If you have a cat, and unless you live in a house without any outlet on the outside, it is very likely that you have happened to wake up by finding a gift from your feline on the pillow: A dead bird captured on the balcony, perhaps, or a lizard.
Have you ever wondered Why do they do it? You will not surprise you to know that the answer is not as simple as it seems, and there are several theories that could explain this unpleasant habit: it collected them Livescience who also interviewed a couple of experts of feline behavior.
Predatory or maternal instinct? The first (of experts) is Stephanie Liff, veterinary and director of the New York Clinic Pure Pawrs Veterinary Care. According to Liff, at the base of the vice to bring home dead animals there is the so -called “predatory instinct“(As far as the word” instinct “is now obsolete). In simpler words, cats like to hunt, and even domestic ones They do not resist the temptation to chase a prey.
Why, however, bring it home instead of consuming it on the spot? According to Emmanuelle Baudry of Paris-Saclay University, the most accredited hypothesis is that it is a maternal behavior: When the puppies are not yet efficient hunters, the mother takes care of procuring the food. Which does not mean that we unable we consider: indeed, according to this interpretation it would be a gesture of affection towards us and the demonstration that they feel comfortable with us.
Each cat makes history in itself. Just the latter detail is the basis of another theory, which provides that cats bring us the dead animals instead of eating them on the flight of their own because they feel safer within the home walls; Eating in peace is one of the favorite things of cats. However, it must be said that several studies have shown that not all domestic cats hunt with the same frequency, or bring their victims to the masters.
It is here that another hypothesis is inserted, the one that there is a strong bond between the individuality of the animal and its tendency to give us dead birds: The most dominant and hyperactive cats tend to kill more often and to bring more corpses to the house – as on the other hand it applies to those who live in the countryside than those who live in the city.
How to avoid it. And what about the solution? Is it possible to prevent the house cat from filling the bed of death lizards? According to Liff, it is Impossible to eliminate such rooted behavior.
However, you can limit it as much as possible, for example by preventing the cat from wandering free.
