My cat killed a rat and put it in her food bowl

[FoggySpecs]

My elderly cat, is a regular huntress, today she killed a rat and put it in her food bowl, the bowl was empty. It is her dry food bowl. I know gifts are often considered as affectionate but this is a whole new league. She is good at hunting, her prey is always quite neatly killed and she never eats it but she has never put it in her bowl before. Any cat psychologists have any insights.

Good for her. Impressive.

You gotta appreciate the tidiness

I know this is lighthearted ! but I’d imagine it’s something to do with her claiming possession of it? It’s in her bowl, therefore it’s hers. It is not a gift for you, human

Your cat is clever. Mine used to pit them under my bed.

I’d have to agree, it’s not a gift for you if it’s in her food bowl. That beast is all hers.

Mine always does that. Brings in a dead animal of some kind , drops it in food bowl then eats it from there.
Only an issue if it’s not quite dead and escapes into the kitchen !

Is she giving an opinion on the dry food perhaps?

Mine sometimes does that. But last night dcat3 brought in the biggest rat I have ever seen in my life and left in in the downstairs loo. Thankfully he has a very distinctive 'come and bow down to my mighty hunting skills noise' so I sent dh to find out rather than wandering into the loo without putting the hall light on

Maybe she's fed up of you not appreciating her gifts and wants to show you what it's for? "Chow down, human".

I'm not suggesting you actually eat the rat to appease the cat. Even those of us whose lives are ruled by cats have to have some limits.

She definitely prefers wet food to dry.

Mine is a rescue ex- breeding cat. Who is too scared to leave the house.

However if we leave food out she will collect any meat and take it upstairs to leave on the kids beds.

Cats are just odd.

The killing noise is very recognisable and triumphant, they are so odd. She is now sitting on my lap trying to drink my tea.

My cat did this once, Got up one morning to find a dead mouse lying on her feeding mat!

When our old cat was about 14 the vet advised us to stop giving her dry food - I think because of kidney issues. She carried on without it for another 5 years. (I still miss her - she was a legend.)
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@urbanbuddha I'm really interested to hear as she is almost 15 and less keen on dry food, despite always having it, I got her some wet food as a treat and she is thriving on it, so I thought I would switch over when finished the dry food. She is in quite good shape for her age but I've noticed she is slowing down a bit and doesn't climb trees or hang outside in the cold.

I think I've heard that they should have less dry food as they get old, something about their gums?

This is why we don't have a cat flap! Our cat is also a good hunter so I'm keen to keep the 'presents' outside.

Mine drop their toys in the food or water bowl when they finish 'killing' them. No cat flap here either so anything real gets stopped at the door.

Dd's dcat2 brought in a mouse and put it on the television unit to make sure no-one missed it. I thought that was perfect.

Previously witnessed cat discovering a mouse on her plate EATING HER FOOD.

Didn’t end well - for the mouse.