I've read 'Tribe of Tiger'. Loved the story about the cat that would leave dead mice in the family's plates and bowls if they were left out. Lady has no sense when it comes to dogs and I don't like what she has to say about circus tigers, but a lot of her other anecdotes about housecats, pumas and lions are pretty cool.
Our outdoor cats, when we lived on the farm, would bring us halves of mice. Always the butt half, which I take it was not the choice part--sometimes they left mouse butts lying around the yard too. We tried buying them ash trays but they never used them. J/K
I have to wonder just how much of it relates to perceived parenthood/kittenhood after all... since male cats do it, and our eldest female, Annie, used to bring mice to the other cats even though they were all adults and accomplished hunters themselves. That really does make it seem more like it's a "sharing with the family" thing. Mentally, I envision it as being the cat equivalent of what would happen if I brought home a large Hawaiian pizza.
Yes I might want to eat it all myself, but it would be rude not to invite my other family members to have some. So I might bring it in the kitchen, and give a shout to whoever's home to see if they're interested in what I just brought in. But it turns out they ate earlier, and they're all stuffed. So at that point I feel pretty good about eating as much as I want. But I might still save a few pieces, because I can't eat it all, and/or someone might appreciate being able to have mouse--erm, pizza--for lunch the next day.
Our outdoor cats, when we lived on the farm, would bring us halves of mice. Always the butt half, which I take it was not the choice part--sometimes they left mouse butts lying around the yard too. We tried buying them ash trays but they never used them. J/K
I have to wonder just how much of it relates to perceived parenthood/kittenhood after all... since male cats do it, and our eldest female, Annie, used to bring mice to the other cats even though they were all adults and accomplished hunters themselves. That really does make it seem more like it's a "sharing with the family" thing. Mentally, I envision it as being the cat equivalent of what would happen if I brought home a large Hawaiian pizza.