Well, think about it- who provides most of the cat food in your house? You, in the form of little cans and bags of kibble. Sure, your cat isn’t sure how or when you hunt, but DAMN you’re good.
Your aunt was correct. I don’t know about pretending to eat, but praise and secretive disposal is correct. You can also offer it back.
Oh hahaha…hahaha-that’s a good one.
Cats are extremely viscious, nasty, cruel killers. They play with and torture their victims before killing them. I can’t tell you how many mice my dad managed to rescue from our old cat when I was little, before she could kill them, because the poor little thing was bleeding.
Dogs, on the other hand, just shake them and break their necks.
Now, my cats are indoors only, and lately we’ve had a slight mouse infestation. So far, they’ve only managed to kill two-twice, Maggie has brought up live ones to my room to play with, and one half-dead one that I released outside. The previous two, I was unable to find-I assume they went back into the walls.
Six cats and between them, they suck at killing mice. I told Maggie if she makes an offering, make sure it’s dead next time.
Cats do exhibit pack behavior if kept in groups - the pecking order amongst my 8 changes daily (sometimes hourly). Gwen (the oldest) is second-in-command below me, but beyond that anything goes.
When we lived in Hawaii, Gwen was quite fond of bringing me gecko tails. The rest of the gecko would safely escape, and she would drop this twitching tail at my feet, looking up at me with the “It’s for you, Mom! All for you! Go on, eat it!” expression.
I have the same dynamic in my four cat pack: The oldest, Hermes, which is a large one too, is unthreatened chief, but the other three aren’t agreeing on who’s his deputy. Two of the three try to impress him, unfortunately by putting the fourth down. The fourth, Artemis, is a unfriendly, beautiful, green-eyed cat who try to stay out of the childish pecking order, and sticks to me only.
Often when people are at my home, they ask: Ok, who was the dangerous one? I say: She, Artemis, but she never attacks anybody if you leave her alone.
Once when she lay under the table with her stomach in the air, looking very cute and nice, my brother asked if he could try to pat her. No, I said, she will hit you. But the cat looked so cool and cute, and my brother thought he would make it and wham! he retreated with bloody scratches on his hand.
I told you, I said.
Jesus, he said, I didn’t even see it happen!
Anyhow, the hierarchy is most obvious when feeding: Hermes goes first, and Artemis waits until everyone else has finished.
Also, about once a year, Hermes challange everyone, one after another, on a fight, just to make sure this year too will no fuss about who’s the man, or cat. The other cats sees it coming, and hides.
That’s pretty common, that the “Omega pack member” sucks up/sticks close to the “Big Cat” and becomes very close to “Mom”.
Meh. All you’re doing is opening a can. Your cat is unimpressed. You don’t even have the skills to catch all of those birds in the backyard.
Maybe she brought down a cow, roasted it and sliced it up but she only brought you one slice because she didn’t want to spoil you.
My cats are selfish. They are indoors only but recently we’ve had a few mice which a couple have managed to catch and keep for themselves. Although, they do often present me with lovely homemade hairballs. They like to put them in my shoes where I am sure to find them first thing in the morning.
My neutered female, Vicki, hates all other felines. Nevertheless, when my other cat, Demi, was a kitten, Vicki would cripple big-ass swamp rats and bring them to her to kill.
I thought that was sweet.
Until Demi started crippling them for me…
Years ago I had a cat (neutered female) who “hunted” down a small stuffed animal and dropped it at my feet.
I felt so loved.
Yes, but at some point doesn’t the play usually involve breaking their necks? I had a cat that would catch chipmunks, break their necks and then, I kid you not, sit in a nice shady spot and watch the poor crippled thing stagger, hobble, or crawl around until he got bored and wandered off. At this point, another cat usually did the dirty work of actually killing and dismembering the rodent and leaving it, or part of it on the front step.
To the OP, have you tried throwing the carcass while the cat is watching? My princess kitty brings me toy mice to throw for her to go fetch and bring back. Maybe your kitty is bored by the untimely death of the prey and wants you to reanimate it for her.
You are God. Your cat is offering sacrifices in your honor. It would be impolite of you not to eat them.
Sorry, Guin, but your experience isn’t representative of all cat behavior. If a kitten is taught how to kill by it’s mother, then it’ll grow up to be a very efficient killer.
From Wikipedia
“Relative to size, domestic cats are very effective predators. They ambush and dispatch vertebrate prey using tactics similar to those of leopards and tigers by pouncing; they then deliver a lethal neck bite with their long canine teeth that severs the victim’s spinal cord, or asphyxiate it by crushing the windpipe.”
One of our cats used to suffocate mice
Head and forelegs in his mouth, back legs struggling, until a turd appeared.
Curiously I’ve seen a picture of a lion (or tiger) doing the same to some sort of buffalo in the water.
Do you name all your cats after Greek gods and goddess? If so, goodness, you have an epic of mythic proportions unfolding before your very eyes!
Unlike dogs, cats can’t: herd livestock, hunt big game, warn the village about strangers, or protect small children. I was always under the impression that the domestication of cats, other than as luxury, owed to their ability to hunt vermin, back when a rat infestation could mean starvation or sickness to an early human camp or settlement.
The cat that showed no proof of a kill would be seen as a drain on human resources and either driven off or killed. The cat that showed up with a dead rat, on the other hand, would get some extra scraps and special care. Natural selection did the rest. That’s just my opinion though.
Aren’t fixed females spayed, not neutered? I always thought that neutered referred to the removal of testicles only.
My understanding is that cats instinctively stalk and pounce on prey (or anything which diplays the same indicators - such as my foot moving under the covers) but have to be taught how to kill and that the dead thing is now food. This explains much of the “cruel” behavior they display. They have caught this thing, but don’t know what to do with it next, until it tries to escape, whereupon instinct kicks in and they catch it again.
As for the Alpha cat post, that is not really correct, again (domestic) cats are not pack animals.
IS it a show of affection, and also acknowleagment that your cat would like to continue to use your territory. Sort of like paying rent, but in a way that is not mandatory, but in a giving way, a thank you, I appreciate it gesture.
My worst cat bringing things to me experiance.
I heard a knocking at my door. I looked out my window and didn’t see anyone. The knocking stopped for a few minutes. Then it started again. This time I went to the door and opened it to see my cat with a small rabbit in it’s mouth. The feet had been kicking the door. My cat dropped the rabbit at my feet. It fled into my house. I then had bleeding rabbit running for it’s life through my home. My cat just watched is I chased it. It ran under my couch. I lifted up the couch and grabbed it with a towel. I threw it out the door and booted the confused cat out too. The next morning the rabbit was on my porch again, this time thankfully dead.
I’d imagine it greatly depends on why they’re hunting. If they’re hunting to eat, yes, they’d be effecient, but sometimes they just hunt to play.
I wouldn’t call their behavior “cruel” because cruelty requires the ability to recognize that you’re hurting another creature. A cat probably doesn’t have the marbles to recognize that a mouse is a living creature. To them, it may be the same as a wind-up toy: something that moves and squeaks, and is fun to chase and bat around but they probably don’t think about its pain as being equivellent to what cats feel. They don’t have the ability to project in that manner. When it “breaks” the cat loses interest, just as they would if the batteries died in their toy.
My grandma had a cat. I used to dangle string for her. One day, I found her on the back patio batting a snake in the same way she played with the string. To her, it probably was just a big, automomous piece of string. I doubt if she realized that this is an animal.