I’m at a friend’s place and the cat keeps bringing in dead (or half-dead) animals into the house. It’s my understanding that cats think we are big, helpless kittens that don’t know how to hunt. Hence, they think they are doing us a favour.
It seems like a few mice actually escaped and found refuge in some walls in the house, so these “presents” are actually more than just annoying (and smelly if the dead animal ends up behind the couch).
Cats are anarcho-communist and just share food with their colony. Proving you don’t need it will not stop the cat from letting you have some. They bring home extra not just for the young, but also for pregnant mothers, the sick, the elderly, and whoever might have had a bad hunt that day. They typically eat their fill in the field first before taking one to go, too.
I knew that cats doing this were bringing back excess food for the colony (in their point of view, anyway) but this is the funniest way I have ever seen someone put it and I’m stealing it.
Also there’s the prestige of it. If your cat is a prolific hunter it will bring you back the freshest game as a way of putting on airs. Do you not see what a successful hunter this cat is?