My cat (Rolly) does this thing where she finds socks and washcloths and carries them around in her mouth like they’re baby kittens and yowls these loud muffled meows until she finds me and then she drops them at my feet and immediately walks away and at first I thought that she was trying to help me because maybe she thinks I’m an ineffective cat who obviously can’t fend for myself, but I just noticed that the socks left at my desk today are all pulled out of the dirty laundry and now I’m pretty sure that she’s just bringing me reminders that I am a terrible housekeeper.
PS. A few of you were not aware that I have three cats as Rolly always gets left out since she’s crotchety and hides in cabinets most of the time (much like me). She was born grumpy but we love her. She will not let anyone hold her but she will occasionally perch on your head while you brush your teeth, but only if really, really don’t want her to.
Me and Rolly almost eight years ago today:
Cats. LOL.
Cats are assholes. The end.
No no no! She loves you! And your scent. Hence the dirty laundry 😀
Cats are VERY judgmental! Or maybe it’s all she can afford to get you for your birthday. Happy birthday early, Jenny!
I wonder if she thinks “this smells like it might be your baby, you’re a terrible mother. I brought it to you.” Which, still is kind of offensive but not so much about your housekeeping abilities?
(Honestly, they are all Hailey’s socks so you might be on to something. Maybe she thinks I just keep losing my child and she’s trying to remind me that I have one. ~ Jenny)
One of my cats used to do this with a catnip butterfly. According to the Interwebz, you’re right – he is doing it because he thinks you’re a crappy hunter who will starve.
The dirty socks are an odd choice, though.
My kittens find things the dog should not have… ribbons and socks especially – and give them to the dog. Sometimes I think they are trying to get him in trouble. But mostly I think they are bringing him forbidden presents. “Here!” they say. “Play with this! The humans don’t want you to have it because it is too much fun.” So my advice is to toss that dirty sock up in the air a few times. My dog Theo swears it will make you feel much better.
Jenny you have some weird ass pets. Dorthy Barker is gone beyond the moon, Hunter is pretty cool though. Rolly maybe is acting out some kind of childhood trauma?
My daughter’s cat used to steal her bras from her bedroom and bury them in the litter box. You talk about judging!
Flattered. Mine are obsessed with dishtowels. One sits on them(Cooper) and the other hunts them (Scout). Here is Scout taking down a dishtowel: https://www.instagram.com/p/BdIfXkEl0UR/?taken-by=catanddry
Well, my cat brings me dead rats so I think you are winning if all you get is socks. Plus he has, more than once, left me a mouses head on the pillow,so I am pretty sure he is a member of the mafia.
(She once brought me a live scorpion when we lived in the country. I’m not sure if it was a threat or a gift. ~ Jenny)
That is the best sentence in the history of sentences. An entire story in it.
One of my cats used to leave dead mice in my bed. Kind of a Godfather situation. I would prefer dirty socks.
Oh my gosh! My cat, Butters, does this, too. Except he’s sneaky about it and only leaves things in the hallway and meows if we’re not around. Socks, underwear, stuffed animals, any soft things, really. And when we’re not home, we come home to about 20 things up and down the hallway. He’s a cool cat, just neurotic, I guess!
My cat Stella Bean does that with her toys – only she leaves them on my bed, my pillow and on me at night while I’m asleep. I wake up surrounded by cat toys. Kali tucks them in my shoes, after the mewling & carrying them around the house. Maybe they see them as gifts for us…
You have the most sarcastic animals. I love it! Thank you for this post. I needed a smile.
I wish my puppy would just carry and drop socks and things, but instead Frankie destroys and devours. Last night she ate two pieces of homemade pumpkin pie, a tray of Christmas cookies, and a sleeve of crackers. I need on of those socks to put over my nose due to this beast’s stench!
We had a cat who, when someone was sick, used to steal food off the table and bring it to wherever they were re-couping. “Here hairless kitten, I have bought you subsistence. Please feel better”.
One of my cats does this. We used to get upset at our son, seeing his dirty socks all over the house. Later we learned it was the cat, George. He only does this with our son’s dirty socks. We figure the smell is too much for them to be concentrated together.
You’re lucky it’s just socks. I had a cat that once picked a tampon applicator out of the bathroom trash and carried it into the living room – in the middle of a party.
ACTUALLY, the cat loves your scent!!!
My cat ate some packing string and was tearing around the house like his ass was on fire with string coming out of his butt with a turd at the end. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I mean sometimes our cats take socks we’ve left on the floor and put them in their litter, so I guess it could be worse?
Maybe she’s just too tired to put the socks back where she found them? She looks little.
At least she doesn’t pee on your rugs. That’s how MY cat used to express her appreciation for me. Now she’s on “calming food”, which means she’s just super chill and just sneezes in my face when she’s unhappy.
(Ferris Mewler pees on mattresses. Only mattresses. And you can’t get that smell out of mattresses so you have to buy a new mattress so now we have to keep all of the bedroom doors closed all the time and since he has thumbs we had to change all the door knobs to slippery ones that he couldn’t open. ~ Jenny)
She hunted and killed that sucker, and brought it to you to eat.
Our cat Lizzie Beth used to bring us our daughter’s socks, clean or dirty, when she wasn’t home. She’d bring them to us and cry. We always assumed she was upset that our daughter wasn’t home. She was definitely our daughters cat more than anyone else’s and she loved her to pieces and slept with her every single night. It seemed to be her way of letting us “idiot hairless parents” know that (although we must not have noticed) our baby was missing. Hello!
My cat has a white fluffy ball (she stole it from Santa’s hat last year). She carries it around and cries when she wants attention. She knows where we are in the house. She just wants to cry about it. We call it the crying ball or the ball of whine.
Actually she’s bringing you a “trophy”, to show you what a mighty hunter she is. If she were an outdoor cat, she’d be bring mice, and such, and laying them on your porch. (The appropriate respinse is – “Good Kitty”.) 😊
I think I’d be flattered, but I also really want a house cat so that there’s a person in my home who is always contractually obliged to love me. If that happens to be with socks, so be it.
Our cat Puff did this to my brothers smelly socks when were teenagers. We thought Puff was hunting and killing the stinky prey, and she was proclaiming her victory!
My daughter’s cat would get her dirty socks and carry them around like kittens. I think he just liked her scent. He would also attempt to burrow inside of her shoes, and failing that (he grossly underestimated his size), he would simply sleep on top of them. It couldn’t have been comfortable, but he didn’t care.
My 14 month old daughter does the same thing.
Can’t a gal catch a break? Judgy little mewer! 8 )
My Kelpie (type of cattle doggo) does this everyday! Specifically dirty socks from our laundry or God forbid we leave any by the bed at night. She will go upstairs, find a sock, come back and sit next to me and put it in my hand. I have no idea why, shes done it since she was a baby. We just assume she wants attention. The good news is i do laundry a couple times a week, cause its not allow to get big enough that the dog can dig around in it.
I knew someone who had a cat with the same type of proclivity – except it was strictly for dirty underpants. He’d pull them from her hamper, play with them, and usually bring them to her when she was in the bath. His absolute favorite were her period panties.
And he may have gotten a pair stuck on his big old floofy head once and run around the house running into walls. So, you’re not alone?
It could be revenge for faking her out with the image of screensaver fish she cannot reach. Cats hold grudges.
My Bear cat used to do that when she was a young kitty. She would only take black socks, though. She was a black cat, so I always thought she was playing mommy and the socks were her kittens. She’d leave them by my side of the bed.
One of my cats does the exact same thing! Clean, dirty, doesn’t matter. Sometimes I wake up to find them lovingly placed on my pillow.
My cat steals my slippers. She goes through the house with one in her mouth and yowls proclaiming her superior hunting skills.
So maybe your cat is just letting you know she can track you and Hailey if you are ever lost in the woods?
Cats are assholes. ❤️
I agree with Nancy that you should play with the sock. It seems the polite thing to do when she has gone to so much trouble to fetch it for you. Be cautious though. I once had a fabulous time after my birthday guests had left, crouching on the floor with my cat shredding all the wrapping paper with our teeth. It was totally brilliant, until I realised my neighbours were watching, frozen in horror at their window. (Always pull the curtains, Jenny. ALWAYS).
(It would be pointless because the moment anyone makes eye contact with her she stops mid mewl and drops the sock and walks into another room. It’s like she’ embarrassed for all of us that she has to keep bringing them to me. ~ ~ Jenny)
Hahaha!! Cats! I had to get another cat to help my first cat to become more like a normal cat. Neither of them brings anything to me – they are more of the “stare at you for an hour until you finally start asking what the hell they want” kind of cats. Also, my first cat is an actual, honest-to-Gawd Cat Burglar. Seriously. She broke into a man’s house and then refused to let him do his laundry for 4 hours and when she got bored, she went up the stairs and started bellowing at the back door to be let out.
As long as the socks don’t stand up on their own,….
She wants to give you hunting lessons.
My parents raised an orphan kitten that liked to suck on human earlobes. He never got the nursing experience, so had to make do. Luckily, he suplemented his diet with mice and such.
Be thrilled that you’re being honored with socks–even if they’re filthy! Over the years my cats have placed many a (recently murdered) bird or mouse at my feet. Despite my screeching (think Warner Bros. cartoon with the lady up on the stool) and protestations, a cat smile has accompanied every offering. You’re their queen and this is how they pay homage and earn their keep. All Hail Queen Jenny!
For my cat, Butters, it’s hair ties. No matter where I put them he will find them and re-hide them. I come every day to at least three that have been shoved under my front door, just waiting for me.
I 💙 All of your pets, Jenny❣ Today is MY December birthday 🎂🎉 *
Sending EARLY Birthday wishes to YOU, fellow Capricorn 🐐.
I am spending it w my Ragdoll kitten +2 kittens I am fostering 😺😸😽
So it is All kitties/ALL the time…thank heaven because they NEED me. I am deep in a dark hole and these 3 angels are SAVING ME since they came…no celebrating because I was unable to fly 5 hours to be with my Dad. Am utterly alone.
Bless All these kittens 😇 they are the sweetest.
(Happy birthday! Sending you so much love. ~Jenny)
You’re fortunate. My cat Millie used to fill my shoes with pee when I was at work. She would take her fuzzy little tuxedo paw and open. the. damn. closet. door. and pee my shoes full. The only way to get that smell out was to bury the shoes. My cat, my husband and myself all ended up on anti-depressants that year.
No dirty socks here, but last week, my Manx liberated two $100 bills from the kitchen counter. We found it stashed in the little house on her cat tree. Her catnip habit may be more serious than I thought…
Could be worse. I had a cat that loved tampons. Try bringing a date home for the first time only to find an entire box-worth of tampons scattered all over your apartment! Little f***er could open the cabinet and find them! On the other hand, maybe that was his way of swiping “left” in the days before Tinder and he was just saving me potential heartache! 🙂
(This is magical. It’s like he was reliving the tampon scene in Carrie while you were out. ~ Jenny)
It’s a compliment. She’s expressing what a good house keeper you are with clean socks.
my Mama Cat Cecil did this too – only sometimes it was underwear too. One time there was a “pet specialist” of the training/behavior variety on the Ronn Owens show and i called in asking her why my cat did this. They LAUGHED at me (seriously. on-the-air laughed) and said i must be confused as she “had never heard of this behavior”.
Some fukkin “expert” she was, eh?
When I was pregnant, my cat started rifling through the dirty laundry, finding my used underwear, and leaving it around the house. Only did it during my pregnancy. No idea why.
That’s because she can only get to the dirty ones? The clean ones are in a drawer that she can’t open? Mine can open cabinets and door handles, but only seems interested in cat treats and getting outdoors.
(They should be in a drawer but mainly they’re folded in a laundry basket waiting to be taken to a room. I suck at laundry. ~ Jenny)
No she just loves you. That’s a better present than a half dead mouse.
I think she brings you dirty socks because your a terrible hunter and you totally flipped out about the live scorpion. Which was so a threat. Besides dirty socks are better then the live birds Loki use to bring me and let lose in my bedroom. Do you know hard it is to catch a bird at 5 am when you are in complete shock.
I had a cat named Pixie who did the exact same thing when she was old. I chalked up to senility. Is Rolly getting old?
(She’s around 70 in cat years so she might be getting a bit crotchety. ~ Jenny)
My cat, Saoirse, brings me a pack of paint brushes from my family’s apartment downstairs. She might be trying to tell me to renovate.
Rolly knows what you do and just wants to be famous.
We could have throw rugs for years because our furbaby Shaney was convinced they were evil he would drag them all to the middle of the kitchen growling and shaking them! He also thought the dog toys were better than cat toys and continually brought me the snake 🐍 toy which when you’re woken by a cat dropping a drooled on wet snake on your face it makes for one interesting way to wake up! Then again he also would lick one paw then use the other to wash his face. He never got the memo on cat bathing apparently.
We had an ex-breeding cat who used to do this. When we adopted her at 10 years old, she’d had 11 litters of kittens in her life, poor thing. We always figured she was flashing back to her missing babies, and moving them around to safety. She lived a very happy six years with us, totally spoiled and living a life of luxury 🙂 Perhaps Rolly thinks you’ll look after her babies 🙂
lol…. Jennifer A
My roommate’s cat used to do the same thing, but she eventually progressed to dragging a pair of yoga pants down the stairs. She was yowling in such a strange way (because her mouth was full of yoga pants) that I actually caught her coming down the stairs when I went looking to see where she was, because I thought she was hurt. It was a sight to see…
Aww! She’s hunting and showing her prize to you! My cats like to drop their toys into the dog’s water bowl. I think it’s a territory thing.
My dogs do this also
My cat does this but I thought she was saying she had killed the horrid sockmonster. I always congratulate her and say thank you.
my cat loves to go on the screened porch and search for lizards that aren’t smart enough to stay out. One day my wife saw him bring TWO lizards inside at one time. I’m not even sure how he managed to get two in his mouth at once? that is resourcefulness. Two lizards – one mouth, I mean he doesn’t have pockets.
(TW: consequences of cats hunting) We are children, pets and lesser beings to cats -which creates a conflict for them, as they admire our opposable thumbs and access to the refrigerator.
My childhood cat was an optimist who knew if she Just. Kept.Trying, I’d get the hang of mouse-hunting. It was plain she viewed teaching me as her job. One hot night I’d been sleeping nude when she’d leapt through the open window of our country house with a specially-prepared mouse for her slow-to-learn kitten that was me.
Plop! Woke me from a sound sleep, as the still-alive mouse was dropped on my bare chest. I did manage to become immediately awakened from my sound sleep -and then, go into hunter mode, as the mouse scuttled to hide in the blankets at my side.
Next I noticed that she’d handicapped my mouse by chewing off one of its back legs. The raw stub had left a stream of blood across my chest. The mouse escaped to run over an open trap door, where it seemed to hang for a moment in true Chuck Jones fashion before dropping to the floor below. My cat followed it, which ends my part of the story.
I still can’t catch a mouse.
At least she’s not dragging your underwear out into the yard like my dog did when I was a teen. Not my drawers, to be sure. My sister’s. When her boyfriend was coming to pick her up. I should have retrieved them. I should have. But I didn’t.
My chihuahua does this. It’s hard to be mad when she’s hauling around balled up socks bigger than her head though.
Apparently, cats will use things like socks as a replacement for dead prey. Think of it as a gift.
We used to have a cat named Rumpleteazer who would lick the back of my head after I took a shower. She always made these peevish little noises when she did it, almost as if she was trying to tell me I’m a horrible cat who can’t even groom myself properly.
So we have these wonderful fuzzy blankets in our living room. We started arriving home to find them on the floor, on the stairs, in the hall. We knew one of the cats was doing it but we didn’t know why. Then one day we caught our cat Smoo humping the fuzzy blanket. So apparently sometimes he needs to move them to a new location to hump. Eventually he gave up doing it in secret. Now he openly humps the blankets in front of us. Sometimes while we are under them. I asked his vet what to do and she just laughed. Frankly I’d rather have Sock Bandit cat over Happy Humper cat. Let me know if you are open to a trade.
Our youngest just did this for the first time yesterday; he dropped a huge rat (we think it was already dead) onto the floor for my sister to admire his handy work. Our previous cats used to bring us presents all the time. My last cat had a time travelling tunnel somewhere in the yard because she would bring me the most gigantic Jurassic sized insects to scare the living daylight out of me. I have this thing where insects don’t really scare me when they are dead or alive… but on their last limb (walking dead style) I have been known to scream as if a serial killer were in my room. Once, in the middle of the night she let a clearing-dying, fist-sized moth loose in my room, I fluttered about hitting nearly everything in its path between her playtimes, until it finally was mercy killed by the ceiling fan. All I could do was hide under my blanket until the carnage was at its end.
Cats are so funny. Our indoor cat gets socks and sometimes undies out of the dirty clothes hamper at night and leaves them strewn about on the floor. I just think it’s cute! It’s his way of hunting for prey. He panics whenever he’s outside. Gotta love them!
Our cat Annabel would only sleep in the hamper when the clothes were clean, never when they were dirty. So yes, I believe you are being nudged.
(YES. The cats never sit on the dirty laundry but the moment I start folding clean clothes they are fighting to get into the basket. ~ Jenny)
When our elderly cat died I stopped feeding the others the prescription wet food they’d been sharing.
Either for my grief, or because she thought the food supply had dried up, my other cat Mika became a hunter of frogs. (We had a cat door then). The first few were announced to me and less “healthy” but there was a pond so sage kept at it. she started caging tiny ones in her mouth so they seemed relatively unharmed on delivery & I would walk them back to the pond just in case. She continued this, multiple times per day, for at least 30 days, with a one time record of 5 frogs over a 24 hr period! We found a few mummies behind furniture when we finally moved, too. Since she’d eventually stopped announcing delivery, there were opportunities for this.
Look at dat face!!! I only say that because I’m allergic and have never had to live with cattitude. lol
One of our cats does this with her toys, or live rodents, bugs or snakes – whichever she can find. My husband thinks she’s trying to tech us hunting skils like she would a kitten “here now you try”
Yes. My roommate’s cat does things like this. It mostly cracks me up.
My cat brings me dead mice (both “house mice” and “field mice”) that he murders on his catio and brings inside to ‘share’…I’d take socks any day.
One of our cats used to cover his food with gloves, socks, and even my dads old underwear. I know for a fact he ate my sisters gloves and at least one pair of underwear because we found the remnants around the house (the waist band and the Winnie the poo patch were not tasty). So this would make sense if she thinks your a crappy hunter, she’s bringing you ‘food’ she thinks smells tasty. Tasty and full of fiber?
Well, my dog Poe used to eat socks and shit them out, in their entirety. So, consider yourself lucky.
I had a cat that once left the upper torso of a bunny in my bedroom. I guess it’s the thought that counts.
Your cat is leaving you what she thinks are “gifts”!! 🙂
Maybe she’s being like a little kid and pretending the socks are her babies and then dumping them with you when she gets bored with them?
I wish our cat (that looks a lot like Roly but is way older) would steal our dirty laundry. Instead, if I leave it there too long, he pees in it.
I have to agree with those who think Rolly has decided you are a bad hunter and need help.
My contribution to the “cats think we are helpless and pitiful” thought – My mama cat Olivia was a stray who gifted me with her first litter of kittens. One day I sarcastically told her that her kids were eating me out of house and home. She was an indoor/outdoor cat, so when she went outside, she caught a big bird and brought it to the front door. I wouldn’t let her bring it into the house to feed me or her youngsters, so she went around to the side window of my living room near where I was sitting on the couch, jumped up on the window ledge, and proceeded to try to force the dead bird through my screen. No matter how much I tried to get her to stop, she was determined that she needed to get that bird in so her babies could be fed, since I was somehow incapable of keeping enough food around for them. She was seriously mad at me for refusing to allow her to hunt for us. I have learned something – I never tell Olivia that the cats are hungry or eating me out of house and home. She’s 12 now, and sadly all of the kittens from the first litter have passed on (she’s got a couple from other litters and just “adopted” a little disabled guy), but she still treats me as if I’m her sad little hairless cat that can’t properly hunt. I also can’t properly bathe myself or do my own hair, based on the middle-of-the-night cat baths I get, or the funky way she’s done my hair during the night, but she loves me anyway.
My sister came home one night to a whole link of sausages (6 of them all in a row) on the floor. Not hers or her roommates, we figure her cat who was a tiny wee thing had ruined someone’s dinner plans
Yes-I agree with most of the tribe. You are lucky it is socks and not Dead Animal or Insect Parts. My mighty huntress specializes in crickets. Sometimes we have to put one out of its misery by stepping on it as it drags itself across the floor on the legs it has left. We keep telling her that it’s RUDE to leave half of a cricket just laying around. But she doesn’t listen. Cats are goofy.
Clearly your cat thinks you are a house elf and is trying to free you.
One cat brings me clothes if they have straps or strings. I got home one day and she met me in the kitchen with pajama bottoms that had a drawstring. She’s just taking care of me. https://possumscatsthingsgnawingatme.wordpress.com/2017/12/25/may-your-holidays-be/
Aw! I wonder if it’s like my friend’s dog though; when she’s broody she’ll pick out certain toys and they’ll be designated her puppies. She looks so sad if you forget and use them as toys for her “sister from another mister” doggy pal to play with. Heartbreaking almost!
My cat doesn’t leave me anything. But she does do stuff that annoys me. Like when I start getting mad because it’s usually midnight and my cat has been scratching on my door for a half hour until I wake up. And then I finally let her in and now she’s having second thoughts and suddenly I’m woken up again, because now she wants to get out.
You have a cat named Rolly? You never talk about her. She doesn’t even have an interesting name! Show more love for Rolly! Give her an interesting last name!!!
(She’s our oldest cat and is the most cattiest. She is extremely introverted even for a cat and she’ll sometimes let you pet her but would not let you pick her up if her life depended on it. Hailey named her when she was 4 and that is why you don’t let four-year-olds name cats. ~ Jenny)
I got my cat a plush Grumpy Cat for Christmas. He keeps putting it in my shoe like a tiny, passive aggressive statement that I’m the grumpy one.
My cousin’s cat, Oliver, does the exact opposite. He steals laundry (big, small, dirty, clean) and hides it. We’ve searched her house from top to bottom at least three times, and I’ll be damned if we can find his stash. And he never brings it back; it’s just gone. Clearly, the only logical explanation is that he’s found a passage into the Upside Down.
…How did I miss this cat? I have a faint sense of “oh, yes, there are three cats” but I don’t know if I’ve ever caught you talking about her before- only Ferris Mewler and Hunter S. Tomcat. Maybe it was before you got Hunter S. Tomcat? Have to go back and hunt through the archives now.
My cat keeps carrying around plastic knives. I can’t figure out where he is getting them from but I am concerned that he has a secret stash and that I might be late feeding him one day…
In college, whilst staying with my friend at her boyfriend’s house, her cat decided to steal my used tampon (that I’d buried DEEP in the trash) and carry it about the living room in his mouth while LOUDLY yowling/growling and air humping.
So that was fun.
Back in the day when we all wore pantyhose daily to work, my cat Thelma (sister of Louise) used to take my pantyhose out of hamper and spread them all over the house while I was at work (trying to make a living to feed her llazy little ass). When I say “spread”, I mean it. A single pair of pantyhose, properly placed, can go from top of staircase (left toe) to landing in middle of staircase (crotch area) to bottom step ( right toe). This was usually not good for said pantyhose but sometimes I wore them afterwards anyway.
My cat Mushu used to do this 😭 he was very sick and I had to say goodbye to him 4 days ago. He would carry small stuffed animals to me in his mouth, yowling all the way. I called them his “babies”. It’s the second cat I’ve lost this year (ages 15 & 16). It’s been a bad year for everything.
We have 12 cats. We have never had them bring dirty clothes. We have a shit ton of toys. The only thing weird is our girl Josie. She brings live “toys” in the house to hang out and play. She has brought chipmunks, squirrels, birds, mice, and moles. It is not uncommon to wake up to wings flapping. I called her in for dinner once. She came in through the cat door carrying a mouse. She dropped it at my feet, nudged it to wake it up. When it took off, it had 5 cats chasing it. She seemed proud. She also dropped a chipmunk on the floor in front of the couch where my husband was sleeping. The Chipmunk’s chosen path was onto my husband then over the back of the couch. Several cats followed the same path. I heard him yell, “What in the hell was that?” He said he looked down and he imagined Josie sticking out her paws and saying “TA DA”! She looked that proud. We continue to train for catch and release
Our cat Luna does the same thing. She even brought me a sweatshirt last week. The boyfriend thinks she is trading us her lovies for attention or treats. I discovered her today standing on top of her litter box to reach a sock on a drying rack. I have to admire her determination.
Onion does this with his toys, and especially his grossest ones. My theory is that he’s bringing his pretend kills to me to help out, because cats in the wild will do that for colony members that are too old, weak, or otherwise unable to kill enough food on their own. So, your first theory was probably kind of right. Our cats think we’re in need of help 🙂
I took an old shoe string and knotted it up tight to use as a toy for my cat. I will toss it and she will go find it then bring it over and drop it on my shoe, then attack me. I don’t really understand the game.
Thank you😶. Your “Happy Birthday” meant a lot to me. I knew YOU would understand
Hugs to The Bloggess, Dorothy Barker & all 3 cats + anyone in our Tribe who is struggling through the holidays🌠. I made a Wish🕯
Aaauugh.
PLEASE Remove #107 Jenny! My NAME is WRONG!! I have OCD, Can not fix!! Thank you!!
One of my indoor-only cats is particularly obsessed with kitchen items, and over the years has brought me: Keurig coffee pods, a shallot, the coffee scoop, and most of a set of sushi magnets that he picks off the fridge.
I had a cat called Eric (also with thumbs) who wasn’t a good hunter, he was very nervous of everything. So he used to catch leaves and small pieces of plastic for me instead. He was very proud of them.
We have this with our 6 month old puppy. She will hunt out a sock and wander around with it in her mouth before depositing it at our feet. Our cat has no interest whatsoever in the laundry! Your post made me chuckle.
Awww I remember head cat
She probably thinks you’re her kitten and need to be fed.
I used to live with a cat that brought home WARM TOAST! He must have been waiting in someone’s kitchen for it to pop up, ready to steal it. We never found out where it came from 😉 Love Rolly’s ‘cattitude’!
I’m really annoyed now, my cat does nothing 🙁
I knew a family who let their 4-year old name their dog. It was forever known as ‘Happy Birthday’.
I’m pretty sure my cat kills mice, but she doesn’t bring them to me. I’m not sure if this is because she thinks I’m a good hunter or because she doesn’t care if I live.
Funny post! I love the photos, cats have such different personalities.
Siamese Kitten isn’t much of a hunter, but she’s declared war on our Christmas centerpiece – a basket full of pine cones. We’ve had this thing for years, but for some reason it’s become offensive to her. I kind of can’t wait for the holidays to be over, as I’m tired of picking up two dozen pine cones every time she’s “taught them a lesson.”
My cat brought me live animals. Full grown alligator lizards (try catching and releasing that without losing a finger), skinks, my pet hamster (she eventually killed that one). Her brother brought me leaves and scraps of fabric. I bet you can guess which one I appreciated more…
Growing up my sister had a cat who had a stuffed monkey the size of a kitten that she would carry around by the neck (like a kitten), bathe, and talk to when she was lonely. She had never had a litter, but she still mothered this stuffed monkey like it was her own baby.
What a scream! How could the cat even maintain balance at all, with all the toothbrushing action?! 😀
As for Ferris’ peeing on the bed – large plastic shower curtian on the bed will save the mattress. My Maine Coons will revenge pee when we go on vacation, so the beds and couches get covered. Why the socks? Just to make you crazy. Why dead critters? To prove you can’t hunt well. Why is Rolly not see much? She’s afraid of being on a t-shirt.
Our cat played fetch w/a little whiffle ball, the size of a golf ball. She would pick it up with her teeth and drop it in front of you to throw. She mostly liked to play at 3am,dropping the ball on the bed and crying til you woke up. Being annoyed at her and throwing the ball off the bed, when half asleep, was never a good idea. She got what she wanted. I’m, apparently, a little slow at 3am.😑
I wonder if Rolly is so standoffish and unfriendly because she’s been declawed? I know in your case it happened to Rolly without your explicit consent (your vet has some nerve!) I wish people would get the message about what a terrible thing this is to do to a cat, but we’re making progress—-declawing has been outlawed in several countries, California, Denver…
My cat used to bring me hair bands and she would howl until I picked them up. I think she was telling me to groom myself.
Every time you post about Rolly, I’m like, “whew Rolly’s okay. Awesome.”
I have a longstanding habit of getting emotionally invested in other people’s pets. Pay me no mind. But do tell Rolly I said hi.
Blimey, I have been reading your blog for almost eight years. The cat on the head pictures are what brought me here and I am so glad they did.
I love Rolly on your head. Pretty impressive of you both! I had a cat (Hannibal) who used to drape himself over my shoulders, and a cat (Tuppy) who liked to curl around my head like a hat when I was in bed, and a cat (Maisie) who would just hide until the coast was clear for her statutory two minutes’ worth of petting, and a cat (Lucy) who would bounce all over the house after anything anyone threw; and my two current cats (Hobbes and Miette) get mad if I move my legs after they just spent a grueling hour getting comfortable. But only my dog (Nicky) would go get a sock from the dirty laundry pile and bring it to me like a special-delivery party invitation.
My cats used to take folded laundry from the top of the dryer and carry it around the house, doing that weird meowing. I also saw one of them struggling down the stairs once with one of my shoes in her mouth.
Rolly loves you beyond reason and is bringing you presents. Our cat Squirt (don’t ask) brings me hats, mittens, dish towels, etc. every night. Years ago, our dearly departed outdoor kitty brought us dead animals. It’s all love.
One of our old cats (we adopted her last year at 16) is having gut issues. Lately she has taken to presenting me with her liquid poopy ass. Husband is a DVM and is trying to get her sorted. Meanwhile I get to enjoy her since she never pesters him. Also – happy birthday a bit early to another member of the “It’s from all of us, for Christmas and your birthday” Club. My birthday is today 🙂
Our cat, Squirrel, hunt for mail every night and brings it to us. Bills, insurance forms, the odd grocery list or attendance award if she can’t find anything else, but trifolded bills are her preferre prey 😂
I can’t believe it’s been eight years since those Rolly photos (on your head)! I’m not 100% certain that THOSE EXACT PHOTOS are what sucked me into your universe of awesome – like, 98, maybe? Pretty sure. Happy anniversary!
My cat Meower does that too! He brings his “baby” or whatever toy he is currently obsessed with each night and cried deep in his throat. He always has to have it downstairs in the basement and then bring it upstairs crying, and always as soon as you lay down for bed. He drops it dramatically too. He use to always leave it in your shoes but now he drops it in your room or the kitchen. Silly kitties.
I love the way your cat sits on your head when your brushing your teeth. Very funny.
My Rocco does the same thing, that muffled crying sound is always a sure indicator he has stolen a dirty sock from the laundry and is bringing his prize to share with the company…He did change his MO this week though and stole the pair of fluffy wonder socks I got for Christmas…they still had the store hanger package on it and he pulled them out of the gift bag…27 pounds of muffled feline angst murmuring through the house…Happy New Year! Thanks Jenny, for always helping me feel included…normal was never an option!
meanwhile here, my cat keeps shitting on my sofa 🙂
My cat, Harley, is like Rolly. If you try to hold him, he pees on you. He loves me, but hates every other person in the world. Except one random teenage boy who came to visit. He loved George for some reason. He has had what they call “PU” surgery, which means he is now a female in the truest sense of the word. Harley is a transgendered kitty, which could explain the anger. Even the vet sometimes calls him a her.
You HAVE to color your hair the color of that towel! Love it!
I looked at the pictures before I read the text. I have never been so relieved to see a sock.
You look a lot like Ferris Beuller in these photos.
My cat Kona also brings us socks! He sorts through my sock bin to pull out really fluffy ones. He got lazy though and now he only drops them at the bottom of the stairs and won’t bring them to us. He also yowls like he has caught something AMAZING. I guess maybe socks are the best ever mouse to an indoor cat?
I think he figured out he was doing us a favor because we’d get cold feet and put on nice, clean fluffy socks (he only likes clean ones). So he’s probably not lazy, he just doesn’t want to do us a favor.
He’s kind of grumpy too, but more in like a teenage diva way because he’s all “omg why are you patting me here?! I’m running away. I moved two feet. OMG! WHY AREN’T YOU PATTING ME!?” and then he cries and gets really grumpy that you’re not following him to pet him as he runs away from you. And then he gets mad again that you’re patting him. Even though he demanded you pat him. So yeah, teenage diva.
our cat has 8 sock monkeys we keep near the kitchen for her. during the day she’ll carry them down the hallway to my son’s room making that noise you’re talking about, and then in the morning I put them back so she can start over. some of them are as large as her–so funny watching her maneuver them them down the hallway (another one just went by as I’m typing this…) LOVE cats and their quirky personalities!
Oh she’s a treasure. And, yeah, those are her sock babies. She’s bringing you gifts of them. Either that (and this may be creepier) she is bringing you what she sees as half-dead prey because she sees YOU as HER kitten (and a bit dimwitted at that) and she needs to teach you
how to hunt. Ergo, half dead prey from the dirty sock collection. We takes what we can get, in this world.
And when she comes back, the half dead sockanimal is gone, and you must have killed it and eaten it.
I had a cat who used to bring me slightly maimed garter snakes, and then disappear. It was obvious she was convinced I was her kitten and this was something i could kill and eat. As if.
My Zelda is super sweet and affectionate – even lets me pet her floofy belly – but I CAN NOT pick her up for more than a few seconds. I never had a cat in the family before who had that quirk.
My mom’s much-missed Emily was a great huntress and left halves of dead mice and such outside bedroom doors frequently. We appreciated the thought, but…ewww.
I have been pronouncing Rolly’s name as Raleigh, like my grandfather’s. I don’t know why. It only occurred to me today that it was roll y. Not sure I can change now.
I want a cat hat! I’m down to only 1cat, I think she wants a kitten…..
Cats will always judge you about something.
Cats are very judgy .!!!!
Our Zoe (a tabby) grabs different soft objects also. We just acknowledge her successful catch with a “you caught the red stringy? Good job!” Then she drops it and moves on.
My cat Summer used to do the same thing as Rolly but with socks. And only clean socks! She didn’t bring them to me, but if I forgot to fold the laundry or put the unpaired sucks away somewhere, they’d be all over the house to remind me!
Man, I miss that cat 🙁
I think this actually makes you a goddess, because check this out (Ancient Minoan goddess Potnia Theron from Crete, depicted with cat on her head) http://www.thegreatcat.org/the-minoan-cat/
I’m thinking the snakes can be optional with the toothbrush as an acceptable substitution.
Good gravy, I can’t even get my towel turban to stay on by itself for five minutes. How on earth can you balance a whole cat on there?
My cat used to do that with the little toy mousies. She would bring me one and give her “muffled meow” and then when I was paying attention to her, she’d drop it (at HER feet). I’d throw it. She’d run after it and fetch it and meow again. I loved that game. So did she.
My cat does that too!!!! Although she only does it at night and brings toys from downstairs to leave at the foot of my bed. I thought she was losing her sight or her mind and so I bought nightlights for everywhere. Didn’t stop her meowing. The vet said that since she wasn’t fixed until we got her (around 7 years old), our kitty had probably had kittens and her meowing and bringing us toys was likely her bringing us her “kittens” for safe keeping. Which is probably the saddest thing I’ve ever heard!:(
My cat Mallaidh does that yowling thing too, except with her toys, and it’s to indicate that she wants to play fetch. She’ll find a toy, yowl while bringing it to me, I’ll take it and throw it, and the process repeats until she loses interest or the dog decides he wants to play too and chases her.
Okay, so my dogs do something similar in that they constantly snuggle with our dirty laundry. Both of them will find a t-shirt or a pair of pants or something and curl up with it and use the clothing as a pillow/snuggle buddy. On laundry day, they revel in the piles of sorted laundry waiting to be washed. I think it’s actually their way of showing that they love The Mr and I because they just want to cuddle up with something that smells like us.
Maybe Rolly finds your socks, smells you on them, and then is all “HEY! Did you lose this?! I found it! YAY ME!”
My cat does this exact same sort of thing, except with this rubber wrist band that I gave her that she absolutely loves. I need to get her another one because this one is pretty broken. I always know that she has it in her mouth because of the distinctiveness of her loud meows!
Imitation, sincerest form:
Be thankful Rolly didn’t bring underwear. The first time I met my future in-laws, my dog brought them my underwear.
Our Mommacat does that with tinsel balls. Only tinsel balls. I have decided she wants us to tell her what a great hunter she is and snack her ass. She likes it. In other news she is the least weird of our cats.
My cat used to kill potholders and bring them to us to be praised. When I was pregnant a friend came to visit and my husband took him to Atlantic City, while I stayed home because..pregnant. I went to sleep and my cat jumped on the bed, bripping, because (I assumed) she had successfully killed another potholder. I was just telling her what a good kitty she was and something made me turn on the light. The little bugger had caught a mouse. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with it but Wo Fat Nitty Kitty, who had been a street cat, did and he proceeded to take it under the bed and crack bones. I ran out, closed the door, turned on every light in the house, and paced hysterically until my husband came home. He checked under the bed and nothing. Not a thing was left. When a cat brips now I have a Pavlovian reaction.
are this cat trolling you? Lol
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