Cats are not exactly the type of animals who are animated when it comes to showing their love for their owners, but they do have one thing going for them – their penchant for amazing gift giving.
Surely most owners simply love it when their pets bring them the occasional dead cicak or even a dead mouse knowing that it’s a sign of affection and the cat is trying to teach you how to hunt. But what if one day you found that your cat brought you a live one?
Netizen @darleenzakir shared a funny video of how her furball named Elle brought back a live rat as a sign of her cat’s affection for the family.
You know how it’s a cat’s nature to present ‘hadiah’ dekat tuan dia? Well, Elle nak bagi kitorang tikus. Ingatkan bangkai je, rupanya hidup lagi. Maka bergegarlah rumah kami hahahaha ?? pic.twitter.com/S8tKGeANAh
— Darleen Zakir (@darleenzakir) September 11, 2019
“You know that it is a cat’s nature to bear gifts for their owners. Elle brought back a rat today.”
“We thought that the rat was dead. We thought wrong.”
Ow, bless her heart.
The live rat, however, was not a first for Elle.
In her thread, @darleenzakir spoke of how her cat brought back the head of a chicken given to her by a makcik who sells chickens as a reward for fending off other cats at her stall.
Is it mere coincidence that cats consistently bring gifts to their owners? Apparently, no!
According to Dr. John Bradshaw from the University of Bristol, there are a variety of possible reasons – namely because your feline friend wants to teach you how to hunt or because your cat is feeling charitable or simply instinct kicking in.
So for whatever the reason, we urge cat owners to be happy when they receive such gifts – you wouldn’t want to get yelled at for giving a gift right?
Also read: 5 Common Behaviours of Cats & What They All Actually Mean