My cat zoey

[Joy]

Zoey carries stuffed animals around the house. She brings them to me. She is 1 1/2 years old. She had a litter around 2 1/2 years ago. I had her fixed 1 year ago. When she scruffs the stuffed animals she cries vey loud. Even when I wake up in the morning she has around 20 animals all around me. Does she need meds or what? please help!!

[Cynthia]

Joy,

I have male cats (neutered) who do this. They grab a Beanie Baby at the scruff, give a cry and deposit it at my feet. What I have been told is that they are acting on their natural prey instincts. Since there is no live prey, they will bring something about the same size as normal prey (like a bird, mouse, or rabbit). They give a cry to alert you that "dinner is served". The extent to which Zoey will bring you these stuffed animals is amazing, but you might need to look at your own behavior when she brings all of them to you. Are you petting her or feeding her just afterwards? She may be bringing you prey because you are rewarding her!

I think it's cute that my cats do this too. It really isn't a mothering instinct, more of a prey drive instinct.

[Joy]

Zoey does this all the time. If Im on the couch she brings them into the living room. When I wake up in the morning there will be stuffed amimals all over my bed, my pillow , inbetween my boy friend and I. She even carries a huge whale around from sea world. This thing is 4 times bigger than her. we cant even keep track of our slippers. Maybe its because she is siamese. Im not sure. I do also have her mom here. Her mom does not do this. Paige the mom, she kneads on a pillow or blanket and sucks the pillow or blanket. That is very interesting tho!!

[Cynthia]

My cat Bean used to drag around a Grinch doll (12" long!) when he was a kitten. It would get caught between his front paws and he'd trip over it and growl at it and he looked like Ellen DeGeneres dancing over her coffee table on her show when he'd drag it around. I don't think he understood it was too big for him to carry! We still have to put all the Beanie Babies up on very high shelves (we have tall bookcases from Ikea) so he doesn't get them. Because if he sees one, he will drag it under the bed.

My mom's cat Tugger has claimed one of her Boyd's Bears. She has them everywhere in her house and most of them are close to the ground. He will always find "his" bear no matter where she puts it. We call it his Wubbie Bear or his Wubbie Baby. He will look around to see if anyone is watching, then he will carefully pick it up by the scruff, take another look around, and slink up the hallway with it on his way to the bedroom, where he puts it under the bed with his "stash" of milk jug rings, catnip toys, wads of paper, and the occasional bottlecap. He gets very upset when anyone discovers his "treasure stash" and cleans it out! He has to start "collecting" again right away.

Isn't it funny how their natural instincts to hunt turn into a sort of "hoarding" behavior? We think it's cute!