Hunting(?) Socks?

[casmeows]

Our youngest baby, Wispurr Ann, EVERY night collects socks. She only does this when everyone has gone to bed. We hear her howling like crazy - we don't know if she's calling them or what.

An article in our newspaper recently said that sometimes cats do this when they've been weaned too early or if they're looking for babies they may have once had. I always just thought she was hunting - but maybe treats them as babies.

She's almost 8 years old, and we've had her since she was about age 1. Since we found her as a stray/lost kitty, we don't know if she ever had kittens. When she was found, she had a collar on her that was prob put on when she was a baby. It was so tight, we had to cut it off - and wonder what would have happened if we hadn't taken her in.

The article also said sometimes they have such separation anxiety, that they don't respond to play or any human attention. Luckily in our case this isn't true. She's still extremely playful and very affectionate.

If anyone else has noticed this kind of behavior, I'd love to hear about it!

[zippy-kat]

Hi there!

Though my cats have never 'collected' anything, I have a friend whose cat will drag *all* her shoes into the hallway. She only does this in the wee hours of the morning! lol If I remember right, the cat is near 8 or 9 yrs old and has done this for about 7 yrs or so! Silly kitties!

[NoahsMommy]

My cats dont do that, but it sounds really cute to see!! I wonder why they do a lot of the things they do.

Last night they were playing in the cat tent, I left for school and saw it was no where in the living room, kitchen or hallway....it was in the den! What?

[yumyum6970]

A couple of days ago I found this really neat toy for the kitties to play with. It was a mouse on a fishing pole that made a squeeking noise. Yum Yum and Dutchess loved it! Yes, I said LOVED it because last night I had laid the pole across the coffee table and when we got home it was on the floor and the mouse was off of the string. Needless to say who did this, YUM YUM. Later that night I saw her carrying the mouse in her mouth.

http://pepeirce.tripod.com/thekittycorner

[TheAntiPam]

My cat Winston has a thing for socks too! He is quite small, and the socks are almost bigger than he is! When he drags them around, he has to go backwards, otherwise he steps on the end of the sock and stops himself from moving.

I feel quite proud that he protects me from these evil dirty socks, which are obviously plotting to -um, er- do something dastardly! Winston - my protector and hero - What a cat!

[Edwina's Secretary]

There is a cartoon strip, MUTTS, in which the cat has a love for "his little pink sock." Sings to it, carries it around with him. This is one of my favorite animal related cartoon strips!

[michelene]

Awwww...Wispurr Ann goes hunting at night and brings you the socks as presents. My fur nephew Whitmore does the very same thing during the day.

[wayne0214]

Snow Tiger is the only one of my furkids who takes socks, rope and whatever else is small and loose and collects most of it in the bathroom. I find shoes and other missing items behind the toilet. First place to look!


............wayne

[carrie]

I have been trying to stay off the cat board as I feel I am taking over the dog board sometimes and I don't like that feeling.....but I couldn't resist this one. I hope y'all don't mind.....

I think there is two main reasons for cats to collect objects, toys and socks especially, although other items of underwear are favourites too!

One is the trophy aspect - the same way that outside cats will bring home their prey.
This will occur when a cat has no reason to hunt for food and is well bonded to it's human family.
A cat cannot help but respond to it's hunting inheritance. It is the most basic of instincts, yes.....even more than the sexual urge....
A cat must learn to feed itself to live to the age of sexual maturity and to bring back food shows that it can kill more than it can eat. This makes it a very desirable mate. It is a basic urge that is transfered to toys and sometimes other items and is aimed at showing the cat to be a superior specimen and meant to impress.
The cat that shows this behaviour tends to have had a normal nest period and good filial bonding (bond to mother). (Not always the case, but usually.)

The second is more like the original post - the cat is usually an orphan or an only kit or has had a disrupted infancy, maybe been seperated from the mother at a very young age. The cat chooses strongly scented items of the owner (once learnt the behaviour often moves on to clean items of the sort that smell strongly when first taken off, like socks) that the cat feels a compulsion to collect together. It may be that the cat is going through behaviour learned in the nest ( mother gathering kittens that share a common smell). As the kit was deprived of full learning from the mother for whatever reason, abandoned, orphaned, removed from nest early.....it has not completed the full range of learned behaviour that full term nestlings have.
Some of these collecting cats will grow out of it, but some seem to persist with the behaviour all their lives.

How about giving the cat a basket of old socks? Spread them around the house before you go out and it will keep the cat very happy and active during the time you are away. Rub the old socks in your hands before you let kitty have them.
Another interesting thing to do is to get everyone in the house to choose a sock and put their scent on it. Then see if there is a pattern to which sock is looked for first.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Nutz! The comic won't let you link directly to it...

Use this link to the Mutts page;
Then use the arrow box to select Decenber 14 and
December 15 for "sox" cartoons!

See...

Link to Mutts (cartoon index on the left)

But hurry - the sox dates will fall out of the date box very soon.

[carrie]

Thanks.

The screen door is an excellent idea......but.....one problem I can see with it...........













I didn't think of it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Totally brilliant and inspired!

[lynnestankard]

My daughter Diane is married to an American and lives in Chicago - so going from a pussycat home she soon persuaded hubby - Jason ,they needed a furbaby. So along comes Tabitha - the sweetest furbaby.

Of course Tabitha needs to show Mummy and Daddy what a clever pus she is - so she starts dragging one of Diane's bra's ( ) round the apartment - and WONT let it go!!!

This is fine - until company calls and the said object is going greyer by the minute!

So a lot of talking takes place between Mummy and Tabitha - then they settle on an old bikini top - looks better than the other object!!! And is more colourful

All this was three years ago - and Tabitha is STILL the proud mummy of a bikini top

We have met her on two occasions and she is adorable - spoilt , but very adorable

When we pack to come home she lies in the case as if to say - take me to meet my English cousins

Sorry this has been a long ramble - just had to share.

Lynne.