# What surprises have your pets brought home for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 26, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044 "2010-07-26T14:25:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/41 "2010-07-27T12:00:30Z")
My girl is a little too chubby to catch anything. She doesn’t even try. Every once in a while she’ll give half-hearted chase at a bird, but really, both she and the bird knows she’ll never get close. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/42 "2010-07-27T12:40:32Z")
I’ve had two dead birds and a dead squirrel, as well as many dead lizards. The two of them once cornered a fledgling bluejay, but I caught it and put it on the fence. Where he proceeded to fly into the neighbor’s yard - with a dog waiting for it. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/43 "2010-07-27T13:22:01Z")
My mother’s cat once left quite the interesting gift in her bed for her to find later. A several pound jelly fish. Another time we were having a cookout. The cat was usually feed something from the table when we ate, but we had a really prissy relative there that thought that was the worst thing possible so kitty wasnt getting anything that day. After awhile we could hear the cat under the table growling. Looking, he was in lion mode working on a piece of chicken. We had not cooked any chicken. Apparently he got pissed and went and got his own food 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/44 "2010-07-27T19:20:54Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > My childhood cat left the back end of a rat outside my bedroom door on several occasions. Memorably I was once treated to the back end of a rat laid lovingly on my pillow after I’d left the door open. I never got a whole one. I can only surmise he’d saved the best bit for me. Other gifts were delivered whole. How sweet! So many animals just don’t give a rat’s ass. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/45 "2010-07-27T20:07:24Z")
My dog has brought me two chipmunks and a squirrel. One to my bed. None bleeding thankfully. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/46 "2010-07-27T21:35:22Z")
Since most of my cats have been adopted strays and ferals, we never seem to not have gifts. Today’s was most of a mole. Over the last few weeks it has been an entire nest of baby rabbits (most caught and released unharmed - damn can those little things scream), rats, mice, moles and of course, live cicadas. No birds lately - I think they’ve gotten wise. Depending on where we lived we could also get lizards, centipedes, small snakes and giant water bugs. The most considerate of the current crop of cats, Nijel the Destroyer, is very neat about his gifts. They come beheaded, non-eviscerated, and left in empty food dishes (the cats’, not ours). I don’t know if he is sharing with us or pointing out that the dish was empty. Only once did he bring one upstairs for a midnight snack - the heads are apparently delicious and crunchy. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/47 "2010-08-03T01:59:18Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Mr. Accident, whoa. Beavers are huge. Was it a baby beaver? Was it dead? Good feline hunters are surprisingly capable. There’s a picture in the Wikipedia article on cats of a four-month-old feral kitten eating a full-grown cottontail. Oddly, the caption says that nearly everything is normally consumed except sometimes the hind legs, which by human meat-eating standards would seem to be the best part. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/48 "2010-08-03T03:00:46Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > > > Mr. Accident, whoa. Beavers are huge. Was it a baby beaver? Was it dead? > > Good feline hunters are surprisingly capable. There’s a picture in the Wikipedia article on cats of a four-month-old feral kitten eating a full-grown cottontail. Oddly, the caption says that nearly everything is normally consumed except sometimes the hind legs, which by human meat-eating standards would seem to be the best part. Whoa. I found that picture. I’m rereading Watership Down and I like to think that rabbits are fairly capable when they want to be, but wow. That scene where they’re in the barn and there are a couple of cats suddenly seems even scarier than it did the first time around. Even with the capable Bigwig there to see them through it. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/49 "2010-08-04T17:02:35Z")
One of my cats, Emil, is a mighty hunter of garbage cans. He has brought home a half rotted smoked herring, several whole eggs (and how he carries an egg I don’t know), sausages, baked potatoes and many other things. The most surprising was when I went to hospital this spring. I had packed a bag with books and some clean clothes. When I opened it at the hospital I found on top of everything a dirt encrusted plastic bottle which at one time had contained schnapps. I’m quite sure I didn’t pack it, I don’t really like schnapps, so I guess Emil has sneaked it in to cheer me up. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/50 "2010-08-05T00:59:32Z")
> [@Mikkel](#): > > One of my cats, Emil, is a mighty hunter of garbage cans. He has brought home a half rotted smoked herring, several whole eggs (and how he carries an egg I don’t know), sausages, baked potatoes and many other things. > The most surprising was when I went to hospital this spring. I had packed a bag with books and some clean clothes. When I opened it at the hospital I found on top of everything a dirt encrusted plastic bottle which at one time had contained schnapps. I’m quite sure I didn’t pack it, I don’t really like schnapps, so I guess Emil has sneaked it in to cheer me up. If he \*really \*cared about you, he could have saved you some of the schnapps instead of hogging it all for himself! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/51 "2010-08-05T05:19:06Z")
> [@](#): > > One of my cats, Emil, is a mighty hunter of garbage cans. He has brought home a half rotted smoked herring, several whole eggs (and how he carries an egg I don’t know), sausages, baked potatoes and many other things. I think that he wants (what I think of as) a traditional English breakfast, and he’s trying to give you a hint. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/52 "2010-08-05T06:09:30Z")
Lots of things, but the worst was waking up, stumbling into the kitchen half asleep and finding pidgeon bits and blood all over the kitchen floor. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/53 "2010-08-05T14:00:52Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I think that he wants (what I think of as) a traditional English breakfast, and he’s trying to give you a hint. You may have something there :D, I’ll try it on him next time I have the ingredients. He don’t like hard boiled eggs though, I have never tried feeding him scrambled eggs. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/54 "2010-08-05T16:04:01Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by \*\*Mikkel > > \*\*One of my cats, Emil, is a mighty hunter of garbage cans. He has brought home a half rotted smoked herring, several whole eggs (and how he carries an egg I don’t know), sausages, baked potatoes and many other things. > > I think that he wants (what I think of as) a traditional English breakfast, and he’s trying to give you a hint. > [@Mikkel](#): > > You may have something there :D, I’ll try it on him next time I have the ingredients. He don’t like hard boiled eggs though, I have never tried feeding him scrambled eggs. He wants you to make him some Scotch eggs with the sausage. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/55 "2010-08-06T03:33:05Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > > > Good feline hunters are surprisingly capable. There’s a picture in the Wikipedia article on cats of a four-month-old feral kitten eating a full-grown cottontail. Oddly, the caption says that nearly everything is normally consumed except sometimes the hind legs, which by human meat-eating standards would seem to be the best part. > > Whoa. I found that picture. I’m rereading Watership Down and I like to think that rabbits are fairly capable when they want to be, but wow. That scene where they’re in the barn and there are a couple of cats suddenly seems even scarier than it did the first time around. Even with the capable Bigwig there to see them through it. For a time we had three cats and one Belgian hare. They actually got along as well as can be expected, and the cats never cared to attack the hare, but then again we usually kept them apart. They probably didn’t consider it a prey animal because of its size. However, although the hare was considerably smaller than any of the cats in length and breadth, its weight was even less consequential. To look at, the hare was maybe half the size of a cat, but it only weighed about a quarter as much if that–in other words a hare just doesn’t have the muscle or hunting instincts of a cat. I’d think that any adult cat with normal feline equipment and musculature would be able to take down a rabbit or hare. It’s like a Morlock going after an Eloi in _The Time Machine_. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/56 "2010-11-10T17:00:18Z")
My dear departed Murphy used to catch and kill my bedroom slippers, then make off with them. 😛 I was forever hunting down my footwear, but on occasion I would find one of them under the covers as I climbed into bed. Or on my pillow, along with his favorite catnip toy. The pillow I get, but how in the world did he get them under the covers on a made bed?? I miss you, big guy… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/57 "2010-11-10T17:12:39Z")
Birds. Usually not a whole one. Just a wing or a head on the welcome mat. Occasionally a pile of feathers scattered by the door when he was too hungry to share. Then a partial squirrel. He’s an inside cat now. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/58 "2010-11-10T17:13:32Z")
Found the front half of a mouse out on our front lawn several weeks ago. (What \*is \*it with cats halving their prey?) Thought nothing of it, forgot all about it. A few days ago, I saw something white glowing in the sunshine in the grass. I found the mouse’s skull, perfectly cleaned, every last tooth still intact. Very carefully picked it up and gave it to my mother-in-law; she (honestly!) loves these kinds of things. Our cat Al has caught a few anoles. One memoral occasion, he had the anole’s head and shoulders in his mouth, while all four anole legs waved frantically in the air. We still laugh at The Anole Dance. Amazingly, when we rescued the lizard, it seemed utterly unharmed - every tiny rib moved perfectly as it breathed. Our cat apparently has the mouth of a golden retriever. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/59 "2010-11-10T18:31:41Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Our late Golden Retriever brought home a Nerf football. In his stomach. Intact. How it got there, I’ll never know, but it took a barium test and a long costly surgery to remove it (after which he lived many more happy dopey years). I went to LSU’s Vet School’s Open House while a friend of mine was a student, and one of the displays was photos, x-rays, and such of things removed from dogs (with accompanying photos of the happy recovered pups). Equal parts hilarious and horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044/60 "2010-11-10T18:43:15Z")
My lilac Siamese Puppy-Cat once came home with a live bat’s head in his mouth, and the rest of the bat flapping madly outside of his mouth. I wasn’t going to go near it. Eventually he dropped it, but the poor bat had basically been choked to death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-surprises-have-your-pets-brought-home-for-you/548044.md?page=4)