Cat puts mouse toy in dry cat food

My kitties have a new cat toy, a gray squeaky mouse. Just about every day we find the toy laying in the dry cat food. I'm wondering why my kittie puts it there. I think it's one paticular cat and he sometimes gets possessive of it.

This is not unusual. Serenity has a particular toy she likes to put in a certain water bowl

Yeah, Beandip puts his toys in and by the food / water too. I think I read somewhere that they consider their food area kind of a "home base"...a place that they can always count on being the same. It's like putting something away in a safe place. LOL

Timotei drowns his favorite rubber ball in the water bowl and also hides it in shoes.

Welcome to TheCatSite. You will find that cats do strange things. I had a Calico that used to like to play with ice cubes. You toss the ice cube down the kitchen floor and she would chase it, pick it up her teeth and carry it back.

That stopped quick after she started dropping the ice cube in my shoes.

maybe he thinks its hungry?? cats are strange little creatures aren't they? there's a couple kitties on here who will bury their toys in the litter box

My sister's cat does the same thing with a small stuffed mousie. She calls it his Food Buddy. Just someone to keep him company while he chows down, I guess.

Enjoy your cats and their funny behaviors!

My Juno drops her favorite milk jug ring into her water, fishes it out and drops it again. Sometimes she leaves it there, i guess thats so she knows where it is.

I was reading about this just the other day!
Here`s what my book says:

This is a behaviour that is based on the ancient lifestyle of the cat family. Wild cats bring dead prey back to their lair or nest; hunting domestic cats often come home with a dead mouse or frog. The nest, the home - these are the safe, secure points of their territory. A domestic cat that does not or cannot go out hunting still has the powerful feline hunting urge which it displays when it stalks, chases after and pounces on toys, pieces of paper or balls of wool in play. In the home, particularly in a multi-cat household, it may not have one particular nest, so it instinctively takes it`s 'prey' to the place that is at the centre of its daily life - the food or water bowl - and deposits it there.

You just have a weird cat

I have a weirdo to! I constantly find Maia's fur mice in her food bowl!