Proof My Cat Loves Me
‘Tis the season for sharing and gift giving and I guess my cat took the hint from his human relatives. When I opened the front door yesterday, I found this offering.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that I opened the back door and found a dead bird, lying on its back, legs straight up in the air. What’s next?
I asked my friend Dr. Van Hoffcat, an expert on cat behavior, if he could shed some light on this cat custom. He provided me with some links to relevant information on the web. The Cat’s Guide to Humans (Item #4) explains from the cat’s point of view why cats do this:
The cat world is divided over the etiquette of presenting humans with the thoughtful gift of a recently disemboweled animal. Some believe that humans prefer these gifts already dead, while others maintain that humans enjoy a slowly expiring cricket or rodent just as much as we do, given their jumpy and playful movements in picking the creatures up after they’ve been presented.
When asked how to properly deal with such gifts, Miss Manners (surprise!) has an opinion on the subject:
Miss Manners hates anthropomorphic questions. If she so much as hints that there might be different standards of behavior for people and animals, she is flooded with letters from insulted pet owners who tell her about the politeness and sensitivity of the animal members of their families. Fine.
This site cuts to the chase:
Cats are born hunters. Their hunting instincts are not dulled even if they are domesticated. It is this that leads them to surprise and shock their owners with gifts of dead birds and snakes.
It goes on to describe how a mommy cat might teach her kittens to hunt:
The mother usually teaches a kitten how to hunt by first bringing it a dead mouse to eat. Once the kitten gets used to eating it, the mother brings it a mouse that is just barely alive. Eventually, the mother offers it a mouse that has strength enough to run, so that the kitten can chase and hunt it down.
Since my cat has only brought me dead animals, maybe he’s trying to teach me how to hunt.
And maybe George and Laura Bush, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden and all the world leaders who bring us dead bodies are trying to teach us how to hunt. Maybe not much has changed in the millions of years since we were cats.
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