Why is my cat bringing me stuff?

[breal76]

I am actually not sure if he is bringing me stuff or not.

My cat Forest has taken on a very strange behavior. He is finding things in the yard or around the house and dropping them off at the back door.

So far I have recieved a couple of used fireworks, some leaves, a piece of wood, something that looks like corn husks and the shell of a really big seed.

I will catch him carrying stuff in his mouth around the yard sometimes.

Why does he do this? It's a bit odd.

 

[tempteq]

Our adult cat has been known to leave her favorite toys in the bed on my husbands' side. She thinks it's the safest place for her favorite toy (because she loves him the most). She has also left toy balls in her water bowl (again, a nice safe place to put her most favorite things. And not to mention the oodles of toys that have been dropped behind furniture.

I think as some point I read that cats like to bring the things they like and put them places where they think it will be safest (water bowl, food dish, bed) and in your case, the porch!

 

[andrewweilin]

My cats don't bring me anything...

 

[goldenkitty45]

Its from the natural instinct to catch prey and bring it home. Usually they present mice or such as presents to prove to you they are good hunters and to share food.

Yours has a warped idea of what prey is. Just thank him for being a good provider

 

[zissou'smom]

Maybe he's trying to tell you you have a messy yard! No, just kidding.

I agree, it is his "prey" and there are a couple theories on that; either he thinks you don't know how to hunt and is trying to teach you, or he is showing off his contribution to the household. I often wake up covered in odd little trinkets-- in some cases it is an enticement to play, in some she's just showing off for momma.

 

[buzbyjlc10]

Haha, Oliver's not really one to carry things around in his mouth... he likes to bunnykick his "prey" (ie: his toy mice) to death, then sit on them to make sure they're "dead" (and when he does kill actual things like bugs, he eats them)... I do have a black lab though and in her younger days (she's 13 now) she's presented a baby bunny (not a single mark on the thing, probably died from shock), a bird, a squirrel, several mice, bugs, etc on the back deck.... sometimes she's already placed whatever she caught on the deck and just sits behind it, other times she's still holding it so you tell her to drop it and she gently places it down and sits, wagging her tail like "Look what I brought for you! Do you like it?!" It's just one of the things that goes along with animals that have a natural instinct to hunt... your kitty just seems a little confused, hehe... I'd find it adorable

 

[chelsinator]

Yeah, my youngest cat brings me her toys for two reasons: to play or as what I like to think of as gifts. She really only does it with her fake mice. I've heard several people say their indoor/outdoor cats drop off dead rodents and such on the front porch. I've always heard they were sort of gifts. I think it's sweet! Just be glad it's sticks and leaves and not baby bunnies or something.

 

[coaster]

One theory is that when cats decided to become companions to humans was when humans had just started farming and the harvested grain attracted numerous rodents. Cats recognized that being around humans was good hunting. Plus the humans like having them around. To earn their place with humans, they wanted to show they were worth having around, and so they learned to bring their kill to show off to their humans. So it's sort of like a worker showing off his handiwork.

Since Rocket has been spending his days outside this summer, several times a day he brings something into the garage, calls to me to come look at what he caught, and then proceeds to kill and eat it. He'd bring it into the house to show off to the other kitties, too, if I'd let him. Ick.

 

[breal76]

Thanks for the replies.

I still don't really get it. I mean, Forest has toys. A load of them. He doesn't carry any of them around like he does this stuff. He is so weird. I have brought these items inside and he shows no interest in them after that.

Someone told me he might be nesting. Which would make him weirder.

I do love my Forest though. I wish I could read his mind.

 

[coaster]

If you keep asking yourself that about a cat you'll go nuts.

 

[alleygirl]

Alley used to leave a mouse on the rug next to my bed almost every morning

I don't know if she was just showing off what a good hunter she was, or if she thought I needed breakfast

 

[sims2fan]

Mica proudly brough us a dead baby mouse

We are enclosing the garden soon, hopefully no more of that

 

[miao_kitty]

Originally Posted by tempteq

Our adult cat has been known to leave her favorite toys in the bed on my husbands' side. She thinks it's the safest place for her favorite toy (because she loves him the most). She has also left toy balls in her water bowl (again, a nice safe place to put her most favorite things. And not to mention the oodles of toys that have been dropped behind furniture.

I think as some point I read that cats like to bring the things they like and put them places where they think it will be safest (water bowl, food dish, bed) and in your case, the porch!

Luna (or Sherman I can't really be sure) dragged one of those toys that has a puff-ball on a spring attached to a carpeted base to their water and put the puff-ball in the bowl.

I was thinking it's Luna b/c she does this with toy mice. One of the catnip filled ones she left in her bowl overnight and it turned the water green!!

 

[rugthugs]

Be glad. Not only do my bengals not bring me anything, they steal my stuff.
It's usually funny but I really am going to have to launch an intense search for my pink gold wedding band encircled with pink diamonds...

In the past, it was always my female kitties who brought me "gifts" . i had a balck and orange bobtailed girl who always had a little row of dispatched cockroaches lined up for me every morning on the front porch. More usual for them to bring me birds, mice, squirrels, etc. these days no one is allowed outdoors alone to do such things.