What exactly do these gifts from our cats mean?
Now that Christmas is just around the corner, I believe it’s the perfect time to try to decipher what all these gifts and offerings mean!
Many cat experts say domesticated felines, just like their wilder counterparts, often bring back prey to their families. But that doesn’t explain why we receive strings, crumpled paper, and other presents that have zero nutrition value!
That’s why for a good measure of fun, a few hoomans take a shot at explaining the gifts they receive from their fur-babies.
“They think I’m hungry so they give me rats to eat”
Perhaps cats assume humans don’t eat much – at least, that’s what Zhel Enriquez thinks after receiving multiple gifts from Youmi.
“[To Youmi, I always look hungry so she catches rats for me. After all, Youmi eats a lot – maybe she wants to make herself useful. By giving me food, she is sort of ensuring I give him cat food, too!”
“The roach isn’t the gift; the roach-hunting lesson is”
Coco, a beautiful black cat fostered by Ria Ilano, loves to give cockroaches as gifts. Ria thinks it’s because of her lackluster hunting skills.
“Coco offers the ipis (cockroach) to say, ‘Human, look, I need to teach you how to hunt and kill because you are such a scaredy-cat when it comes to roaches!’”
Despite being shy, Coco is sweet and friendly, thus the generous offer to give
hunting lessons to anyone willing to learn. If you find his gift adorable, get in touch and find out how you can adopt Coco! He’s still looking for his forever home.
“She brings bigger animals each time – she thinks I scream because the previous gifts are too small”
Twinky, nicknamed Amazona by people who know her, is a genius when it comes to catching rats, bats, and even chickens. Her hooman, Docker Docks, believes she’s graduating to bigger animals in an attempt to compensate for previous failures.
“I think she gave me rat because [when] she gave me a frog, I screamed my wits out. Maybe she thought [I wasn’t] happy. Actually, each time [I scream, I think] she tries to bring a larger present.”
Docker knows better now, trying not to react at all whenever Twinky brings home half-dead things.
“She gives me different small animals to eat as a way of providing diversity in flavor”
Ribs, a seven-year-old female feline, gives Marielle Baluyot random creatures: lizards, house spiders, grasshoppers, and even baby bats! As to why, Marielle has a theory.
“I think Ribs gives me these kinds of presents to boast – to acknowledge her hunting skills – or to give them [to me] as food. Maybe she was expecting me to eat them, [but I try to either heal or bury them]. Maybe she’s thinking, ‘My human doesn’t like the taste. I should go hunt something else!’”
“Some cats recycle gifts they receive to show how much they love us”
Claire, the matriarch of Ava Marie Lorraine Cruz’s chowder, loves to catch big and juicy rats. However, she sometimes “lends” Kiwee whatever she catches.
“[Kiwee is clumsy and can’t hunt properly. Grandma Claire once loaned him a dead rat so that Kiwee could pretend he caught it,” Ava says. And really, isn’t deciding to give to someone else a great gift you receive nothing short of a selfless expression of love?
“He gives me spiders because of their alleged medicinal value”
Celebrity cat Pinky once gave his hooman, Joane Christine Masiclat, a ginormous spider when she was sick in bed. Could it be because Pinky thought spiders had medicinal value?
“I was sick at that time and [wasn’t eating much]. Maybe he gave the spider for me to eat?” Joane surmised.
Then again, maybe it was meant to be her medicine.
“He wants to control my shopping addiction by offering me crumpled receipts”
Punky, one of the kittens of a pregnant Siamese who was rescued after being abandoned, knows that his meowmy is a shopaholic. To help her overcome her addiction, he reminds her of the many things she purchased by offering the crumpled receipts she already threw out.
“Most of the receipts Punky would give me were recent ones of things I spent on that day. In the first place, I threw them away because my mom would scold me about my purchases: ‘You bought a new blouse again?!?’ Because she doesn’t check the trash, Punky would retrieve the discarded receipts and give them as gifts to my mom!” explains Kryndall Garcia, Punky’s meowmy. Bravo, Punky, bravo. Don’t mind your purrent’s complaints – your whistleblowing is definitely a gift to her, whether she admits it or not.
“She offers me my own pen in an attempt to write to Santa and beg for more gifts”
Figaro likes to fetch, so he’s likely to give his hooman, Ves Pedraja, stuff she throws in the hamper. Once in a while, however, he digs in her bag for a pen.
“[Maybe] he wants me to stop being so messy. [Maybe there’s something he wants me to write down. Perhaps he wants to send Santa a letter?” says Ves.
“She catches insects as a form of pest control”
Yui loves giving her hooman dead insects. She wants to do it as discreetly as possible, which is why she catches roaches while her human is in the shower.
“I like that Yui serves as a natural pest control for my condo unit. I think it’s her way of telling me, ‘Meowmy, look! This is my contribution to the household!’” explains Donna Col-long.
“He gives me his half-eaten prey because he loves to share”
Yekkers, one of the four felines who have captured the heart of Glady Rosales, loves to share his snack. Sharing is, after all, caring.
“Maybe [Yekkers] thinks I’d appreciate a snack. Ironically, Yekkers is a picky eater when it comes to regular meals. But he has exotic taste for his snacks.”
Glady always makes sure Yekkers’ efforts don’t go unappreciated. “I politely refuse and throw out the cockroach carcass when he’s not looking.”
“What makes her gifts special is the