'Gifts' from cats...

My friend just told me how he took an extremely khot girl home at the weekend only to find that his cat had left a 'present', or offering, in the shape of a field mouse torso with its guts hanging out on his bed, luckily the girl did not scare of such things easily.  Another friend of mine some years ago had told of how her cat had returned with a rabbit head.

Being a cat lover i've a read a few different views over the years. One being that they think your not good at catching prey and are trying to teach you how. Kind of like how a mother would teach it's kitten. Another view is that cats are very social and like to share their catch with their leader or member of the pack sort of deal. The cat is basically trying to feed you. Kind of like how lions or some other wild cats act. 

So what should you do if your pet cat brings home a gift?  I think throwing it away or tellling the cat off might be considered ungrateful.

Hello all. Nice discussion we have here, I see.

I don't believe there is anything that can stop the hunter instinct in a cat, nor the drive a cat has to please it's owner (to an extent with the latter).

There are definitely ways (as said above) to prevent a cat bringing home such gifts; keeping them indoors the most obvious and mishap-proof. I suppose cats could still catch small house animals like mice, but that's out of the question. Another innovation I think is great is an outdoor "Cat Roamer" (one of the names for it) - a series of tunnels, enclosed areas and ramps/ladders, with hard wire mesh walls, floor and roof. Variations can be added like jungle gyms, cat toys.etc, but the main purpose is that  a cat can roam outdoors at its will, at no cost to the local wildlife.

A good way to compensate for a cat's instinct to hunt and present gifts to its owner is to play regular games such as catch the [fake] mouse, that springy ball on a pole, and other things sparking and exercising a cat's instinct to hunt, scratch, "kill" and paw. Plus, it's lots of fun for you too!

Originally posted by Gundamor Kind of like how lions or some other wild cats act

I can only really think of lions behaving in this way; the less dominant in the hierarchy, the lionesses [i.e. your house cat] hunt and kill the prey, and bring it back for the dominant male lions [you, the owner], who in turn get to feed first as well. I'd imagine your poor cat expects you to eat the gift...

- Knights -

I had an experience like this once, years ago when I had a female cat. One day she brought home a half eaten mouse and laid it at my feet. Needless to say I was horrified at first, but then realised the very same thing you guys mentioned here. I firmly told her that such "gifts" were unescessary and buried the "gift". I think it's kinda cute