SO Proud of Zephyr!

[Forum Administrator]

Zephyr brought me a dead mouse today! She caught it herself when I was giving her a little time outdoors. She dropped it at the front door for me to find.

I was SO proud that my kitty killed a wild mouse and brought it home for me! I really mean that. She used to only eat raw foods and the only whole prey she'd eat was fish and birds, but I have FINALLY gotten her eating rodentpro mice and now she went out and got a wild one just for me! I put it in the freezer and I plan on freezing it for about 3 months (to kill any parasites) before letting her have it.

Now I was curious why she brought the mouse HOME instead of eating it and I was rather amused with the answer I found. Bear in mind that I had to teach Zephyr how to eat prey and raw foods, it took her some time to learn:

Why does my cat bring home dead animals?

Hunting is a natural behaviour in felines. Our mollycoddled cats have no need to hunt for food as it is supplied by us. When a mother cat is teaching her kittens to hunt she will bring home dead prey for the kittens to eat. Once they are older she will bring home injured prey for the kittens and make the final kill in front of the kittens.

The school of thought with this one is that our cats think of their owners as somewhat incompetent hunters, and our cat is attempting to teach us how to hunt, as a female cat would teach her kittens.

Another theory is that they're offering dead animals to us as a gift. It is said that instead of a natural reaction of horror when presented with a dead animal on the doorstep we should heap praise on the cat. None of us wants to be met with horror when giving somebody a gift!

Taken from: www.cat-world.com.au/WhyDoesMyCat.htm

Too funny.

[charmantpapillon]

awww she bwought you a pwesent =D what a good little kitty, hows her leg doing by the way?

[buzzonesbirdie]

I actually would buy either one. That is soo cute. I had a cat when i was living in germany that would kill mice and birds and leave it for my grandmother, but she would leave it in the basement on the pile of clean laundry. never the dirty laundry sitting next to it.

[tsslilsis]

That's adorable. She loves her momma!

I think it is so cute how cats always leave the prey for their owner, or generally. The cat next door who I consider mine leaves the moles he catches laying in our yard, not at the neighbors door or in their yard. Maybe he can't decide whoes door to leave it so he leaves it in our yard. MAYBE HE LOVES US MORE (Actually I know he does because he gets raw meat over here).

I LOVE coming home with the 45 gallon totes of meat we bring home, sometimes its goat sometimes its beef sometimes its freezer meat someone was throwing out. But the dogs always think its our "kill" and wonder when we are gonna give them some of it!!!

-~Ketlin

[Forum Administrator]

Sept 13, 2008 6:05:43 GMT -5 @charmantpapillon said:

hows her leg doing by the way?

Excellent. My Dr. said it healed beautifully. He was really impressed. He thinks that because the calcium she gets comes directly from bone, its more bioavailable (usable) and therefore the leg healed perfectly.

Shes out of her cast and doing great. Its only been about 2 weeks and her leg is no longer atrophied.

[charmantpapillon]

yay =)back to hunting she is =D and did anyone stop to think that trhe cats bring them back to you because they know they are parasitic and possibly harmful to them? and they know mommy/daddy will take care of it? its just a possibility that popped into my head and i was wondering if anyone thought of it ...

[Forum Administrator]

Are you saying my cat is trying to kill me with parasitic/poisened mice?

[charmantpapillon]

no im saying she instinctively knows that they MIGHT not be healthy for her and that since mommy takes such good care of her mommy can make it better for her.

[Forum Administrator]

lol I was just joking around by the way I dunno, maybe she is thinking that. Who knows what goes on in the mind of my crazy kitty

[jennifer5799]

So glad her leg is ok!! I was wondering about that the other day :-) I like the present idea - although the thought that she's trying to teach you how to hunt is pretty darn amusing!!

[luci]

One or both of my two cat monsters caught a HUGE mouse in the garage a couple of weeks ago. The head to just past the front legs was eaten and the tail was gone. They left the rest on the landing by the door. I was very impressed! I left it to show Dave and both of the kitties watched us squeal over it and we thanked both of them. They seemed very proud of themselves. I waited until I was alone to throw it away.

Dave said they've totally earned their keep and now they can stay.

[Forum Administrator]

She brought me a bird today lol. This thing was the same size as De! I was going to put it in the freezer and let her have it again in 3 months, but I couldnt tell for sure if she killed it, or found it (she wil bring me little things that she finds). So I praised her profusely and then pitched it. Unless she brings me a warm, bleeding bird I just dont feel comfortable letting her have it. If she didnt kill this bird, who knows how it died.

On that note, Fugue found a dead chipmunk on our walk yesterday. It practially took the jaws of life to get that thing out of his mouth. He was NOT happy that I took away his "prize". I didnt take it home and freeze it simply because I didnt know how it died or how long it had been dead.

I'm so proud of my little predators, but then again I guess I should call them little scavengers!

[Forum Administrator]

*sigh* she brought me a dead squirell yesterday. It was still warm (OMG!) She came to the door and was meowing and meowing and meowing. Normally she just meows once to let us know she's there. But she wouldnt stop meowing. I go "Tim, either she's hurt or there is something dead on my poarch, I don't wanna know what it is, you go look." So Tim looks and goes "OMG she caught a squirel!" It was pretty big too (a little smaller then Fugue). She came inside and was prancing around like she was hot stuff. My cat is insane.

On a side note, my neighbors love to watch what Zephyr brings me. They are always asking "Did she bring you anything weird again?"