What's he doing?

My one cat, Bear, is a 2 yr old Manx who has been a very fun addition to my household since I got him at 7 weeks old. During his first year, I had many "Bear Stories" to tell my friends on a regular basis.

One of the things he likes to do is dunk his toys into his drinking water. He has a "swiffer" (he stole mine & claimed it as his own) that I frequently find in either the feed or the water bowls. Another "toy" is just a simple piece of gross grain ribbon. It is found in the other water bowl all the time! (It's there now). I figure the swiffer is his own "pet" and he's sharing. I usually tease him about the swiffer eating all his food, but with the ribbon dunking, I'm wondering what natural instinct might be behind his "dunk the toy" behavior. ;)

Oh my gosh, I've wondered about that too. I used to petsit for a cat that would steal her owner's underwear and put them in her water dish. She would also play fetch with wadded up paper and when she was tired of playing she would drop it into the water. My little boy drops his toys in the dry food dish. I wonder if that's for the same reason.

Maybe the food and water is "theirs" so they are putting the toy together with the food and water to save it and mark it as "theirs"?

I'm curious about the answer to this one.

Dj, Brie and Scutter

My cat Mack does this too. Since I have 4 cats I wasn't sure who was doing this until I saw him do it. Usually he puts twist-ties in the water bowl. I really don't know where he finds them but occasionally one will be in there. He also puts the toy mice in there at times. I worry about the twist-ties being in the water dish because I have one large water bowl for the cats and the dog drinks out of it too. I am afraid Casey will accidentally swallow one. I used to have separate bowls for the cats and dog but the cats always ended up drinking the dog's water so I just give them one huge bowl now. Anyway, I read that they view their water dish as a safe place.