill a few cockroaches and considering that he’s a semi outdoors cat I’d say that pretty sad. It does make his gifts to me even more valuable and touching, its nice to know that even though he catches so few and so tiny prey he’s still willing to share some with me
One of my grandchildren has a cat that was hit by a car and was badly hurt. He got the cat on to a piece of cardboard and got him home, then Mum & Dad arranged veterinary care. Castor recovered nicely and we could tell how much he appreciated my grandson’s rescue because, after the cast on his leg was off and he could walk properly again, he started bringing in fat robins and arranging their bodies beautifully on my grandson’s bed. We all thought it was a lovely tribute.
All of you people must be crazy cat people! I would be freaked out if I owned a cat and it started bringing in dead rodents and birds. Just think of all the germs and dieseases some of these dead creatures might be harbouring. Luckily, I don’t own a cat and will never consider one after reading your stories!
Lucky both for you and for the cat, who then won’t be misunderstood. Remember, if you get a dog, they like dead things too; only, they roll in it!
I took in a very old female cat about a year ago that our neighbor’s basically discarded once she was peeing all over their house.. she was emaciated and basically left to die. We moved into our house and within days she was on my back porch all skinny and sad-looking… Of course I took her in, took her to the vet, put her on meds, fed her and she is a great, healthy old girl…. This girl, who is about 16 years old leaves me birds, mice and the occasional baby rabbit or squirrel…. although it horrifies me to see the poor creature’s tortured and mangled body at my front doorstep or on my porch, I started realizing she was doing this to ‘thank’ me for saving her life….. animals are so much smarter than people ever realize…
And though I always considered myself a ‘dog’ person, this old girl came into my life for a reason, and I have vowed to never let her be sick or starving again…..
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My husband and I moved to our current home in May of this year. Two days after moving in we saw a beautiful stray (male) and started leaving food and water out for him. About 2 weeks ago, I put the food down and he came about 18″ from me. I put my hand out and he headbutted it and then trotted off. Every day he got a little closer until late last night when he rubbed against me as I was putting his bowl down. As he ate, he let me pet him from head to tail and purred the entire time. We had a similar experience this afternoon and it warmed my heart. About 20 minutes ago I went to take the garbage out and stepped on a ‘present’ he left (his first one) right outside the back door: a dead sparrow. There was a lot of blood on it so I am confident it was a kill from him and not a natural death. He was no where to be seen, but I spoke aloud and told him how proud I was (even though I really wanted to die!!) and then discreetly disposed of it. I’m honored that he feels so strongly about me that he is now leaving me gifts. He truly is a wonderful little boy!
I have two cats: a boy and a girl. We occasionally gets birds, voles, mice, and even baby squirrels on our back porch. They don’t stick around for our reaction, but I know it’s the female who’s doing the hunting. She always leaves it on the same spot for us to partake of and it does make me smile that she wants to contribute and give us her kill but I don’t think the poor animal feels the same.
Can cats bring up (kill) a fox? In the past 6 months we’ve had a opossum, squirrel and now a fox brought to our front door. We have two adult cats male and female and also a female that’s 8 months.
A neighbours cat started coming to visit us about a year ago even though we have a dog who chases other cats away (our dog didn’t chase this cat away though). We started feeding her and now she basically lives here. Somehow the dog, who never goes outside our garden has started coming into the house with disbarred food, chicken bones and the other day he got hold of 2 burgers!! The cat must be bringing these into the garden, but is she bringing them for me or the dog? She doesn’t bring them into the house and the cat and dog do get on well.
I think they are for the dog. However, she doesn’t know chicken bones are bad for him! Since she is now “your” cat it seems she is taking care of the dog for you.
I once had an outside stray who I took care of and was absolutely mad for him. one time he got into a fight, had a bite on his shoulder that became infected. It seemed like it hurt a lot. I called the vet, was told what to do. I expressed the pus, cleaned it and put Neosporin on it. The next day his shoulder was feeling better (I could tell). I walked out the door and he had left a dead mouse in gratitude. This rodent had to be killed and carried up 2 flights of outside steps…this was no accident. I can’t even begin to express what his gesture of love and gratitude means to me.
I looked up this thread b/c as fairly NEW to cat behavior, I was curious. We’ve had this cat for nearly 5 years now and she’s never done this. Now, every day…a line up of dead mice on the doormat. What cracks me up is how she takes great pains to “display” them, in a nice line up…all in a row with heads facing the same way, etc. What is that about?
I love cats, but also other animals. I have never praised or scolded a cat for bringing prey. I have acknowledged it and then disposed of it (or, if it is still alive set it free somewhere safe). I do feel bad about disappointing the cat, but I also feel bad about the animals it has killed. Generally, with the cat, I have remained neutral for a little while after the incident and then later made a fuss over the cat about something else – from playing to just looking beautiful. That way I figure the cat knows s/he will be loved no matter what. My current little friend got into the habit of bringing me skinks and sparrows – he has now not done so for a while, so hopefully he knows that he will get attention from me no matter what, and that there are other ways of pleasing me if he wants to (like nuzzling and head-butting me, both of which I adore and for which he gets naturally showered with affection and praise).