Do your cats bring the stuff they catch indoors and torture them until the die?

[pstokely]

Many cats do this.

[Drum]

1. Ours would always take care of everything outdoors,

after which they would leave the little chipmunk heads+ on the doorstep. Where they leaving it as a gift for us? I dunno. They're idiosyncratic, that's for sure.

Perhaps the cats that do bring their prey into the house represent some evolutionary step? :shrug:

[LeftyMom]

2. The Cat Who Lets Me Live In Her House is indoor-only, but she is the face of death for indoor bugs

And yes, she'll play with crickets and other fast bugs for a while before she lets them die. She also plays long catch and release games with moths.

I can't look down on her for it. I've seen my grandmother toss live lobsters into boiling water and Japanese people pick at still-live fish with chopsticks. People know better and choose suffering anyhow, she's only following her hunting instinct.

[hedgehog]

3. We've had a plague of dead mice, moles, voles and birds in the

house for the past few months.We can't figure out if the little bitey cat was catching them and bringing them in because she didn't know they were good to eat or if the older cat was bringing them in to train the little bitey cat. The younger dog picked up a few and carried them around the house. I tried to get one, and he carried it upstairs, presumably to eat it. Instead, he wandered back downstairs and lay down on the couch and set it down between his paws and proceeded to lick it. That's when I saw the poor mouse moving! I took it outside and hid it under some leaves. Talk about a rough day - caught by a cat then slobbered by a dog!

[leftofthedial]

4. yes. and some of my neighbors

STILL haven't noticed that their toddlers are missing

:wow:

[conscious evolution]

5. I saw one of those nature shows that explained it.

Apparently it is instinct for them to stalk and catch the pray.The eating them part has to be taught by mom cat.And if mom cat is a house cat with a constantly filled bowl,she never learned to eat her catch either.
The bringing them inside thing is a type of "Hey mom,look what I found!"

[MichiganVote]

6. Nah, little bastards just rat it around and leave it at the door out of pride

[mike_c]

7. sometimes, although not very often-- but one of my departed kitties...

...used to be a scourge of rodents, including chipmonks. He LOVED to bring them in alive, and of course as soon as he started playing with them they ran under or behind furniture. Sometimes they died there if I didn't see him bring them in. It was pretty awful.

[jrandom421]

8. For us, it's actually a gift and offering

to the hunting-impaired mommy and daddy. The furkids catch the rodent and then demonstrate the proper killing and eating technique. Gotta just love those furchildren looking out for mom and dad! :)

[Generic Brad]

9. You should see what my cat does to flowers

Actually she just lays on top of them and squishes them with her rear end.

[Gormy Cuss]

12. Forced labor! You made your cat decorate the tree?

Don't try to deny it. I have proof:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5878190&mesg_id=5878190

[yellowdogintexas]

10. mine do, kitty gymnastics. It is very strange to watch. indeed. nt

[SPKrazy]

11. Sometimes They Do

sometimes they just bring it to your door

they don't think you are smart enough to survive without them

it's an offering at the altar I guess?

[NMDemDist2]

13. every cat i've ever owned brought me "presents"

the funniest story is one night DH and I were sleeping, I woke up hearing "flutter flutter flutter THUMP!"

I shot upright in bed and said "KITTY NO!!"

sure enough, there was a bird behind the dresser (where the cat couldn't get to it) and it would try to fly but couldn't get it's wings spread hence the "flutter flutter flutter THUMP(as it fell back to the floor)

lucky for us, the dresser was right next to the sliding glass door in the bedroom and DH managed to shoo the bird outside while I held the cat so the bird could escape

all my cats have been good hunters. the new baby hasn't brought me any yet, but she's still a kitten

I expect "presents" soon though.......

[bertha katzenengel]

14. I just saved a mouse tonight, and a vole last weekend. Neither was harmed --

physically, that is.

Tonight we heard this squeaking, like a squeaky toy. One of our cats, Smudgie, terrorizes the shit out of her little toys all the time, but none of them squeaks. It was a mouse. The poor thing! :cry: But I got it and put it back outside.

Another cat, Toby, brought in a mouse, but he had the courtesy to break its neck -- outside! -- before playing with it. (pic below, don't look if you don't want to see a not-bloody but still dead mouse)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

15. Mine just kills them pretty quickly and eats them.

Behind this sleek air of metrosexuality, lies a killer.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

16. Lizards.

Poor things.

One of the funniest things I ever saw was my daughter's cat trying to teach my grandson how to kill a mouse (toy mouse). The boy was just starting to crawl and one day Abigail (cat) noticing that he was getting around a little, came up to him with the mouse in her mouth. She threw the mouse up in the air and pounced on it a couple of times, and then dropped it in front of him and waited. When he didn't respond to the lesson, she disgustedly picked up the mouse and carried it back to the bedroom. From that day, she has always treated him with little respect.

[mykpart]

17. Mine is especially partial to albino lizards.

But I think in her mind it's not so much torture as it is just playing with them until they stop moving.