Why do cats give "gifts" to their human owners?

[nano]

We were talking in a separate thread and the question came up:

What makes a cat present their owner with a gift?

Last time she escaped for a brief jaunt outside, Nano brought me back a mouse carcass and presented me with this "gift". Beckiboo said that Spot gave her husband a mouse nearly every day.

But it is not just mice -- Nano plays with Q-tips and several times I have gotten into bed and found a Q-tip right on top of my pillow. One time I was gone for a while and came back to find a dozen Q-tips waiting for me. Assuming she isn't commenting on my grooming

why would Nano leave these gifts for me?

I guess the quick explanation is "a sign of affection" but what ideas do you have to explain these gifts? And what are some gifts that your cat(s) have given you?

 

[leesali]

LOL. I also fiind Q-tips in my bed. I found this on a search engine:

You'll realize that you have won the love of your cat when he or she starts bringing you gifts. Domestic cats are natural hunters, and like the "big cats" they bring their prey to their "den". Unlike the big cats, however, a well-fed family cat will seldom eat his kill. Another reason for gifting you with "kill" is that cats consider you "family" and want to share with you.

 

[slitty_kittay]

Originally Posted by Nano

And what are some gifts that your cat(s) have given you?

My parents cat Mikkey often came back from hunting dragging huge hares, snakes and rats... He would wail at the door until he was acknowledged and someone told him he was a good boy!! - then he would eat it.

It was pretty funny because if no-one was home he would stash his kill in a bush and then drag it out as soon as the car pulled in the driveway!!

I think I already wrote in another thread about a headless rabbit he *gave* us one day. I was not happy to discover it under the desk next to my feet where I had been writing for hours...

It's as though they feel the need to do their part for the family - It's kind of sweet how he wont eat his kill until he has brought it to us, as gross as it is!!

 

[simmyandnunny]

I would say the same reason we give gifts because we love someone.

How incredibly adorable that you get Q-tips! Simmy plays with Q-tips, but I've never gotten one as a gift! LOL! How adorable. I wake up to earplugs all around me, but that's just an invitation to play while I'm sleeping, lol. Simmy LOVES and ADORES those little foam earplugs, lol. Q-tips all over your pillow, that kills me!

Originally Posted by Nano

We were talking in a separate thread and the question came up:

What makes a cat present their owner with a gift?

Last time she escaped for a brief jaunt outside, Nano brought me back a mouse carcass and presented me with this "gift". Beckiboo said that Spot gave her husband a mouse nearly every day.

But it is not just mice -- Nano plays with Q-tips and several times I have gotten into bed and found a Q-tip right on top of my pillow. One time I was gone for a while and came back to find a dozen Q-tips waiting for me. Assuming she isn't commenting on my grooming

why would Nano leave these gifts for me?

I guess the quick explanation is "a sign of affection" but what ideas do you have to explain these gifts? And what are some gifts that your cat(s) have given you?

 

[simmyandnunny]

Originally Posted by leesali

LOL. I also fiind Q-tips in my bed. I found this on a search engine:

You'll realize that you have won the love of your cat when he or she starts bringing you gifts. Domestic cats are natural hunters, and like the "big cats" they bring their prey to their "den". Unlike the big cats, however, a well-fed family cat will seldom eat his kill. Another reason for gifting you with "kill" is that cats consider you "family" and want to share with you.

That is so incredibly sweet!

 

[beckiboo]

My parents cat Jem would bring live mice in the house, and let them go. Does that count? Pretty funny, especially since my Dad is definitely NOT a cat person, and it just made him crazy!

He used to say she was stocking the house for winter, so she could play with them without going outside! LOL!

 

[aussie_dog]

the only thing my cats give me is vomit on the floor, lol

 

[bigorangemenace]

At our old house there used to be moles, and Elliot would catch the babies. He always brought them up to me, layed down by my feet, and started playign with them

the little dork. When my mom was pregnant with me, her cat rosco would always bring her mice and big bugs to give to her. She often woke up with dead rodents by her face

how nice!!! Elliot didnt bring me the babies anymore after he brought one to me alive and I put it outside He also got sick of me taking them, and maybe he couldnt bring the parents upstairs, because the babies only weighed a few ounces, and the momma had to weigh at least three lbs O_O he just ate her head and freaked my mom's friend out

 

[nano]

Okay, so besides "sign of affection", it is a signal the cat considers you family? And perhaps that the cat is trying to get your approval or respect by showing you a "kill"?

Sure, sounds fairly plausible.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[maverick_kitten]

they probably feel a bit guilty being given toys aka 'prey' by you all the time. they want to show you they arent completley useless and can bring you gifts too. its a pride thing!

 

[MoochNNoodles]

My first cat Tinsel used to bring cricket legs into my mother's bed....poor mom! Glory and Tiger used to bring mice and once a snake to our doorstep too.

 

[valanhb]

Another explanation I've seen, particularly plausible with female cats, is that they sometimes consider us their own "kittens" and so will bring home prey for their helpless kittens to either feed them or teach them how to hunt.

I don't really know the reason, but I do think it's very cute.

At least it is with my indoor only girl who brings us presents of socks, small Christmas stockings, and small stuffed animals.

She sometimes brings them about halfway to us and SCREAMS until someone goes and tells her what a good girl she is and tells her thank you, or she will leave them on or by our pillows for us.

 

[sharky]

Thankfully Zieys is still at the hunt the dot/stain on the carpet stage... Kandie has brought birds lizards and others as presents

 

[gilly]

I am waiting for Guinness to bring something "big and alive" into the flat! He has only got as far as bringing live wiggly worms in

He does bring his toys to me though and drops them in my bag or in my slippers! hehe

 

[alibaz]

My two, Boris and Moley, have decided themselves to be indoor cats, rarely going out and never out of the small garden. The present giving is a big part of how they talk to me, though both seem to use it for different reasons. Moley is confident and will put presents in my handbag so when I go out I am pulling toy mice and balls out with my phone! Moley will also quietly place toys on me when Im asleep, so I wake up covered in them. Boris is very needy. He makes a terrible yowling, a special 'See what Ive got' meow, when he's bringing me something. He doesnt necessarily want anything in return but I do have to make a terrible fuss of him. He'll also only do it when Im working or if me & Moley have gone up to bed, then after about 10 minutes we have the rtual of Boris yowling his way up the stairs with something in his mouth. As though he's been deserted. He's such a drama queen! I have woken up to an almost perfect line of 8 toys laid out on the bedroom floor and Boris staring at me accusingly. If you can get hold of a copy of 'Tribe of Tiger', it is a wonderful explanation of big and small cat behaviour.

 

[krystal lewis]

I have a male neutered cat that is about 3 years old. His name is Alex and he, like all of my 11 cats were born outside and rescued by me. I like to say that they found me instead of the other way around. He used to be able to go out at night with his brother and sister, and three other relative cats that all originated from one mother just different litters. Alex's sister developed the wet form of F.I.P. right at their 1 year mark and we had to do the humane thing for her and let her go because there is no cure and no treatment. You never know which cat will develop this horrible mutated disease but I have been crossing my fingers and preying that the others would be okay. Alex started limping one day and it didn't pass after 2-3 days and only seemed to intensify. Come to find out that he had broken the ball off of his rear right leg. We had to do surgery to remove the part that was jagged and still attached. In essence, as strange as it sounds, his hip is only connected to his leg by tendons, ligaments, and tissue. He had a hard road to recovery and about 6 months into it he started to have problems with the other side. Same story, where the ball to the hip was in the process of breaking off. It was only then that we realized that he actually had a genetic defect where he wasn't getting the proper blood supply to the hips and the bone was dying. He recovered, but was extremely upset over the pain before and after the surgeries and he didn't like that I had to hold him up for him to use the bathroom for several weeks. With all of that said, my posting here really centers around him bringing me odd things since he was about the age of 1. When he was able to go outside he would bring me back magnolia leaves and scream at the glass door until I let him in. He has never brought me another animal or critter though. Now that he cant roam around outside anymore because he will never be 100% he still has a cat run area that we built for him to go out into and enjoy the breeze and smell whatever it is that they smell outside. He now brings me random things like toothpaste boxes, small plastic cups, socks, underwear, shoes, hair brushes, soap boxes, and pom poms. I cant see a connection between any of these and several of these items require him to dig through a small trash bin in the bathroom, which is on the completely other side of the house. He screams the whole way and drops it in front of me for praise. Sometimes he even immediately goes back for something else. I dint understand why he does this or what prompts him to thing "well momma needs me to get this". Any ideas?
 

PS: He also can not roam in the backyard alone because a neighbors pittbull jumped my fence and killed a 6 month old kitten. The courts did nothing about it and there were no fines or potentially dangerous dog classification given. I love dogs and cats but owners need to be held accountable to teaching their animals to be aggressive and bringing the dog to the gate and saying "get the cat" is not good parenting.

alexcute.JPG

• krystal lewis
• Jul 18, 2012

Alex after.JPG

• krystal lewis
• Jul 18, 2012

 

[warriorcat]

just today my cat fluffy brought a mole to are door (he also go after Qtips and likes waching birds)

 

[kittymom26]

My female cat brings me presents all the time! She's strictly indoors but she often brings me toy mice or other things she finds around the house and sets them at my feet or near my chair in my home office. One time a large insect got in the house through the screen door - she killed it and brought that to me. Eww. She also loves Q-Tips...I have to keep them out of her reach or she will go through a whole box, just playing with them and batting them around.

Whenever she brings me something, I MUST acknowledge her "gift" right away or she will start howling her loudest meow. I've been on the phone and the other person has asked me what in the world was going on at my house LOL. I think it's adorable that she brings me presents (though I did not find the dead bug adorable, ha ha)

 

[nanner]

Another explanation I've seen, particularly plausible with female cats, is that they sometimes consider us their own "kittens" and so will bring home prey for their helpless kittens to either feed them or teach them how to hunt.

This is what I've heard. They even talked about it on a PBS special about cat behavior.

Larry will sometimes leave his little springy toy on my pillow.....that, I think, is his "throw it for me" thing. I'll throw it, he'll fetch it. His favorite time to do this is early in the morning. Sometimes I'll sleep through it and not respond to him...... then when I wake up, that's when I find the springy toy on the pillow. Poor Larry.....I slept through play time!

 

[duckdodgers]

Jason loves bringing us dead things.  We've had everything- mice, rats, birds, shrews, moles, and squirrels.  He even brings us those huge swamp rabbits that live behind our house that are pretty close to his size.  He once brought us a bat.  How a cat managed to capture a bat is beyond me, but my dad found him trotting around with it one morning.  The strange thing is that he often partially consumes his kills, but he always eats them head first.  This is especially true with the large kills- I don't recall ever finding a rabbit or squirrel that was not missing its head.  Any insight about that detail?