Silly Cat Collecting

[hanjisnk]

For the past week or so, my female (not fixed) cat has been collecting and bringing me everything fluffy and soft she can find. Things like socks, cat toys, stuffed animals, and even a Christmas stocking. She tends to do this late at night when I am trying to sleep, and she makes quite the ruckus while doing so, meowing as loud as she can with whatever she's found in her mouth. Does anybody know why this is? I'm not concerned about her health, just curious as to why she's doing this.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Sounds like some nesting/mothering behavior. Any chance she may be pregnant?

I would suggest having her spayed as soon as possible. She'll be a much calmer cat, repeated heats really take it out of their poor little bodies, and spaying will help protect her from some of the hormone-driven cancers.

 

[hanjisnk]

Sounds like some nesting/mothering behavior. Any chance she may be pregnant?

She isn't pregnant, both of our males are fixed, which is why we decided to not get her fixed quite yet (we will when we can afford to, as of now its not at the top of the priority list). It does seem like nesting behavior, she always brings her finds to me and leave them on my bed.

 

[Willowy]

It may be a false pregnancy. That's fairly common in unspayed cats. Or she just might be a silly cat who likes to collect things .

 

[Kieka]

My male, Link, loves to carry around stuffed things. As a kitten he carried a stuffed cat bookmarker everywhere (TBH it made a horrible bookmarker, but was cute). I have a photo somewhere of him and his kitty taking a nap together. He even took it outside with him and it would disappear for a few days only to reappear looking worse for wear. That one lost its appeal when I made the mistake of washing it (just water, it was almost black at that point and should have been a pale orange). It's still in his toy box but it doesn't leave much. After the disaster with the kitty he latched onto fuzzy caterpillars.

I have bought probably 3-4 dozen small fuzzy caterpillars over the last two years; I've thrown out maybe 6 that are too worn but I only know where maybe 5 are at the current time. I am fairly certain the missing ones are staked out around his territory. I have a dozen I recently bought stashed away for when the ones I know about get low. They are about six inches long and just stuffed tubes of cloth. He will carry those things everywhere. Piles them up at doors or windows at night. Drops them on people when he wants attention or to play. Its like his security blanket I think because he does it more when he is anxious or waiting for something. He usually meows around them too which is a funny sight.

I don't know why he does it. It would be interesting to understand because the other two cats, and no other cats I've had, do it. There was a video going around a while back about a cat who did similar collecting things from neighbors. I think that one was a boy too. You're not alone and I don't think it means anything is wrong. Just cats being mysterious cats.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

Of course, we all might note that your feline cat is not spayed yet, so it could be nesting behavior.

But I would agree with Kieka, that it could be a type of communication behavior, when wanting attention or if anxious:

My male, Link, loves to carry around stuffed things. As a kitten he carried a stuffed cat bookmarker everywhere (TBH it made a horrible bookmarker, but was cute). ... After the disaster with the kitty he latched onto fuzzy caterpillars.
... He will carry those things everywhere. Piles them up at doors or windows at night. Drops them on people when he wants attention or to play. Its like his security blanket I think because he does it more when he is anxious or waiting for something. He usually meows around them too which is a funny sight. ...

We leave toys around the house for my cat, and whenever my husband or I leave the house and our cat is left alone, apparently one of her first moves is to go find one or more of these toys, tow them off of their high perches, and bring them into the bedroom. When we get back, we find an array of her favorite toys spread out on the bedroom floor or on the bed! She also brings them to the bed at night, when she is bored (and trying to entice us to play with her? )

 

[Ardina]

Both Saipha and Mishka do this too! Saipha grabs a toy, usually a ball, and wanders around the apartment with it, meowing as loudly as she can. Mishka doesn't meow, but she'll collect toys during the night and drop them off on my bed. And they were both spayed long before going into heat, so not likely to be nesting behavior. I'm convinced that cats are furry little aliens...

 

[rgwanner]

One of my cats does that She is about 3, altered. She will pick up a toy and carry it around for 5 or 10 minutes meowing. How she can meow and keep it on her mouth beats me! Then she will just drop it and walk away. I figure she is trying to put it where her brothers won't find it