An orange cat walked several blocks with a mouse between his teeth, proud of his offering… without imagining what he would see. When he arrived at the usual place, he saw that his beloved was not alone. A second feline occupied the space he thought was his.
Animal experts urge caution before speaking of human feelings in animals, such as a “broken heart”, but thousands of users have already decided that this cat has just lost one of his nine lives.
But why do cats bring mice, birds, and other prey to those who are part of their lives? Although it may seem like an offering to us, this behavior has roots in their hunting instinct. Female cats, for example, bring prey to their young to feed them and teach them to hunt, so carrying animals may remain part of their behavior even when they live alongside humans and have food available.
And it is not necessarily behavior directed only at people. Cats can also develop bonds with other felines and share different social behaviors with them. So, although we cannot know whether this cat really wanted to win over his beloved with his particular gift, bringing prey to someone who is part of his environment is not so strange for an animal that spent thousands of years learning to hunt.
So perhaps the mouse really was an offering of love…