Do all cats bring you “gifts”

[Aple]

Friend is finding a home for her neighbour’s (who has died) cat. I like animals but my only hesitation is coming across a half eaten rodent in my home. It is a huge fear of mine. Do all cats do this?

There is another family who can take the cat (already have one) but my friend is offering him to us first. DD (10) has been wanting a cat for ages but we’ve just never got around to it

I don’t think they are gifts and it all depends on the cat.

I’ve had cats my whole life (more than 50yrs). My current cat is the only one who has ever brought in rats, fully eaten (just feathers remain) or not eaten birds and mostly eaten mice. One or 2 previous cats would catch and eat mice but never bring them in.

If they were gifts he wouldn’t eat a mouse and leave the only thing that’s bad for him (gall bladder)

Indoor cats dont

Dont think op was questioning that somehow

They are not bringing " gifts" they are bringing you things to eat/ survive.. they are natural hunters and think you are not so they are helping you. Yes my cat brings me mice/ birds/ sticks/ snails/ leaves... about once a month.. l just keep a dustpan in bk door and out it goes... birds are usually alive so l throw a tea towel over them.. grab and let go outside.

Both mine do (6 years old, one boy one girl), and their offerings may be alive or dead!

My older cat is 8 and seems to have outgrown it. The little one is 2 and is a killing machine. He often eats his prey and growls if I approach him. His biggest prize was a live pigeon bigger than he was that he dragged through the cat flap.

One does - three rats/mice this week already

One I don’t really count as it’s leftovers from the pub like roast potatoes

Two are too lazy!

Over a great many years from various cats, I received birds, mice, toads, a slow worm, a goldfish, a dove and a rat. All but the rat were still alive so not many dead bodies to dispose of. All the rest returned to the garden/field and the dove to local vets.

Our current two cats aren't too bad, we probably get an offering once per month on average. When I was growing up on a farm we had a big female cat that had a single-kitten litter; that cat grew to be an absolutely enormous vicious bastard and seemed to view hunting mere rodents and songbirds as being beneath it - it wasn't unusual for him to bring full-grown pheasants to the door (which thankfully he never managed to get through the cat flap, not for want of trying!).

My young female cat brings in butterflies a few times a day throughout the summer - luckily they're always alive and I can usually get them off her in time!

We have 3 cats and live by a canal so we often have gifts.

the very first time a mouse was brought in, was when my housemate and I were away. Her husband got given the mouse and we think it’s because they thought he is a big stupid kitten who needed looking after while we were gone! Oddly sweet!

I've only had one cat that did it 😊 he used to bring home birds

I had one who brought me endless quantities of (clean) underwear, along with gloves (gardening ones in summer, wooly ones in winter). And the occasional toad, which left him foaming from the mouth for about an hour which was very amusing.

So if your cat brings you gifts, don't assume it'll be rodents - it literally could be anything! (I've got one currently who brings snakes...)

When i was a kid, our cat brought home empty fag packets and crisp packets. 😂

Our Jade was a proficient mouser, gifting us and next door.

Our current two only have access to our secure garden, and we've only had two birds in a few years.
Much safer to keep cats indoors, if possible, and reduces the chance of presents.

I’ll never forget being awoken to DD who was probably 5 at the time, screaming ‘mummy daddy there is a massive WORM in my room’ at 7am … the cats had caught a slowworm which had escaped their clutches and slithered under her door 😂

My cat doesn't its too much effort. She did kill a spider once and was extremely pleased with herself

my other cats have especially the girls, one killing three birds one morning and laying them out like some sort of voodoo ceremony. I had another cat at the time who had just had kittens and the ceremony, I assume, was for them

snakes ? are you in the UK

My old cat once came home with a massive frog, the frog played dead for hours until I discovered it the following morning. Frog survived

Yes, in the UK - live quite rurally though. The trouble with the the snakes is that they're brilliant at playing dead....when in fact, all bar one of them later turned out to be alive . On the bright side, she leaves them near the back door rather than actually bringing them inside...

My cat only seems interested in massive rats. They're almost as big as him. I don't know how he manages to bring them home without collapsing from exhaustion.

He also seems to have taught his friend, the neighbour's cat, how to hunt. (Or he's letting his pal borrow some of his victims.)

We don't have a cat flap so we don't end up with them in the house thankfully.

I wanted a indoor cat but he was too sweet to resist when we looked at rescue cats.

He goes to the toilet outside and only uses his litter tray once in a blue moon. I would rather deal with a dead rat once in a while than the daily scooping so it's not all bad.

Some never hunt, some kill and eat their prey outside, some leave half eaten bodies (or gallbladders) inside, others leave live animals trapped in houses and some very proudly do their best to catch leaves blowing in the wind.

I’d recommend a cat flap that stops the cat coming indoors if it has anything in its mouth.

Not all do. Is there anyone that would know about this cat's habits? Where is it at the moment?

I’ve not long had my first boy cat .. found some “ bits “ on floor when came home once , looked like innards of some description- yuk
1 mouse - live - running down my kitchen - towel on top , scooped it up and into back garden it went , was really hoping as a neutered male he’d not be doing this
Previous girl cats - every bloody week - dead and alive 🤢

Our first cat (male, neutered) had no interest at all in hunting. A dead bird fell out of the sky right in front of him and he looked a bit pleased with himself and picked it up and brought it to me but otherwise he brought home nothing. But he did like stealing runner beans from a basket in the kitchen and would drag them into the living room to play with.

Our second cat (male, neutered) started with a large worm as a kitten and progressed to bringing home mice, shrews, field mice, birds and on one occasion, a baby rat. He once caught a mouse and came in through the cat flap with it, dropped it in his box under the kitchen table, then went out and brought back a second live mouse. So there we were trying to catch two mice running round the kitchen.

My previous cats brought me:

Snakes
Cockroaches
Birds
Grasshoppers
Mice
Praying mantis
A chameleon

My current three cats are thankfully too lazy/dopey to bring me anything more than the odd leaf 😑

Mine don’t. They keep all rodents for themselves.