weird meowing with certain toy

mixiecrystals

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hello!

my cat is 1.5 years old and in the past few months has developed an odd behavior - every night before bed, she walks around with this toy chicken that shes had since she was little and meows with it in her mouth. the meow is a really odd meow, like a moaning. she will walk around with it in her mouth and then just leave it somewhere (no specific place) and that will be the end of it. can anyone tell me why she does this?

thanks =)
 

sylorna

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I really have no idea why they do that...but I will say that 3 out of the 4 female cat's we've had have done that and one of the males used to do it with dirty socks. When I was a kid I used to think that Natasha was pretending that it was her baby and she was mewing for it. It's pretty cute. Just wait till she starts tossing it in the air and playing with it, not only do you get "mmmerrrrowwwww" but you also get "silence. Thud. Thud Thud thud thud thud" and then more "mmmmmeeerrrroooowwww"

Maybe they're just showing off. "Hey look everyone!!! I have my favourite and best toy ever!!!"
 

blueberrybeth

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My male adult cat does that too - he doesn't necessarily want us to play with him (which we originally thought he was asking for), he just wants to show off his dilapidated stuffed kitty baby! He will play by himself just like Sylorna's does.
 

blue_monday_88

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I think it might be a primal/instinctual thing. Cassie is not a talker. And she is not your typical "night cat" either, where she plays and howls at night and sleeps during the day. She is more "human" than anything else, but very shy. There is one toy, however, that brings out the "animal" in her...and it's "Mousy," a jingly mouse toy that looks like a real mouse (maybe it feels like one too?). Anyway, if she is about to "hunt" Mousy at night, BF and I will hear "Mew! Mew! Mew-mew-mew-mew!" Then we'll Mousy jingle, which means she attacked it! When we moved last year too, we had some newspapers laying on the ground and Mousy happened to be near it. Cassie got all hunkered down in the newspapers, to "camouflage" herself, then starting going NUTS on him, talking and everything. She also meows when he's in her mouth. It's pretty funny.

So I think it's normal, what your cat is doing. Just let him have fun
 

stormy

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Spyder does the same thing with his feather duster!
 

*mandi*

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Originally Posted by mixiecrystals

hello!

my cat is 1.5 years old and in the past few months has developed an odd behavior - every night before bed, she walks around with this toy chicken that shes had since she was little and meows with it in her mouth. the meow is a really odd meow, like a moaning. she will walk around with it in her mouth and then just leave it somewhere (no specific place) and that will be the end of it. can anyone tell me why she does this?

thanks =)
My cat does this...but she does it with socks. She carries them in her mouth and meows right when we go to bed. She also does it whenever me or my boyfriend leave the house. She leaves it in different places everytime. If she cant get socks, she gets a sweater!
 

lakeriedog

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I used to have a kitty named Judy who did this with leaves...sometimes she would bring a pile 10 or 11 of them into the house all the while making a strange yowling/meowing sound.
 

emb_78

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Originally Posted by mixiecrystals

hello!

my cat is 1.5 years old and in the past few months has developed an odd behavior - every night before bed, she walks around with this toy chicken that shes had since she was little and meows with it in her mouth. the meow is a really odd meow, like a moaning. she will walk around with it in her mouth and then just leave it somewhere (no specific place) and that will be the end of it. can anyone tell me why she does this?

thanks =)
I have one cat that does this also... I just think she is really enjoying her toy!!
 

miss mew

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My cat does it too, he only does it when my boyfriend plays "claw" with him with the bedsheets. It's a terrible meow..like when he goes to the vet. He only does it though when my boyfriend stops playing with him.
 

jane_vernon

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Our cats used to yowl if they brought us anything in from outside (i.e. a bird or beetle)

Would wait until we paid them attention, would drop whatever it was and then carry on as if nothing had happened!!!
 

sylorna

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Originally Posted by jane_vernon

Our cats used to yowl if they brought us anything in from outside (i.e. a bird or beetle)

Would wait until we paid them attention, would drop whatever it was and then carry on as if nothing had happened!!!
I had that happen one time, with a chipmunk. Unfortunately for Samantha it was still alive and it caused much confusion when she dropped it and it tried to run away.
 

kareemsbuddy

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My cat does this too. He has a mouse that I think he's had for 4 years and he carrys it around in his mouth and makes a funny meow. We always call it his baby. And out of all his toy mouse, he will not chase this one if its thrown?!?
 

rosiemac

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Rosie does that nearly every night with her catnip sack. She's done it for a while now and she starts at the top of the stairs and carries it down, but i remember when i first heard the meowing i thought something had happend to her?!, so i jumped up and she drops the sack once she's at the bottom of the stairs.

I always tell her what a good girl she is for mummy and give her a scritch
 

sunnicat

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Sophie doesn't do this, and Sunni only had one toy that she ever showed interest in. It was a small stuffed bear that Joe won me at the fair. From the day I brought it home, she adopted it. She did the nocturnal carrying and meowing with it every night for five years. When she died, I didn't know what else to do with it, so I buried her bear with her.
 

captiva

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Many cats I that have owned me have done this. Currently, my cat George, does this with his Sockie and Megan does this with her Green Mousie. They both take them all over the house telling the world about their babies. I have never been able to find an article on it to explain what the experts think this behavior means. It's fun though, isn't it ?
 

jennyanniedots

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OMG! Henry does that too and I thought he was just a strange one! LOL! He will carry his "Kitty" (a Beanie Baby tabby like him) that he's had since he was about 8 weeks old around, with a deep meow. He wakes us up in the middle of the night, carrying it into the bedroom. I'd love to see some behavioral explanation for why cats do this, but I never have found one, either.
 

gareth

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Caitlin does this with mice. And she keeps on meowing until I get up out of bed to see what she has brought me. Even if my wife gets up and goes to look she keeps on going until I'm there.

Sweet really, but very annoying at 3am
 

katachtig

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Much will drag our sweaters or any clothing down the stairs meowing the whole way.

Carly will do it right before bed and it almost sounds like a parrot say hello (herro, herro).
 

mauld

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What an amazing forum (not to mention site!
). I've had this same situation with a couple of my cats and couldn't find any one else who could relate. Now it seems it isn't so strange--- or if it is, mine are not the only ones doing this.
My tale started about 6 or 7 years ago with one of my male cats (Sam) who has since passed on-- (at 17 years and 23+lbs!!). He would carry socks/garden gloves around the house at odd hours of the day & night, calling out loudly. At the time we had 3 other cats older then him (who have also passed on-- average age of those 3 20+ years). While Sam was still around, we 'adopted' Tsuki, who came as a kitten from a shelter. All was pretty normal (ie she didn't show any strange carrying signs) up until about a month or two before Sams passing. She then seemed to 'adopt' 2 small chenille teddy bears we had sitting out on a chair. So on any given day we'd come home or wake up to socks, gloves & teddy bears scattered about the house. Like the others have posted, Tsuki will 'cry' out (abeit muffled-- as the TB's are in her mouth) and she will deposit them randomly on the floor.... except at night when she 'brings them up -- individually mind you--- onto our bed (where she sleeps). Except for wanting to carry them around, she doesn't cuddle up with them, nor show any other interest in them. As she's now 5 and didn't do this when we originally brought her home, we can old guess she 'learned' this from Sam!
 
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