# 'Drowning' their toys



## srj (Aug 30, 2013)

:confused1:

My two 16 month old Birman cats have decided to drown their toys..... I come down in the morning (or home from work in the afternoon), at least a couple of times a week, to discover one of their toys in the water bowl. They are indoor cats with a couple of 'cat trees', toys and some dried food left for them in 'puzzle' feeders each day, they're alone from about 8am until around 1pm whilst I'm in work and are fed on a variety of 'wet' food, three times a day (plus the dried food in the feeders).

What are they doing? Have they discovered that the toys won't die and so they're resorting to drowning them or are they telling me that they don't like their water bowl??

Obviously it's not really a serious behaviour issue but I think it's quite funny and wondered if anyone else had come across anything similar.

Thanks


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## moggie14 (Sep 11, 2013)

Oh yes I have a drowner here too :lol:
Actually last night I woke up at about 3am because I had rolled over in bed and put my arm on a soggy sponge ball of Sam's. He likes to dunk his toys and then bring them to bed, frequent occurance - little monkey


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## srj (Aug 30, 2013)

Luckily they haven't brought the drowned toys up to bed yet.... usually they leave them languishing in their 'bath' or lying on the kitchen floor. 

I'm so glad I'm not the only one with cats with a penchant for drowning their prey!!! lol


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## Kittenfostermummy (Jul 25, 2011)

I have another drowner here too!! The lovely feel of stepping on a soggy toy in the morning... joy lol or saving a soggy toy from the bowl and seeing the water all green and gross if the toy is a catnip one :/ 

Have no idea why Bugs does this but it is always his favourite ones too!!


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## lymorelynn (Oct 4, 2008)

Gracie brings me her drowned toys to play fetch with - lovely


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## Mum to Missy (Aug 13, 2013)

I've had the odd drowned toy, but Gus went through a stage of burying toys in the litter tray  thankfully he's over that know


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## LostSoul (Sep 29, 2012)

Finn drowns his toys, he has a 'baby' cat teddy that he carries around every where, he drowns it every day, i guess i should be grateful he's stopped putting it in his food and litter tray...but every toy he plays with gets put in the water bowl. every mouse, every ball and even chunks of his food get dunked.

you can see his poor 'baby' in this blurry photo, 








i gave Finn the toy the day he came to me age just 6 weeks, he is now 23 weeks old and no amount of drowning can clean that toy!


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## Isisini (Jun 3, 2014)

Our younger cat is also a drowner, she has a favoured tiger toy who she constantly abuses, drowns, buries and also likes to present it to us while in bed. Sometimes she presents the drowned toy to our other cat like a gesture of loyalty . I've had to repair him several times as I didn't want her 'eating' his stuffing and because his tail kept coming off.


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## Jannor (Oct 26, 2013)

Mum to Missy said:


> I've had the odd drowned toy, but Gus went through a stage of burying toys in the litter tray  thankfully he's over that know


Reminded of when I looked after my niece's Yorkie for a few weeks - my litter trays are big and really deep so he buried his bone in one - didn't realise until I went to scoop them. Poor cats

Gus must think he's a dog


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## iUmka (Sep 18, 2014)

Yep, I am in this club too. Wimsey has been noticed drowning his toy mice in the water bowls. Fun, yeh?


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## sarahecp (Aug 22, 2011)

Seb was a drowner when he was a kitten, doesn't do it anymore. Roman does but only with certain toys, he also put them in empty food bowls too


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## srj (Aug 30, 2013)

They're all funny characters aren't they!! Wouldn't be without them though


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## mudgekin (Apr 21, 2014)

My 2 9 month old birmans also drown things. Toy mice, pipe cleaners, sponge balls which are great to bounce in their fountain.

I'm really surprised at the number of us that gave fur babies that drown.


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## shanna66 (Nov 6, 2014)

Lol gale us alwat clogging up the fountain with her toys and bits of trash she finds. I dont get it but its adorable


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## Misi (Jul 13, 2009)

Yup, Simba's a drowner as well. He used to play with 3 particular toys that I called "the holy trinity", they were Mr Carrot, Mr Fish and Mr Polar bear. I always used to say to him that Mr Carrot was probably the least pleased at being dunked. His latest victim is a "Hello Kitty" satin pouch...


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## seasidesunshine (Nov 14, 2014)

Aww, love the cats that present their special things to others - especially another cat.

Elizabeth hasn't really done this so far, but Jerome did it quite often. I think it may be something to do with 'safeguarding' their items. Areas like their water dishes, food bowls, litter trays etc. are highly personal and valuable to them, so they put their toys there too just to make sure everyone knows to whom they belong  

Hiding objects is another form of this - Jerome sometimes used to place tea towels over his favourite things, or try to push them under the settee and on one memorable occasion, fished a round polystyrene pizza base out of the bin to place neatly over the top of his dish (haha, no-one will find it now!). 

It's definitely fun to observe  In some cases it could be a sign of stress (cat may be feeling threatened) but I believe the majority of the time it's just cats being cats - they do it instinctively. Funny stuff! Xx


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## ljs85 (Jun 2, 2012)

McCoy is definitely a drowner!

Problem is he will drown _anything_. His toys, my socks, my bears.... And he brings all soaked items up to my bed.

Funny but annoying!


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## huckybuck (Jan 17, 2014)

Gracie's favourite past time is to put my ear plugs in either her water bowl or food bowl. I thought it was her way of claiming them by leaving a marker!


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

Cats will sometimes drown their prey to finish it off.


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## sharon.mackay (Aug 31, 2010)

I had a foster cat that put toys in the food bowl. A cat specialist on TV said cats often put favourite toys 'away' in the feed dish, maybe to find them again easier and keep them safe. Maybe this is the same thing?


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## srj (Aug 30, 2013)

It's gone a step further now..... Razzle (the boy) has started playing in the water bowl!!! I heard splashing and noises coming from the kitchen and when I looked, he was bashing the water with his paws and splashing water everywhere. He was soaked!! He's obviously enjoying himself as he's now doing it all the time. :lol: Now there's nearly always a puddle in the kitchen.


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## LostSoul (Sep 29, 2012)

srj said:


> It's gone a step further now..... Razzle (the boy) has started playing in the water bowl!!! I heard splashing and noises coming from the kitchen and when I looked, he was bashing the water with his paws and splashing water everywhere. He was soaked!! He's obviously enjoying himself as he's now doing it all the time. :lol: Now there's nearly always a puddle in the kitchen.


Finn does this too, i've had to put the water bowls on tea towels so at least some of the water gets soaked up..it doesnt stop the little wet footprints going every where though


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## Little Zooey (Feb 4, 2014)

Some of ours drown their toys too. Normal toys are bad enough, but we sometimes buy them those "chirping" mice. You have to remove a tab when you get it home and then every time it is thrown or shaken, it chirps. Well... a bit like a Gremlin, these things don't like to get wet. If they do and you try and dry them in a warm kitchen, they chirp and chirp and chirp and chirp and...

We had to take a hammer to one the other year...


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