FELINE RETRIEVERS
My first knowledge of a feline retriever was in a James Herriot book. While the family dogs considered retrieving beneath their dignity, Buster the cat enjoyed retrieving a ball. Although the author eventually revealed the stories in the form presented were fictional, they were based on case notes and observation. Herriot wrote:
“Mrs Ainsworth smiled and lifted a hard rubber ball from the sideboard and went out to the garden, followed by Buster. She threw the ball across the lawn and the cat bounded after it over the frosted grass, the muscles rippling under the black sheen of his coat. He seized the ball in his teeth, brought it back to his mistress dropped it at her feet and waited expectantly. She threw it and he brought it back again.”
My second encounter was the tale of a cat who loved to chase a practice golf-ball down a flight of stairs. The ball was retrieved each time and taken to the owner at the top of the stairs so it could be thrown again.
My third encounter with a feline retriever was with my own cat, Scrapper, a former stray. His favourite toy was a fishing rod toy with a mouse on the end of the line. He became so addicted to chasing this that he retrieved the toy and brought it to me when I ended a game to soon, or when he wanted to start a game. Even when the toy was stored on a bookshelf, Scrapper got up there and retrieved it.
Scrapper's younger housemate, Affy, occasionally retrieved bread that had been thrown out for the birds and fallen leaves which were brought in from the garden.
This conveniently splits feline retrievers into two groups: cats that immediately retrieve a thrown toy (retrievers) and cats that retrieve objects from other locations to present to their owner (magpies).
FELINE MAGPIES
The behaviour of feline magpies is relatively easy to work out (albeit hard to prevent and impossible to cure). Mother cats take prey back to their kittens. Cats seem to view us as both provider and substitute kittens. While we may provide food in the bowl, they bring home prey in the hope of teaching us to hunt. Cats that retrieve washing from the washing line and toys from the neighbour's house are following a hunting instinct, but have fixated on certain types of inanimate object rather than real prey.
The objects brought back by these "cat burglars" is interesting, and some have accumulated large hoards. Small items of laundry and soft toys are common trophies. Some of the soft toys are as large as the cat. Indoor trophies include pens, pencils, coins and keys. Rubber gloves are fairly common trophies, perhaps having a smell that attracts the cat. Food items stolen from neighbourhood kitchens are understandable trophies.
Although the behaviour itself is a misdirected hunting behaviour, feline magpies often take it a step further. The trophies may be hidden in the same location. One Munchkin was known for stashing stolen pens and keys under the sofa. Possibly the location of the stash is seen as a den and a hunting cat, especially a mother cat, would naturally take its prey to a safe den if it wasn't safe to eat it in the open. Because the trophies are inedible, the stash accumulates each time the cat "hunts". Karen Corning's account of her cat Lexie is detailed below as a feline retriever, but Lexie has a stash of her favourite toys - water bottle caps - tht she will bring out when she wants to play. Lexie also steals and hides earrings, rings and other jewellery.
Some owners of feline magpies have advertised their cat's collection in the hope the rightful owners will reclaim underwear, tea towels and toys. Some cats are so selective in what they collect that it's hard not to anthropomorphise them as the feline equivalent of stamp collectors.
A special case of feline magpies is the female cat that retrieves small or baby animals (and sometimes kitten-size toys) and attempts to nurse them. As long as the abducted animals don't show prey behaviour, the female treats them as though they are kittens. This is a misdirected or frustrated maternal instinct. It has also been seen in a lioness that abducted baby oryx and tried to mother them. My elderly Kitty II abducted smelly carpet slippers and mothered them, even snuggling them up to her belly like nursing kittens.
FELINE RETRIEVERS
Feline retrievers show a different modification of the hunting behaviour. A toy is thrown and they chase it (hunting behaviour). Having caught it they return it to the thrower for the game to be repeated. Chasing and catching the toy satisfies the hunting instinct and there is a feel-good payoff. They have associated this pay-off with the person who threw the toy. To get further pay-offs, they take the toy back so it can be thrown again. The owner's attention when the toy is returned is an additional pay-off.
Some cats, such as my Scrapper, only retrieve the toy when they want to start a game. The toy was brought to the owner (myself) in the expectation of a game, making Scrapper a retriever rather than a magpie. Other cats retrieve the same thrown object over and over until one or other participant loses interest; games lasting one hour were reported in a survey (the owner gave up before the cat).
A small-scale survey for a British magazine looked at how the behaviour began. In some cases a kitten had learnt from an older role model. In other cases, only one cat in a multi-cat household played “fetch”. One cat had apparently learnt the behaviour by copying a canine foster mother. A few owners had trained their cats, mainly Siamese, to play fetch. In some cases, the fetching behaviour ended when the cat made the transition to live prey or when the favourite was lost.
An Oriental Tabby male demanded throw-and-retrieve games from the moment his owner arrived home. Games lasted around an hour and would have lasted longer had the owner not become tired. This cat was anxious to begin the game and appeared obsessive about it. Another obsessive retriever was a mixed breed female that would apparently play fetch with her toy mouse for hours on end.
A Persian male initiated the retrieval game at an early age when he presented his owner with a screwed up piece of paper and gave clear indications that he wanted her to throw the paper. This became a favourite game and the cat fetched his piece of paper whenever he wanted to play fetch.
Sugar, a domestic longhair is remarkable for being a retriever despite having been born blind. She is able to locate toys based on sound, including crumpled papers which detects when she hears it un-crumple. She also dunks her toys in her water dish.
According to Karen Corning, New York, USA: "My lovely Tortie girl, Lexie is quite a talker, and quite dramatic - and she loves to fetch. Her favorite thing which she finds absolutely irresistible are plastic caps from water bottles. She is obsessed with them - if you have a bottle of water she will trail expectantly behind you until you put the cap down - and then she'll nab it with a flick of her paw. The clink of one on the coffee table or the hardwood floor will have her come running from the furthest recesses of the house to play. Just the other morning, at about 5AM, I was awakend by her very loud purr, the sensation of something small being dropped on my arm, and the dawning realization that I had a cat doing figure eights about my prone self. Lexie had brought me a water bottle cap, from god knows where, her "stash" probably, and she wanted me to throw it for her. This I did about 6 or 8 times before she settled on the bed for a washup and I could go back to sleep. She is also a crow (magpie), in that I can't leave my earrings or rings or any jewelry where she can get them - and she thinks Q-Tips are evil and must be destroyed.
Some cats eventually lose interest in retrieving, perhaps outgrowing the behaviour or finding other outlets for their chasing/hunting instincts. An Abyssinian played fetch with a dressing gown cord nicknamed his “snake” for a considerable length of time, but when this was lost he lost interest in the game. Similar substitutes objects did not interest him. Another cat played fetch with a foam-covered hair curler (sometimes in “piggy in the middle” style games) until he made the transition to hunting and retrieving live prey and lost interest in the game.
In New Zealand, Ruth Kim's 2 Devon Rex kittens (brother and sister) were both retrievers at 6 months old and not fussy what they retrieve, as long as it is good for a game! They take various items to their owners to throw for a game. They also like to carry toys around in their mouths and will carry and play with them for hours (this includes one running around the house holding a ribbon in the mouth with the aim of making the other chase the ribbon). Retrieved toys include plastic bottle tops, bits of plastic coat hanger, pegs, brightly coloured business cards and sweet wrappers retrieved from the rubbish. There seems to be a slight preference for plastic.
On the other hand, some cats played fetch even when the toy was thrown a considerable distance e.g. to the bottom of the garden.
Some cats will even retrieve a favourite play object on request. Padi Phillips' rather hyperactive cat, Widjit, not only responded to his mane, he responded to the word "mouse" (even if it was just mentioned in his earshot) and fetched his cat toy mouse in the hope of a game of fetch, which would have lasted all day had Widjit had his way! First thing in the morning was also a time when Widjit would drop his mouse at Padi's feet in expectation of a game, usually this was postponed until after his owner had made a cup of coffee. Even though Widjit was an indoor/outdoor cat with access to good hunting grounds, he persisited in his retrieving game until Padi had to rehome him due to work commitments preventing Widjit having the attention he needed.
BREED PREDISPOSITIONS AND OBJECT PREFERENCES
A survey of feline retrievers was conducted by Peter Neville and Claire Bessant in 1990. The results were published as “Fetch!” in Cat World, May 1991.
The sample size was small (50 cats from 46 owner responses). There was a 50:50 split between male and female i.e. no gender predisposition to retrieving toys. Neville and Bessant found the following breed predisposition:
The following breeds were mentioned in owner accounts, but not tabulated in the data: “a few” Persians and a Birman.
The actual percentages of object retrieved were not given, but in order the object types were: cat toy (accounting for more than one quarter of objects retrieved), paper, laces/ribbons, fur/wool, foil, plastic (e.g. milk jug rings). The general criteria for a retrieved object was that it was chosen by the cat and convenient for the cat to carry in its mouth.
Do you have an account of a feline magpie or retriever. If so, please write giving details of the cat's age, breed and the object(s) it retrieves! The email address is available on the main index page.