Why do cats bring gifts?

Answer 1

if you had been taking care of an outdoor cat or a stray cat, he/she will bring you a dead animal, mostly a small bird or mouse. they take it as graditude for feeding them taking care of them. this happened alot with a stray cat we had taken care of.

Answer 2

One of my cats does that too. I'll hear him yowling loudly upstairs, and next thing I know, he's dragging one of my sweaters down the stairs with him. I think it's some kind of kitty-cat regression behavior. Before my cat brings the clothes down the stairs to me, he'll hold the piece of clothing in his mouth, and knead it with his paws, like it's bread dough (I know this because sometimes I happen to come upstairs just when he's starting to do it). That kneading is what they do to their mother's belly when they're kittens, to get the milk flowing. So, I think the behavior has something to do with the memory of their mothers.

My cat never brings me clean clothes -- only dirty clothes. Since the dirty clothes smell like me, and since I am the cat's de facto mother, perhaps the cat somehow confuses me with its biological mother.

Answer 3

yuppers they do.