Cat Experts--Behavior Question

[luvmydogs]

Almost two months ago we adopted a stray baby (7-8 weeks estimated) kitten from our local animal control. She is doing great, and is so much fun (for us, anyway-- our three Chihuahuas seem resentful that every one of their body parts are attack targets!). She has started exhibiting a new behavior in the last week, and I was wondering if anyone could give me an opinion. She has begun "hording" her toys in one of our dog's beds (her toys are normally kept in a wicker basket), and gets EXTREMELY aggitated if anyone except me goes near them, hissing and trying to bite. She'll carry them around the room sometimes, but ends up taking them all back to the bed, and lying either with them, or on top of them. She'll lick them and purr--I swear, it's almost like these toys are her "babies". She's almost four months old, and has an appointment to be spayed on Dec. 2. Isn't she too young to be exhibiting "motherly instincts, " or am I completely misreading her behavior? I can't imagine she's pregnant--she's an indoor-only cat. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lisa L from MI]

I don't have an answer...but your situation reminds me of my Romeo years ago.....When he was about a year or so old....he grew VERY much attached to my stuffed animal pound puppie. He would carry it around and "pat" it and was VERY protective of it. Nobody could go near that pound puppie....Romeo would meow (scream) terrible and sometimes try to bite. It used to be kinda funny.....we would hold it up in the air away from him....boy would he have a fit!!!!

My sister even called me hysterically thinking something was wrong when she watched my cats when I was away......it was funny.

I eventually had to take the pound puppy away cause Romeo didn't care what time she would walk around and meow with it.......we were tired of it.....and he never grew attached to anything else.........Poor Romeo had to be put down 1 1/2 years ago....he was 14

 

[noel]

Here's a link to another website that doesn't give you an exact answer, but some ideas as to why cats might horde things (toys included)
http://petplace.netscape.com/Articles/artShow.asp?artID=3467

Our 10 year old cat Pugsley used to ALWAYS put his glitter balls or plastic balls into his empty food dish when he was done eating. He stopped about 3 years ago, but it was always funny to watch him do it.

Glad you're enjoying your new kitty! It's a lot of work at the beginning but well worth it in the end.