Oh, the things cats bring home!

[Fyrefox]

My three-year-old female cat, Violet (seen below in her shelter photo), is small and innocent-looking, but quite a hunter. Several times a week she will bring home dead mice to me (ugh!), but last night she managed to find and bring home…a half-eaten hot dog! That’s definitely what it was. Did Violet have a fierce battle with a hot dog vendor or Oscar Meyer truck? Usually cats won’t eat processed meats, so I guess it, like the mice, was a gift or trophy for me. Thanks, but no thanks!

Do any if you cat-owners get trophies brought home, and if so, what are you “gifted?”

 

[jujube]

I haven't had a cat for ages, but the one I did have was a mighty hunter who apparently thought he was the main provider of food for his beloved family.

Every day, there was offering of a squirrel head or haunch, half a mouse or an unidentified mound of innards. We were well-supplied with offal.

He was so proud of himself.

 

[C50]

I have barn cats so find trophies most every day. There's never mice in the barn so one cat hunts the woods and fields. I always know when he's bringing home a trophy because he has a special meow and sounds off all the way home to the barn.

None have ever brought home a hot dog though, that's pretty funny . Mice, moles, chipmunks, squirrels and birds are common, ocassionaly even a snake. Most unusual was a flying squirrel which is very unusual around here, I felt bad seeing that one.

 

[debodun]

They are showing you affection by doing this. It's the equivalent of a human giving you flowers.

If one of my cats did this, I pet them, tell them what a good kitty they were, give them some catnip, then throw their "gift" in the trash.

 

[Lilac]

My one cat used to leave a dead mouse in my barn boots that I'd leave on the porch. Had to pick up the habit of checking them before I put them on. Very funny feeling with a soft lump in them.

My best hunter kept the chipmunks for herself. She could devour them from head to tail with no problems.

 

[Fyrefox]

My cat’s hunting seems to be accelerating. Yesterday morning I found a dead squirrel on my breezeway. Now the squirrel was fully intact with no sign of violence, so I’m wondering if she didn’t just find it dead and brought it home. I don’t think a squirrel would have given up without a fight.

Fortunately my cat doesn’t seem to eat her prey, but loses interest in them once they stop moving, then brings them home for inspection.

I’m beginning to dread seeing what I’ll find dead on my patio or breezeway in the morning. What’s next…a water buffalo?

 

[debodun]

One time a cat brought home a live baby rabbit. I called a wildlife rehabilitator. He came and got the bunny, but later called me and said it didn't survive. It probably had internal damage.

 

[MarciKS]

My three-year-old female cat, Violet (seen below in her shelter photo), is small and innocent-looking, but quite a hunter. Several times a week she will bring home dead mice to me (ugh!), but last night she managed to find and bring home…a half-eaten hot dog! That’s definitely what it was. Did Violet have a fierce battle with a hot dog vendor or Oscar Meyer truck? Usually cats won’t eat processed meats, so I guess it, like the mice, was a gift or trophy for me. Thanks, but no thanks!

Do any if you cat-owners get trophies brought home, and if so, what are you “gifted?”

View attachment 307951

she's so pretty!!

 

[Jondalar7]

My neighbor just came over asking me to get a kangaroo rat out of her home. Her cat brings in live gifts often.

 

[Fyrefox]

I had a cat for 16 years who once brought a living baby bunny into my house! I freaked out, and wanted to separate the bunny from the cat, and get the rabbit outside. I did succeed in that, but even with my desperate attempts to run interference the cat did eventually recapture the bunny, and having learned from its experience ran off with it out of sight, where it probably ended badly for the bunny…

 

[Tommy]

We don't have a cat. With all of the coyotes, fishers, bobcats, owls, hawks, eagles around here, outdoor cats are not "a thing" . . . at least not for long.