Is my cat thinking symbolically?

I’ve seen similar in a cat before, and assumed it was a gesture of confidence in me and/or a symbol of the cat’s own power and/or confidence. It was a dead rodent. Parent animals do that for their young ones, too. I can imagine a few other explanations that may be interesting, or possibly even true.

Why don’t you just ask her, like maybe in sign language? Or bring her something by mouth, in return.

Maybe I should embargo my posts for a few minutes, at least. Delay hitting that submit button. These afterthoughts are distracting. For example, it only just now occurred to me that Belle’s explanation may actually be the most reasonable Occam’s razor conclusion.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by PopeBeanie.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by PopeBeanie. Reason: add dead mouse to the mouth
• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by PopeBeanie. Reason: but wait there's more, dammit

I think you’re right Unseen, she was symbolising “play with me”.

My friend’s cat has a special miaow for “mouse”, as in “here’s a mouse for you”, and later, “did you like your mouse?”. Maybe it’s a special miaow for “gift”. Poppy is a very vocal cat.

@bellerose very likely, Occams Razor proposes the simplest answer is likely to be the correct one. Plus I kind of like the image of @Unseen’s cat holding a toy in its mouth, staring at Unseen, commanding, “Dance, little boy! Dance and play for me!” in cat-speak.

My Siamese would announce she had a toy, while it was in her mouth, as though it were a mouse. She’d go all through the house announcing she had one, until she found the room I was in and then she’d drop it at my feet. If it was a toy mouse, dangling it by the tail to play wasn’t what she wanted. Even when she was pretending another toy was a mouse, she didn’t want play. She wanted praise for you catch/gift. If you thought she wanted to play, instead of praising her for catching a “mouse”, she’d leave the room looking like a very unhappy kitty. I do believe they have the ability to pretend, just from watching the various cats I’ve had in my lifetime. They definitely do have emotions too.

My suggestion is try play first. You can tell if that was what s/he wanted or not very easily. If they don’t play and end up leaving, attempt to put your mind into a cat’s world and see what you come up with concerning the toy. For me, it was easy, in that she did the very same thing when she caught a real mouse, years prior in a different house, and she did the same with her toys too- seeking praise for a job well done. Weird, but true.

@mriana oh please tell me Unseen has to bring his cat a toy in Unseens mouth. Would he have to do this on all fours? Fantastic!

Too bad, too late. I’ve got the visual now, and I’m not done with it yet 🙂

Not that it matters, however I was actually addressing one of the Pope’s comments above

• This reply was modified 10 years, 8 months ago by Strega.