Ok, is it just me, or do the majority of older female cats get weird and start dragging socks/stuffed animals/whatever around while singing the song of her people?
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My beloved Macska did this, a scrawny pipe cleaner of a stray found under a car. Picture a cat so old she was more reptile than feline, like Salacious Crumb from Star Wars. She would sing to socks at the top of the stairs like she was in a trance. I'm glad to know other cats do it too!
One of our 3 cats chose the plastic caps of our large water jugs as her surrogate babies/toys about a year ago. I'd only seen something similar w/another female cat about 20 years ago, but she went for socks
My singer was always Madmartigan.
In fact he’s singing a sad song this morning about how late I am with getting up(it’s 6:15, cat).
(Cat tax: a couple days ago scritching his ears)
We have a *male* cat who does this... but, NB we named him Ziggy Stardust back when we first thought he was a she, and the vet looked & corrected our assumption. (Ziggy has done a LOT of female-cat coded stuff; and his brother, from time to time, tries to mount Ziggy.)
One of our Tonkenise kitties Ariel did this, no pair of rolled up fluffy socks were safe from her. She would carry them around while making her particular “sock song” it was adorable. I gave her all my fluffy socks.
If I left just the tiniest gap in my sock drawer she would scoop them out. She also had a stuffy pet pig that she carried around while managing to loudly meow at the same time.
The "is it just me, or" phrasing initially made me think you were including yourself amongst the older female cats who get weird and start dragging etc.
I got Lzzy when she was 8 months old. The very first time I napped afterwards, I woke up with cat toys, stray socks, and a piece of plastic in bed with me. The situation has not particularly improved in the five years since.
That's what I call a "hunting parade". My understanding is that it's kitten-training behavior that they apply to humans -- "look at what I killed, this is how you handle prey". There's theories that cats think of us as both giant protectors and dumb babies.
All of our older female cats got weird and loud, absolutely, but carrying stuff around has been limited to 2 out of the 10 cats we've had. Betty would walk around with her favorite toy but *quietly*, and Cookies still occasionally walks around with a toy in the side of her mouth like a cigar and
meow plaintively (she's the most talkative cat either of us has ever had, but the plaintive meow ONLY happens in this situation) when she wants someone to throw it for her. She used to fetch, but now she doesn't bring it back. Just waits for us to come do the right thing: pick it up and throw again.
One of my current timeshare female cats does it with two specific plushies, and has all her life. Oddly, she's the first of a lifetime of cats to do it. Over time, she has added the meaning that when she wants your attention, she brings the toy closer and closer to your feet.
Her sister only sings when disemboweling novel "prey," like she picked up the singing but not the presentation. (Also her sister acts like the smell of bleach is catnip, which I had no idea without the internet is actually an occasional cat Thing)
Dunno about female, but we've got a (physically) male, who we think might actually be trans, who does that in order to attract the affections of a very specific one of our other males.
Feline cognitive dysfunction (FCD), often referred to as dementia in cats, is a condition where older cats experience a decline in cognitive abilities due to age-related changes in the brain. 1/2
Symptoms include disorientation, changes in sleep patterns, altered behavior, and increased vocalization. While there's no cure, managing the condition with lifestyle changes and, in some cases, medication can help improve quality of life for the affected cat. 2/2
My friend has a female who does this! Brings them babies all the time. Even found her missing ball of yarn, complete with knitting needles sticking out of it, from behind the couch 🤣
My blind, deaf senior tortie likes to climb the tallest thing she can find and sing a LOUD, dramatic song. My previous blind, deaf cat liked to do the same. But then they don’t want anything from me, they just want to sing.
We had an elderly lady who did this. She was, frankly, nuttier than a fruitcake. She passed, nobody did it, but now, years later, another middle-aged lady has started.
My old guy cat did that for a long time when he was older, but mostly or only at night. The vet said it was too dark for his diminished night vision, and so I added more night lights and he stopped, for the most part, except when we were traveling.
Feral Fawcett has done it from her early teens but it has to be ONE SPECIFIC toy which is no longer made and I found a few replacements through eBay but this is the last one, as I cannot afford collector beanie baby prices for the cat to do her Lucia d Lammermoor performances
My boy cat, now 10yo, has been doing this for about 3 years now - carries a toy* around in his mouth while yowling, usually late at night.
*often a stolen crocheted coaster, NOT a toy
We have a spiritual belief in our home that our prior beloved cats left behind a detailed manual for the new kitties. It's the only thing that explains the identical goblin behaviors. There must be at least 10 chapters of that thing that are purely devoted to Mischief
My dad got me a pair of super fuzzy socks for Christmas 2 years ago, and they were immediately claimed by one of our not-even-2-year-old lady cats. Which is fine, we just have to be careful because Sockie is very slippery to step on on hardwood floors... cats are weird.
Weird, but my Emerson started doing this only a year or so ago with a favorite toy. She stands at the top of the stairs and sings the song of her people so it echoes throughout the house with the toy in her mouth. This started when she was six or seven.
Our (now 16) year old Calico was doing this around age 12, but at the time she had undiagnosed thyroid and we think she was "hunting". Would find stuffed animals or balled socks around the house and bring them to the kitchen. Stopped after we got her on meds.
I had a cat that did this even relatively young. She was calling specifically for another much older cat who has since passed. She doesn’t do it anymore as she hates the other cats we still have.
The Orange Cat here does this, and he's done it since a kitten. He's about 5 years old now. Socks, the little cloth to clean your glasses, tiny stuffed animals, wash cloths, etc.
it can be a sign of cat dementia, sundowning, also if their times get backwards like they get day time activities mixed to night hours. All of my older cats have had some of these quirks as they aged. Walking around the house “calling” they may be looking for you, which you are her ppl.
About half my cats have gone hunting at night (indoors),
dragging their prey back yowling about what mighty hunters they are.
Usually that was cat toys (one would stack the catnip mice by the bedside like real mice), but sometimes it was other prey like socks.
One usually just yowled.
None of my female cats did this, but now I’ve got a (neutered) boy who has done it since he was a juvenile - but only with two specific stuffed toys. He starts in another room and goes on till he can find me and drop his trophy at my feet in glory (including detours to the catio - sorry neighbours)
Idk sounds like past a certain point they stopped giving a shit and decided you know what i'm gonna be as silly as i'm gonna be and you ain't gonna stop me hooman.
All of my lady cats at the age of around 11 or so took to singing at funny hours of the evening with a sort of plaintive yowl, like they were echolocating us.
Our current female cat does this, but she's always done it, and she's probably no more than six. She was a stray and looked to have had kittens not too long before we found her, so we always figured it was some sort of frustrated maternal instinct.
Mine is (theoretically) not old (but she's a rescue, so who knows) but she has done this since shortly after we brought her home. Her biological sister, however, does not do it (and in fact seems to not like toys of any kind).
Mine has recently started sleeping on my pillow - while I am on it. She positions herself above me with her back resting against my head, then places all four paws on the headboard and pushes until I give her enough space.
Our older female cat, who is bonded with our daughter, will caterwaul and carry one specific toy around when she can’t find her human. So… yeah. Weird stuff
I've only had one that slayed and dragged around socks specifically (while howling muffledly).
Our current girl, who is less than two, *does* scatter laundry on the floor but noiselessly.... she also carries her "catnip fish" up on the bed but, smart as she is, hasn't figured out "fetch" yet.
I’ve had all ages and genders of felines engage in victory parade singing, though right now the devotee is our senior girl. 🤔
My Mom’s tiny boycat was so notorious for it she had to hide all the toys before bed every night. He loves to be a brat, though. Anything for attention.
ours just likes to shout throughout the house at random intervals, at volumes loud enough that i’m sure the neighbors think we abuse her. no need to drag anything around while she does it, though.
Mine does this with a specific meow which sounds disconcertingly like “hello!” And from a corner of the basement with great acoustics so it comes up through the a/c vents
My male cat has done this since he was young! He loves to carry around specific toys while singing the song of his people, usually to get the humans of the house to open a door for him or to complain that he’s been left out!
...dragging around socks/toys/whatever, no. BUT. my elder girl cats have definitely committed to singing their songs of their people in the middle of the fucking night in their old age.
Sounds like @bryni.bsky.social 's late girl. Wandering around the apartment, yowling at the top of her voice. Don't recall at which age she started that though.
Rannie the tortie cat, gone now and greatly missed, would carry around mouse-shaped toys, singing the mouse-baby song and gathering them wherever she slept. I'm pretty sure they were kitten-dolls to her.
Mine have always tended to carry around scraps of fleece (about 18" square, the all-polyester kind, available at fabric stores). Not sure why I had a piece around the first time it happened, b/c I hate the texture, but I've since made sure there's always some on hand to save other things.
My two female cats did it for most of their lives. I’ve heard it suggested that it’s a behavior called “crying/calling mouse” that mother cats use to summon their kittens when they’ve brought home a half-dead ‘training’ specimen. It’s of teaching them to hunt.
Not only do mother cats use a particular call to indicate they’ve got a live mouse, but there’s even some indication they use a different cry when they’ve got a rat. Maybe your older ladies, lacking kittens, are determined to teach SOMEONE how to catch a mouse?
Our young one takes their toys/ socks/ nail files to their food and water bowls, the old boy sings full chesty screams all day and night if he can’t find his Dad 💔
Our late bengal girl had a kong kicker toy that we called her baby that she’d bring to us singing
My sibling's older lady cat would carry specific toys (of which she had 3) that were her "babies" and would make noise about it. She otherwise was not overly vocal.
My baby girl cat (2 yrs old) carries all her toys all over the house, occassionally yodeling about it, which is a slightly different, bouncier noise with more OoOo. They have never met (and can't, now).
Actually the first cat I met with this behavior was a former roommate's *male* cat who would carry toys across the entire house, while also making a lot of mmmrrroooOoOo. Was extra hilarious when he was given tiny bloody murder weapon toys and would leave them at my bedroom door in the morning ..
Twinkle did almost immediately. She was a rescue and had been dehydrated when found. I suspected she dragged socks upstairs from the laundry because of that. Or she had lost her kittens.
One of my cats carries socks and dirty underwear in her mouth like it were a kitten and meows around the house. Worst is the dog learned her bad habit and ruined some of my clothes. 🫠
Ours used to carry these very realistic mouse plushies we had to us, all while making the “look daddy I’m contributing to the food supply” meows. Sadly the company stopped making them and she liked ripping the stuffing out of them so we can’t get them anymore and she doesn’t do it with other toys. 😿
its so funny when an extremely specific toy triggers a behavior and sad when you cant get it anymore. my mom had like. a mini plastic bottle decorated with felt to look like santa claus? my cat would grab it and fling it up in the air. something about the thing clearly told her this was for Throwing
you would just hear the sound of a plastic bottle hitting the floor a few seconds apart and know she’d found it. she’s 12 now and i’ve never seen her throw any toy upwards. maybe i need to try and make a santa bottle
I had an older pair I adopted that did this when I was in college.
I'd come home to daily sock art in the hall, and I swear to you, somehow, they always knew when I'd be coming home with a date because they would drag a bra into the middle of the living room floor.
This one did it for 6 months or so. Want to say she was about 7 when she did it, then just stopped. The stealing of clothes, not the screaming/singing. She was fond of my husband's used socks and my underwear. (She liked his underwear too, but she's dainty, so those undies were too big for her)
It is unique and not subtle about her feelings. She's very skittish with everyone except us, so I'm always excited for people to see her in photos since no one else sees her in person.
To be fair, she literally aired mine, dragging it into the living room. It's been a few years, but she recently discovered that if she screams in our bathroom shower, it echoes better. However, her theft is usually just all the heat/cooling from a vent. (Yes, there's a vent under her in this photo)
omg my old tortie used to jump on the bathroom counter and demand water. More than once, I brushed my teeth in the kitchen bc Her Majesty was using the bathroom sink 😹
We had a cat who would hunt* socks and then sing until she found someone to show, but she started young (2-3?), so I'm not sure it's an age thing per se. Maybe hormonal?
*Somewhere I've got a video of her stalking a lone sock in a laundry basket; it ends when she realizes she can hop in after it.
Mimi shout-sings and drags the smaller mouse toys at night and usually brings them to my husband who is her preferred human. She’s 15. Never had a male cat do that. I thought it was just her being nuts.
The only cat I've ever had that did this was a young female. None of the older females did it (there was one who sang the blues every night about midnight, but she didn't drag anything around).
Fate was 17 when she died and Raven is currently 13ish; neither of them displayed this behavior. My childhood cat was 12 or so when she passed and I can't remember her doing this, either.
My male cat does this. He left his mama too earlier and I assume that has something to do with it. Sometimes it is a toy to play with and not as hauntingly yowelly.
My current young female drags her beds to other rooms, but then doesn't use them as a bed. But once I return them to their orig spots, she uses them. Little bizarre.
I have heard that feral cats do this with prey to call kittens over, so it's a mothering behavior. Our Sweetie has done it from the start, but she showed up with kittens. (Everybody spayed and happy now) her daughters started doing it at about 4? I tell them they'd be terrible mothers.
We named a cat "Snatch" because she'd take things like this and haul them to the top of the stairs and then push them down. lol.
My male cat did the howling at night thing, without the object, as he got older. Vet said it was his night vision going bad and I added more light at night, he stopped.
We have one youngish tortie who will walk around carrying, well, anything (kleenex boxes?!) in her mouth and yowling, but aside from her, it's a middle-aged boy and an equally youngish boy who do it here.
Don't think we've ever had an older female suddenly start
I’ve seen this behavior with an elderly male cat, and with a teenaged cat whose preferred prey was (sigh) wet dishrags. (Fortunately the teenager stopped.) (He used to put them in bed with me in the morning.)
My older cat has done this pretty much since her kittenhood, but it's usually the wand ribbon she drags around. I assume she's killed it and is proclaiming her triumph.
My Dottie did that... I think all her life? Definitely from early middle age on. She'd leave them in the places where I slept/sat, presumably because that was a safe place. (Clearing mousies out of the bed before I got into it became a routine.)
Gracie is thirteen. Now that you mention it, I haven’t heard her yowling around a mouthful of LambChop in months. I know she’s still playing with it, though, because I keep tossing it out of our bed….
My cat Brigitte Lin has been carrying around small toys all her life, as i recall. She uses a remarkable range of vocalizations while she does it. It can be any toy that is about the size of a ping pong ball or slightly larger. She particularly like a black knit one that matches her fur.
Our little orange cat used to wander the house singing the song of the Most Neglected Cat In The World muffled by a mouth full of her favorite pot holder that she dragged all over the house. Anxious lil beastie. I think it was her comfort object.
The cat in my house sings the LOUD mournful song of her people after every meal. Can't decide if she's lamenting that the meal is done, letting us know it was sufficient or insufficient, or is just inspired to sing with every full belly.
My void has done this since she was a kitten (she's 8 now) and has required explaining to a series of housemates that she's not dying, she's just making beautiful music
My boy cats do this too, the older they get! Our eldest boy 'hunts' plushie toys and then serenades us until we tell him how strong and good he is at feeding the family
It’s always been the boy cats for me too. First Duckie, then Jingly Catnip Mouse, and now there’s (god help me) Jingly Bird Thing on a String, which is actually one of those wand toys that suction cups to something. It’s very loud dragging down the wood floor at night.
One of my 7-year old cats has started doing this in the middle of the night with my stretchy gloves. She has to jump up on a high cabinet and fish them out of a bowl. It's now spring and time to put the gloves away. I wonder if she will turn to socks.
The old girl who did this started doing it when she was maybe 13? and kept it up for the several years until she passed away.
It felt like part take-care-of-kittens behaviour (she'd never had kittens) and part forgetfulness: she'd yell bc she forgot where we were, and stop yelling when she saw us.
I have a 12 year old female cat. She's done this for years. She steals clothes from the laundry and delivers them as presents when she wants outside in the middle of the night.
Henrietta just turned 7 and this behavior has escalated over the past year to the point of nightly dragging of her favorite wand toy and screms. Bead did not do the screaming part, but she did arrange her favorite toys around me while I slept as if planning for a pharaonic afterlife.
My current one doesn't, but the one before used to put my daughter's beanie babies in a circle and cry over them nightly. It was kind of...unsettling. We always wondered what, exactly, she was trying to summon.
We had a VERY weird old lady who carried beanie babies and stuffed animals around, and one day I opened my studio door to find that she had arranged all the babies in a semicircle around my door. I just stepped back and closed the door. Something was going down and I didn’t want to get involved.
We had one male cat, who was about 10 when he came to us, who was obsessed with one toy and would proudly and loudly bring it to us. When he died we buried it with him.
His brother and sister showed zero interest in doing the same.
I had two female cats, sisters and they lived to be 19. Neither of them dragged anything around, but one of them liked to go into the bathroom, jump on the edge of the bathtub, stare into a corner of the ceiling, and sing the song of her people loudly and very echoey.
Jax yells with his lobster in his mouth when he wants to go outside. Radar and Echo do the same with little stuffed mice when they're 'lost' or can't find the other to play.
My previous female cat, once she reached her middle years, started dragging home twigs, chicken bones, Popsicle sticks... Anything stick-shaped. While singing the song of her people, which translated to "come and see, come and see"
We have a male Siamese who also gets like this, but it's either with a catnip mousie or the actual fresh carcass of a small animal. He has a particular cry he only gives when he has "prey" in his mouth and is wandering around looking for a good spot to play with it.
Note that he used to be indoor/outdoor (we went indoor-only in January due to bird flu) and he would do this especially when he'd caught something and wanted to be let in to play with it in the house. (Note that Loki had earned his name *before* the time he walked in the door with a live snake.)
I knew a not-particularly-aged male cat who did this. It may be relevant, though, that he was a rescue from a dumpster in NYC and always was kind of spooked about things like food availability.
Miss Nugget came with instructions. She has an ugly blue stuffie that she brings me each evening at 7:30. She meows up a storm with it every day. Same time. She’s only 4.
My departed once elderly lady did all of that when she was young, old, and in between. Only real change with age is she would only stop yodeling if I was holding her.
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In fact he’s singing a sad song this morning about how late I am with getting up(it’s 6:15, cat).
(Cat tax: a couple days ago scritching his ears)
Regardless of why, it's adorable.
I do. He's 19. He needs hydration.
My one-year-old girl now has 2 mousie toys which she brings out & mews to when I'm trying to sleep.
*often a stolen crocheted coaster, NOT a toy
dragging their prey back yowling about what mighty hunters they are.
Usually that was cat toys (one would stack the catnip mice by the bedside like real mice), but sometimes it was other prey like socks.
One usually just yowled.
One of them also would loudly and viciously murder their little little sock friend under the bed at night.
She never became a mom which is probably a good thing.
Our current girl, who is less than two, *does* scatter laundry on the floor but noiselessly.... she also carries her "catnip fish" up on the bed but, smart as she is, hasn't figured out "fetch" yet.
My Mom’s tiny boycat was so notorious for it she had to hide all the toys before bed every night. He loves to be a brat, though. Anything for attention.
Our late bengal girl had a kong kicker toy that we called her baby that she’d bring to us singing
I'd come home to daily sock art in the hall, and I swear to you, somehow, they always knew when I'd be coming home with a date because they would drag a bra into the middle of the living room floor.
our female, first we’ve had, doesn’t do this, she’s 7 or 8
*Somewhere I've got a video of her stalking a lone sock in a laundry basket; it ends when she realizes she can hop in after it.
Now Beau is part bengal and he’s been doing the toy howl since he was little.
Still a small sample size, though!
My male cat did the howling at night thing, without the object, as he got older. Vet said it was his night vision going bad and I added more light at night, he stopped.
Don't think we've ever had an older female suddenly start
She has a Rosie the Rat that we have named Manky because it spends so much time being carried around the house while she calls.
One of the black cats would go yowl at random uninhabited rooms every day. The tabby just yells periodically in the kitchen.
The others just got very sleepy and increasingly hard of hearing.
It felt like part take-care-of-kittens behaviour (she'd never had kittens) and part forgetfulness: she'd yell bc she forgot where we were, and stop yelling when she saw us.
One time, she dragged my bra through the house, which took some doing because she kept stumbling on it 😅
His brother and sister showed zero interest in doing the same.
Sock-dragging sounds more socially acceptable, tbh.
I still miss her every day.