Yowling.
That’s the only word I can think to describe it.
Meowing is close, but it doesn’t have the right edge, the sharpness.
Or, maybe it’s more of a mournful holler?
Regardless: Every single night without fail for about six weeks now, Newtie yowls. She goes upstairs while we’re downstairs–it’s only ever if we’re on separate levels–and she yowls. Then she picks up a cat toy in her mouth while still vocalizing, carries the cat toy somewhere else, drops it, and yowls some more.
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It took us a while to connect the toy moving to the yowling since she will never, ever, ever do this when we’re nearby, but once we put the pieces together, it reminded me of her relationship with Teddy. Do you guys remember Teddy?
The main difference is that she chatted with Teddy. It was conversational. Chirpy.
And it was when she was transitioning to life with dogs.
Which made me wonder: Is this behavior related to transition in some way? Now that Violet’s here and Violet’s become insanely mobile / terrifying, is Newt going through a similar stress period? Or is it not stress and something else entirely?
And what do we do when we wonder something? We look it up! (Sorry, sorry, sorry… Sesame Street on the brain…)
Turns out, “cat meowing while carrying toy” is a hugely popular Google search! Nearly 5 million pieces of content about cats carrying toys and yowling.
{{Aside: At first we thought she was upset, so we’d call upstairs, “It’s OK, Newtie! Come down and get a treat!” Or we’d go up to visit with her. Of course, the behavior would immediately stop. See pic above. That’s her looking over the stairs at us like, “What?” Now that we know she’s not upset, I really want to get video of this because it’s actually pretty funny and VERY LOUD for such a tiny cat, but it’s a conundrum because if she thinks we’re around she won’t do it.}}
Does your cat do this?
The gist from my info-gathering is that cats mostly vocalize when hunting or moving kittens.
I found this super old Q&A that resonated with me (beyond the utterly endearing way folks in the UK spell “miaowing”):
Pet cats will sometimes show a modified version of this behaviour, carrying around toys and perhaps hiding them. Some female cats will also keep collections of toys that they regularly move around as if shifting a litter of kittens.
You could look at this and think that it is sad because the cat is clearly trying to compensate for something that she is missing, but it is more likely that these are just inbuilt patterns of behaviour that some cats get a bit confused about and carry out in slightly inappropriate situations.
And building off of that, I found another interesting article that took the “inappropriate” part of that previous point to a more positive place (play):
Mother cats will often teach their kittens to hunt by catching prey and bringing it back to their kittens, giving the kittens something to practice hunting on. When kitty makes a big fuss to having a toy in their mouth, they want you to pay attention to it. Making a fuss over toys isn’t a cats only part of cat play. … This sort of play teaches your cat to show off their treasures through meows and other noises and provides your cat with mental and physical stimulation. Play is a huge part of why cats meow with their treasures as well as wanting your attention to notice them and the toy in their mouth. The meow sounds like the cat is in distress but they are actually quite the opposite and want you to notice what they are doing.
I’m dismissing the idea of an invitation to play only because she immediately drops the toy and stops when we come upstairs to check on her. She does the cat equivalent of a shoulder shrug.
OK, so that leaves two working theories:
- Newt wants to teach Ripley how to hunt. (Or maybe Violet?)
- Newtie was a street cat picked up after sexual maturity so mayyyyybe she had kittens? And still has that instinct to move kittens and per that first quote is “a bit confused.”
I’m not sure the answer, of course. Newt won’t divulge either! Well, actually, she’s clearly trying to, and I’m the dimwitted human who can’t figure out what she’s trying so hard to tell me…
Her current “kittens” include a felt eggplant, a blue mouse, and a small Tracker similar to this.
Have you ever had a cat who meows with a toy in her mouth? From my Googling, it’s clear Newt’s not the only cat walking around yowling and carrying a toy, so if your cat has ever done this, what do you think? What was she or he trying to tell you? I’d love to learn more about this behavior!
For more on Newt and other cat-dog-kid shenanigans, let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I spend most of my time and share lots of pics and vids–even of Newt as she meows while carrying her toy–of the animals and humans in my care.
She’s so loud when she does that. And the toy is different every night and some are quite surprising!
Like that GIANT one she was lugging around the other night?? It’s so funny! I wish we could set up a hidden camera… hmmm…. 🙂
My 12yr old male cat carries a jingle ball in his mouth and yowls at all hours and mostly at night. He’ll drop the ball and play with it then pick it right back up and head to another part of the house yowling the entire time. He’s done this since he was little. My neighbors probably think I’m killing him ?. I actually have it on video several times. Crazy Kitty Eott ? ?? ??. I didn’t realize it was a thing it’s like he’s carrying a baby and if you look at him he instantly drops the ball.
my car yowls with string if he sees me he stops and drops the string. We yell for him to come to us, if we go to him he stops immediately. He only does at night!
I go t a Sophie when she was about 4 years old. I was looking four a second cat (one of
mine had just died) and the family needed to find a new home for her
She came complete with one of those toys which has a long furry tail on a rod. She would not play with me so I just left it on the floor.. sure enough every night she would carry it up the stairs while howling
She dropped it and then stopped howling when I got out of bed and looked at her
I got very tired of getting up every. Night after a year and by that time the rod was gone and only 1 foot of the tail remained
I hid it and she never howled again— fast forward 6 years. She is now doing the same thing with a 3 inch rubber ball (which she has been playing with for 2 years and no yowling)
She now carries it up at night yowling, then either pushes it back down the stairs or as I just witnessed, brought it back down, yowling. Cats, you just have to love them. You cannot explain them
Our Agatha howls to with strings and ropes, no other of her toys get that treatment. She is 10 years old and started with this yowling about two years or so. We thought she was sick or something was wrong in the beginning, but she just sits there with the ropes and blinks up on us. I almost feels like a show off; “Look, look, what I got! Come see now!”
I just found this form as my cat is doing the same thing but even crazier my cat in question is also called Newt!!!
And Also a black cat ahah
My 12yr old male cat carries a jingle ball in his mouth and yowls at all hours and mostly at night. He’ll drop the ball and play with it then pick it right back up and head to another part of the house yowling the entire time. He’s done this since he was little. My neighbors probably think I’m killing him ?. I actually have it on video several times. Crazy Kitty Eott ? ?? ??. I didn’t realize it was a thing it’s like he’s carrying a baby and if you look at him he instantly drops the ball.
One of our cats does this and it’s SO LOUD! Lol. He plays with this paper ball and the. Walks around with it In his mouth yowling at the top of his lungs. I think it’s because he wants us to play with him…and of course we oblige.
I’ve just tried to put a video on of our can pulling her toy out of her bed while yowling really loud. She bit it and licked it while it was on the floor then sat it up and sat next to it all while being very vocal!! She’s only just started doing this in front of us, but she’s been doing it every every night for about a year. I thought she was getting dementia because she’s 12 but not sure now.
Kitón will meyowl and purr so loud with her toy mouse in her mouth that when she gets close it’s almost deafening. Lmao. She drops it in my lap to play fetch for a good 5-10 minutes until she tires out.
my kitty started doing this at 7 months old! it freaked me out at first but then i realized she was just playing. we found her and her sister when they were just a few weeks old and she reached maturity (was in heat) by 5 months, maybe this is what heat triggers?? i have no idea but my other female kitty can care less about toys
My male cat Leonard (6.5 yrs old) started around age 3; between the evening hours 7-10pm, to collect his kitten toy (ALWAYS the same toy) and bite it, he meows extremely loud- more like howling. If I yell at him he stops and soft meows back at me. If I don’t yell, eventually he brings it to me but it’s almost like he’s trying to jump the toy… he’s werid and gets tense.
Don’t yell at your cat for playing….
I totally agree. You shouldn’t yell at the cat. My 2 yr old female cat started doing this with her little white bear, about the size of a kitten. She’d had this bear a long time. Carried it around, hid it, and brought it out again. Then all the sudden it happened. I’d just gotten sound asleep and she started this loud crying. I didn’t know why. She hadn’t cried before when I went to bed. I have another female about 1 yr younger. They’re so good, quiet. When she wouldn’t hush I started yelling her name, to stop. To hush. This went on for several nights in a row. I just wanted to sleep. She’d start as soon as I went to sleep. I finally found her carrying her bear and yowling. I got on Google and read that long ago in some poor country cats went out at night, found their prey and brought it back to the master for food. So it said not to yell at them, to praise them. Now she brings it to the bedroom every night, I lean over the bed, say thank you, Good girl. Then I put it in bed with me and she goes on. She’s quiet and I go back to sleep. It’s a win win.
It’s better to never yell your cat’s name angrily so she won’t associate it with something bad. If behavior correction is needed, it’s better to say “no” or “stop” in a firm tone and not use her name.
My cat Callie does the same thing only with my shoes. She will bring them from the bedroom to the living room all the time yowling at the top of her lungs. She normally will do it in the evening or late at night when I hear her I know what’s coming you got it one of my shoes. She doesn’t do it all the time just occasionally. She will be 10 in November. I found her when she was about 6 weeks old in January she was starving and full of fleas. Never had kittens.
My honey Mack does the same thing only he started when he was a kitten and would follow me around with this bear everywhere I went sooo funny bear was at my every move now he still does it but not so much but definitely brings him to bed takes him to the litter pan and food and water bowls
Mine too its HILARIOUS I can actually tell which toy she has by the sound and she will get her 3 faves, 1 by 1 if we have been spending time in a different part of home she makes sure that we are all together wherever that may be. Its amazing like human babies different cries, her meows tell me what she wants,needs, has in her mouth???
We have two older boys that do this even during the day, the common things they bring around are a tiny plush Santa, a plush snowflake, a pink poweranger plush, socks, and this rainbow mouse we have.
I have two cats, 15 yo littermates, one boy and one girl. They have both done this for their whole adult lives. The boy does it when he’s trying to get his sister to play with him. He’ll wander around with the toy in his mouth yowling his heart out in search of her. The girl only does it at night when no one else is around (and her brother is sleeping with me upstairs) while she fusses with her toy piles.
That is SO interesting! In everything I read, almost all of the articles were about female cats, so it’s great to get your perspective of both. Newt’s like your girl where she’ll only do it at night when no one is around.
It’s fascinating, isn’t it? Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
My cat is male and he will do this also. It concerned me because the toy he carries is a little cat beanie baby that looks just like him. I was worried he thought it was a dead kitten or something. But the beanie baby will be in a different spot every day. He howls while its in his mouth and will usually drop it on a rug. We’re not sure what he’s thinking and if he’s nurturing what he thinks is a kitten or if he’s just being silly. Definitely yowling for sure.
My cat is a female, she is almost 2 now. She has had a beanie baby snail that she has had her whole life with us (since she was 5 weeks) I thought it was because she lost her mum so young. This is the only toy she does it with, she doesn’t play with it any other time, only when we go out it will usually be by the door when we get home or at night when we are quietly watching tv she will go get it off the chair we’re it always is. She sounds so sad when she has it in her mouth?She always carries it by the neck of the snail too, I hope she is just bringing us a gift?
Our cat (Miss Socks) never had any but she was spayed when she was big enough according to the vet, she was about 4 weeks old when we got her. I’m wondering if it is her wanting little ones of her own? My nephew got a small male and she treated him like her baby.
We have had three different cats do this sort of thing at my house. First was an elderly female cat that we inherited. Whenever she caught something that got into the house, which she very rarely did because the other cat normally would first, she would yowl until she was praised. It was a very special yowl. The second cat was another female, not at the same time as the first. She had a litter of kittens while we had her, and would take a stuffed animal and do a purr meow momma cat call to them. We think that she wanted to teach them how to hunt. After we gave all the kittens but one away, she would still do that whenever she wanted to play with him (the remaining kitten). That son, and another young cat we had both tried to mimic her doing that, but never could really get the purr-meow right. Her son stopped trying, but the other cat is still going strong at almost 17. He does more of a yowl, but he is a ragdoll, so has that siamese side to him in his voice. So, due to my experience, it is more trying to teach someone to hunt or mimicking another cat’s behavior than moving kittens. Can’t say what it is for others though.
I’ve had several cats who do this. Zelda usually does it in the middle of the night. She has “caught” a toy and brings it to me so I will praise her. KC goes downstairs and screams bloody murder. Our basement is like an echo chamber, and I’m afraid the neighbors think we are trying to kill him. But really he’s just downstairs playing. I had one cat who made this sound whenever she caught a real mouse. She would bring them home to me as gifts!
Oh, my goodness, Vicki! Imagining KC screaming like that… hilarious!!! You gotta wonder what’s going on in his mind, don’t you?
So far Newtie hasn’t brought us anything as “gift,” but maybe she’s working up to it like Zelda!
Thanks for sharing your expertise and experience!!
We have had two cats over the years who did this – both were originally strays from semi-feral colonies. I don’t think I ever googled this behavior, but I always assumed it had something to do with their life on the streets – like maybe they thought they were hunting and calling the other cats or their kittens to alert them of their catch. Glad to know my theory was some what accurate!
My cat MJ does the same thing. Her seargent Mau (a little green jingly mouse) gets carried around the house if I am at the other end of the house. My grandparents told me it happened when I left too. Once she knows I’m there she goes and sleeps. It’s a territory thing, like the kittens. She’s mine but really I’m her’s. As long as I’m in house, she’s cool.
My cat, M.C. , does this too. We have had him for almost two years. He is our first cat ever. The day we met him I heard this yowling sound that sounded so melancholy. I opened the back door to see a white cat walking through our yard aimlessly and making the yowling sound. He came up to me and brushed up against me repeatedly continuing to make the sound. We ended up adopting him after 4 weeks and local advertising. We took him to the vet and found out that he was about 9 months old. We were intending on letting him be an indoor/outdoor cat but he had a bad altercation with the next door Jack Russell. When we made the decision for him to be an indoor only cat, it was an intensely difficult transition. He yowled every night and blinds were shredded in every room. This went on for a year. We decided to adopt another cat in hopes to keep MC company and it was the best decision. We adopted a female kitten from a local shelter. They bonded immediately. The next thing that we noticed is that when we were gone during the day we would come home to our kids stuffed animals strewn throughout the house. We were puzzled as to which kitty was doing it until I witnessed MC carrying a toy and yowling one day. I notice that he only does it when he thinks all of the humans are gone. My husband has begun to travel a lot and I now witness MC doing it directly after he leaves for a trip. It is so sad. I have googled but I can’t say that I completely agree that it isn’t mournful. It does seem to be an attention thing but it’s as if he is calling for someone he misses.
Just my opinion. I welcome any additional comments or feedback.
One of my two cats does this frequently, and so did the cat I had growing up. The Google wisdom of “attention-seeking behavior” doesn’t seem quite right because in both cases, like your cat, they only do it when no one is around and stop as soon as someone sees them, then they seem almost sheepish for being “caught”. I wish someone had a better answer for what’s going on here!
Yep Kaluah does it. She started after she had a litter of Kittens before we had her spayed. She only seems to do it in the middle of the night and we will find the toys outside of our bedroom door the next morning.
Old post, but I’ll comment anyways. I have an 11 month old and a 5 month old (cats 😛 ). The 11 month old is hard to figure out. She’ll seem like she’s distance and doesn’t want to do anything, but every once in a while she’ll get energetic.
I’ve had several little toys around the house so I know this has probably happened before and I just haven’t noticed. A couple of nights ago I heard her in the living room chirping and trilling (she sounds “odd.” She’s a rescue so who knows what she is) and then she walked in my “media room” (repurposed master bedroom) and dropped a big green hard plastic ball that you put treats in. It was mostly empty because putting treats in it hasn’t worked yet so she was holding it by the thing you twist and pull to open it.
Last night she surprised me more. I heard her doing it again so I slowly walked to where I could see the living room from the media room and saw her sitting in the middle of the room looking at me with my elastic knee brace sitting there. I don’t know how you’re supposed to treat it but I pet her and said “good girl” and took the knee brace back to my bedroom. I do not know where she got it from as I haven’t used it in a while. Today, when I came home from work, it was in the middle of the floor again. And tonight, a few minutes ago, I heard her going at it again and there it was. I wish I could put it in a drawer or something so it’s not just laying out, but I don’t want to take this away from her. haha
Also, one of my mom’s cats, for a good bit of the cat’s life, would carry around little foam soccer balls yowling at night. So cute and strange.
My male cat has been doing this with toys. He meows a low meow – yowl and carries very specific toys from the living room into the room where I am. Then he drops the toy in my room. He’s 8 years old and this only started in the past year. And he only does it with specific toys (4 cotton toys shaped like wine bottles). It’s so odd!
I say, Good boy! and try to give him attention. I am not sure what it is related to since most of the posts appear to be about female cats.
My cat Goku does this with his sparkle pom pom balls, and formally a small pink teddy bear. He also stops when I see him doing it, occasionally he will want me to play with it, but usually he just stops and looks at me like i am stupid.I caught him the other day, sneaking up on him taking a video of it. He was so embarrassed! He dropped it right away like he had nothing to do with it. it is so cute.
Lol that’s what my Sophie does! She’s 14 and this is new for the past 5-6 months. She’ll meow so loud and I’ll look and see she has her toy mouse. Once she knows I’m looking, she’ll drop it and walk away. Then minutes later she does it again. We’ve only been in this place for 9 months so I don’t know why she never did it before.
My cat is 11 and she’s never played with toys, only cob webs and dust lol I realized recently that she loves the pompoms and toys that are light and don’t make noise. We just moved to a much larger apartment and noticed that she now plays with the toys and does this yowling ! She’ll stop playing altogether if you get too near or the other cat tries to join (he plays too loud and fast lol) … I wonder if changing environment has anything to do with it or feeling comfortable in a space enough to be loud and express themselves?
We adopted 2 little brothers, 2 weeks apart in Feb 2020. We believed they are Russian Blue and they are both extremely lively and very intelligent. Life for them is just a big play pen. They constantly play with each other and do the weirdest moves and stunts! 🙂 They have several stuffed animals to entertain them both. The favorites are always the mice toys…. these get thrown around, get carried up and down the stairs, stashed in boxes, beat up and picked up again! All this happens while “yowling” at each other 🙂 Even if both cats have their own mouse, they will literally stand in front of each other and “yowl”. They do this every day, and are not shy about it…. so I don’t believe it is an “attention-seeking-behavior”… not from those two little boys anyway.
My 14 y/o female has started the yowling at 5am every night – yowls 3 times in the hallway and that’s it. She never has a toy with her though…
Any ideas? Vet checked and her kidneys/thyroid are fine!
My adopted female cat does exactly this! It used to be that it only happened after I’d turned out the lights to sleep: a few minutes later, I’d hear this unearthly yowling. (The first couple of times it happened, I worried that she had become trapped or hurt herself.) In the morning, I’d find toys “relocated” — but, like you, it took me a while to connect these events because my cat would never, ever let me see her with the toy in her mouth. It turns out she was carrying the toys upstairs while making this noise.
Now, she very occasionally does this while I’m still awake, but almost always when we’re on different floors. And generally when I’m separated from her in some way — like in the bathroom. Like you, at first I worried that she was afraid or lonely, and needed reassurance. But that didn’t seem to be the case: if I turned on the lights and went to get her, she wouldn’t necessarily stay with me.
My male cat never did anything like this (nor did he carry toys around), so it totally took me by surprise! Glad to know I’m not the only one!
That describes Newt’s behavior exactly! You are definitely not the only one! 🙂
My cat Maybe (female, 4, was a stray, adopted 3 years ago) does this almost daily. She will walk around chirping and crying her heart out carrying small toys – one mouse on a wand, in particular is her favourite. It often happens after we’ve had a good play with a particular toy, and it’s like later that day or night she remembers and wants to play again. She will often drop them right at my feet. Sometimes she’ll drag a toy on a wand all the way through the house and up the stairs at night, waking everyone up. I always thank her and pet her profusely, and if I’m not sleeping, play with her for a bit. If I stop too soon, the routine starts again. The weird part is that sometimes it doesn’t seem to be just about the playtime. When she drags her favourite string and wand Behind her, she often starts to walk really funny and slowly, in nonsensical directions and circles. This has lasted Up to 10 minutes before. She’s spayed, but it almost seems sexual or as though she thinks it’s her baby or something? It makes me sad and also confused! I think it relates to her stray days, and I hope she did not have kittens taken away at any point.
My male cat Meowser does this but only with furry wand stick toys.
He carries it around the house yowling very loudly a couple times everyday, i have to put it away every night lol.
He used to do it when he was only 7 months old and desexed.
Hes never actually had babies
But he made the same yowl with kittens, (additions to the family) he liked to bring them giant cockroaches, mice and small birds. He also cleaned them. Being a male i thought that was so odd.
He hasn’t had a wand in a couple years so no yowling, until i bought one recently lol
He seems to just drag it to his favourite spots yowling, sometimes does some kneading with it in his mouth.
Seems quite happy about it, baffling as to why.
But im guessing an odd paternal instinct and hunt calls from his farm days.
The other cats just stare at him baffled too lol
Mine is 12 years old and just started doing this after we got a new kitten. He brings the toy downstairs and yowls. I was worried because it’s close to the nose he used to make right before he puked. Then I noticed it was always when he had a toy, so maybe it is either showing off his hunting skills to get my attention, or bragging to the kitten to get his attention??
One of my cats does this as well. He has a favorite beat up toy mouse that he only plays with that and only that. He carries it in his mouth and yowls and runs around and plays but only when I’m not watching. The moment he sees that I’m looking or if I move, he stops and kinda looks upset that I interrupted his play. At first I thought he’s yelling at me to come and play with him but after a while I realized he’s “talking to himself”. He’s a former street cat from a cat colony that I adopted.
My other cat that I got from a shelter doesnt do this. She plays with literally anything she sees and doesn’t vocalize like he does.
We have 2 male cats, 14yrs and 18yrs old. The older cat will pick up a small soft ” carrot ” toy in his mouth , and , only when we’re not around, carry it around in his mouth while yowling quite loudly. As soon as we are present, he drops the toy and stop yowling. We have been trying to creep up on him and video it , but he stops as soon as he knows we are around. He can sense us first every time. Great to know that other people are going through the same process.
My husband and I are just discovering that our 1yo female cat Siobhan does this! She doesn’t do it at any particular time, but sometimes we will be watching TV and I hear her in the kitchen just meowing lightly to herself and then she walks into the living room still meowing but her toy is still in her mouth lol!
My babygirl that passed away two yrs ago use to carry small mice around and cry. I usually would say “bring it here” and she’d trot over and drop it on the floor. I use to think she was sad because she never had kittens but most of the time when she did it at night she’d cry then throw the mice against the wall. I think it was her way of having fun. After she passed (kidney failure at 18yrs old) a year later we rescued a male siamese. Sie (the humane society named him) does the same thing except he just cries and drops the toy.
My 8 year old half Russian blue does this 2-3 times a day. Always once in the middle of the night, and since im working from home, I noticed he does it during the day too.
His toy of choice is a blue Kong Cat Wubba Mouse Cat Toy. ONLY his blue one, I also bought him the purple one, and he never touches it.
The blue one was lost for 8-10 months, and he still never touched the purple one, nor did he carry any other toy around.
Once we found the blue one (under the couch, under the baseboard heater) he started it up again.
“Yowling” and caring it around the house.
I am not seeing anyone saying what I believe my cat to be doing…
My boyfriend and I call it his “sex” toy lol Im sure im not the only one to witness this? I don’t see anyone else commenting anything like what my cat does.
As someone mentioned above, if he ends up on a comfy spot with it, he will be kneading that soft “thing” with the toy in his mouth. But he also does his odd movement… also most like a twitch or a mild hump motion.
I have also often caught him “cleaning” his genitals after an episode.
If anyone else has experienced this please let me know im not alone, and let me know why you think he is doing this.. im guessing hes just…feeling “in the mood”.
After reading all the replies during my own research, it looks like it is a rather normal behavior for our cats, male or female and they don’t want us involved.
However, my male cat, roughly 12 years old was an indoor/outdoor cat, he was an amazing hunter who would regularly bring home his “gifts,” while eating the mice/moles he wanted to gobble up for several years. After we moved to another location, I was not comfortable with him going outdoors due to the potential risks, so he became an indoor cat for the time being. Then, my daughter brought home an additional kitty that became mine and my cats “adopted baby brother.” However, he treats him like a son, cleaning him, watching over him after he was neutered, an amazing care giver. It wasn’t until nearly a year after getting this new kitty in the home that my older kitty started to do this loud meowing while carrying around this very specific mouse toy and only at night time. The very first time, he came to my closed bedroom door making this loud meowing noise with this toy mouse in his mouth, clearly wanting me to let him inside. I let him in. It was as if he wanted to strut around in my room, show it off, play in front of me for a few moments and then leave my room. However, he continued to loudly meow with this toy mouse in his mouth for a substantial amount of time that night and it has continued. These two kitties had a substantial amount of toys but they both seem to share that one toy specifically, the younger kitty during the daytime hours and my older toy at night time making those crazy loud meows. You tell me? Like everyone else, if I follow him out to where he is with it as if to check on him, he stops and just doesn’t want to be bothered. Only if he comes to my bedroom door does he want to come in and that is the time he will continue the meows, play, & that’s that. I just don’t know what the fascination is with that one toy or the rational, but it doesn’t seem to be a big problem as long as the neighbors aren’t bothered and the household can sleep through it. Lol
I found my cat, AC Slater, as a young kitten on a farm. She was either abandoned by her mother, or she was in the middle of moving them, but the weather was terrible and this kitten was clearly sick. At the time, I had a young dog, and they both got along well- like brother and sister. While having them, they BOTH liked to go through my laundry, and dig out small items- gloves, hats, etc. At some point I had to get rid of the dog, I was working too much and being high energy it wasn’t fair to him. It wasn’t until some time after my cat started doing this. It started off being pretty rare occurrence, but now if I don’t take the time to put up her toys that she favors, she will do this every night! Her favorite toys are a stuffed animal bear, a fuzzy snowball, and a tinsel ball that she took off all the tinsel. I always wondered why she did this, and figured it was because she had some urge to take care of her “babies”
I also had a cat that did this with a tinsel ball with all the tinsel taken off.
Our cat Lotti does this. It can be many times a day. It’s either a big fish or a small mouse. The interesting part is that during the day she brings them down to the lounge. At night, as we are preparing to go to bed, she brings them up and leave them by the bedroom door, always. Would love to find out what it means!
So glad I found this blog. My one year old cat started doing this now that it’s beetle season. She will bring them in, put them down and meow meow meow, even with the beetle in her mouth. It’s super cute, if I wasn’t really scared of big beetles ????
Our cat is a male black in color he has a long shoe string he drags around at night meowing after reading comment on here I see that he just wants us to notice it and play with him.
I found those well googling about my cat dragging around her stuff toy and yowling. My little Domino was found at one week of age abandoned in a warehouse and very sick. A woman with a local rescue bottle-fed her and nursed her back to health for four months. When we adopted her, she came with a white stuffed seal. She carries that all around the house, loudly yowling. Once she drops it the behavior stops. She’s been doing this for four years and I don’t see her ever stopping.
We have two older female cats who both go through phases of this (not both at the same time thankfully) Always after we have gone to bed, and always on the stairs for some reason.
The sound is heavy vibrato “brrrrrrrorouw” usually repeated around half a dozen times and seems to be directed at a favourite toy ,although as several others have mentioned, the noise stops if the cats are approached, and the classic feline “human, can you not see I am on important cat business?”
facial expression is displayed.
my family cat does this. his name is milo and im pretty sure hes either 3 or 4 years old…i cant remember lol. anyway, he does this when my mom is getting ready for bed or when me, my sister and our mom are all getting ready for bed (my dad and brother already asleep lol). milo also does this sometimes when my family is eating at the dinner table. he carries this small stuffed animal bunny around with him and cries and yowls like its the end of the world. if i catch him with the bunny in his mouth he drops it and runs away. then when i move away or go back into my bedroom he picks it back up and does it all over again. it usually stops i think when my mom finally gets in bed? im just like “WOULD YOU SHHH ITS ALMOST MIDNIGHT, YOUR GONNA WAKE UP THE WHOLE HOUSE” but he just dismisses me. im not really sure what makes him do this. OH! i also forgot to mention, he also goes around yowling around the house whenever my mom leaves the house. it lasts for like..5 mins i think? im pretty sure my cat has seperation anxiety… iv done alot of research on this so maybe all our cats have seperation anxiety with their owner?
My 3 year old cat, Zoey, has a stuffed animal. We call it her baby. She carries it around by the scruff and grooms it. She is now sitting beside me and looking at me while yelling, hovering over her “baby” and protecting it.
We have a rescued female that will walk around with one of those balls with the bell in it. Sc he does the same thing. I have noticed it is usually when she is playing.
When my cat does it she will do it for a while and I think it’s because she was 2 weeks away from having kittens and then my parents got her fixed because we couldn’t afford any more cats….. ? So it’s like I’m her only kitten left ? and I think that’s why she does it tell me if I’m wrong
When my cat does it she will do it for a while and I think it’s because she was 2 weeks away from having kittens and then my parents got her fixed because we couldn’t afford any more cats….. So it’s like I’m her only kitten left…. and I think that’s why she does it tell me if I’m wrong
My cat moby used to do it at night around the house and went upstairs howling. My other cat Tia who is still with us never yowled. She has been carrying not only her toy mouse but mobys too. She moves them from room to room and the sounds she’s made are more like words. She used to bring live mice in for moby, now the toy mice into our bedroom, they are for us. I caught her a couple of times with one in her mouth. The vocals are hello, I’m here, it’s here. The yowls are in syllables with a different tone and type of sound. She’s definitely talking and wants us to hear her. This is a cat that has learned some human language., they don’t want us to know that tho. I love my cat but she’s sleeping on my pillow behind my head and talking to me at night.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
She’s nearly 15, still playing like a kitten and still suckling a fluffy cushion. Also she hates other cats but loves people. This is Tia
My cat Myles looks just like yours! He does the same thing, with the same toy every night. As soon as we go to bed he starts yowling! If I go try to take the toy to play with him he just looks at me confused. I’m not sure what he’s doing since he’s male? I got him from a shelter as a kitten and he’s done this ever since. I used to think he was looking for me but then I’d find his toy. It’s a blue stuffed sheep.
I am visiting my son and every night chubz woild meow so loudly I would go check on her and she’d stop. There was a sneaker or two in my room in the morning,well I caught her in the act with shoe hanging out of her mouth,it’s the funniest sight ,wish I could have got it on video.. so I had to look it up and came across your blog! Just glad it’s something cats do!
I have a mske cat. We play every Morning. There us one toy that looks like a furry tail with a ball and fringes. We will ply with it for a while on the floor and then have will grab it at the top of the dtuck and start “crying” and acting like he is looking fo somewhere to kneed. Then it looks like he is trying to h a ve sec with it. His hair stands up and his back end sort of looks like he is trying to have set with it. He won’t let me take it and then he drops it out if his mouth and if I reach
H for it he fussed for a few minutes and then we start playing again until he does the same thing agsin. It is very strange.
My 3-year-old female cat has had a pompom I gave her when she was a kitten. She displaces it while yowling and often sleeps with it. I rarely see her displace the pompom, but often find it moved and usually placed on a rug or chair or the bed. She also has a special ritual with it : when I’ve just gone to bed and turned out the light she displaces the pompom, often bringing it into the bedroom. She never plays with this pompom, and doesn’t make this yowling noise with other objects or prey. She does meow and chirrup if she catches a mouse, but the yowling is reserved for “pompom”.
My moms cat does this with our old dogs toy squirrels she was a rescue and the story we got she was only 6 months old when she had a litter
She came downstairs where we live because both our cat and hers has the full range of the house and stole the small squirrel toys and every night since she does this ..so we figured she missing being a mom or our old dog that passed away
I adopted Rosie just over two years ago. She had been shot with seven BBs and lost a front leg and an eye. She hated my other cat and spent the next 16 months attacking her. Since she still has two of the BBs in her head, I wondered if this yowling was part of a brain injury! I decided to Google and found this site. I feel so much better now! Rosie has a stuffed toy on the end of a “fishing pole”. Every evening, she picks it up and carries to another room with the yowling going on. Like others here, as soon as she spots me, she drops the toy and stops. It’s interesting to see her dragging this stick around, catching it on doorways, etc! I have tried to play with her then, but she turns and walks away like I am crazy! My other cat just stares at her, like she is trying to figure it out.
Our “Munchkin” was about 6 months old when found under the hood of a parked car. We rescued her, took her to the vet and found that she was pregnant. The vet both spayed her and did away with the kittens she was carrying. We’ve now had her for about 4 – 5 months. She carries her babies (stuffed animals) around while yowling. I suspect it’s maternal instincts that causes her to do this. She likes her babies to be in my master bedroom (at one end of the house). If I move her babies from my bedroom into my computer room, she always ends up, within 24 hours, carrying them back into my bedroom.
My cat is a Male I rescued at about 5 weeks old he is almost 2 now and does this mostly at night with his favorite mouse on a string toy ??
My male 3year old cat does it too (walls around howling with a toy in his mouth) I think he’s calling his other cat friends to come play with him. That’s my theory.
Thank you for this!! I have 2 Yorkies and a 1 1/2yr old rescue kitty I got when she was a baby. I just rescued a new cat that is about 2-5 years old! She has obviously had kittens at some point in her life (can tell by her nipples). But she runs around screaming with a little poof ball (there are only 2 she plays with & they are both the same)! It freaked me out the first night thinking she was hurt! My other cat (a female too) has never made this noise!! So maybe the kitten theory might be valid??????
It’s just showing off their catch. Give them some fuss and interact with the toy too, it’ll strengthen the bond between you and your cat.
Also, in the UK it’s spelled meowing, so I’ve got no clue what you’re talking about there.
It just goes to show that every cat is different! Newt is the exact opposite… she does NOT want any attention when she’s moving her toy. In fact, if you sneak up on her, she spits it out and walks away. Newtie will only perform this behavior when no one is present. I’m glad you’ve figured out what makes YOUR cat happiest with all that fuss and interaction. 🙂
Despite the spelling difference, I’m so glad you were able to infer the meaning of the discussion!
My miso has fuzzy strings on a broken rod with pompoms on the end. I think she believes it’s her “baby”. She yowls when everyone is asleep and I’ve run to her only to find her looking at me like I’m crazy and sitting on the pompom. When I hide the toy she doesn’t do this. But after she finds it again it’s often displaced in different spots, on the couch or in front of a door and even on the bed, but only when I’m not looking.
I have a 5 yo male and a 12 yo female. One night about 4 months ago, my male (Simon) was outside and all of a sudden was yowling. We thought he was hurt so ran outside and he had a mouse in his mouth, tried bringing it inside with him. A short while later ( that same night), my female (Amanda, aka Kitty) started yowling inside the house. It sounded like she was hurt or in distress so I ran up from the basement. She had a red sparkly ball in her mouth and dropped it as soon as I saw it. Since then, she has left the ball in my bed, woke me at night and walked around during the day with that ball in her mouth yowling. I think that first night she did it, she was saying, “look what I got. Did I do a good job?” after hearing/seeing Simon do it with a live mouse.
My 21, yes.. 21 yo male cat has done this for a while. It’s almost always one of my wife or daughters hair ties (1 wife, 4 daughters..). Its loud. Real loud. He will get to spot, drop it on the floor where we can find it. Many times he will do this for 5-10 minutes before getting tired I guess (he’s 21 !). But mostly when he starts yowling, I’ll go find him and its just sitting there, like he’s bringing me a treat or a mouse he’s gotten. I try to reward him most of the time because I know, at 21 – we are on borrowed time 🙁 .
My male cat Dib does this with his toy mice (he has about 4) or a fuzzy ball at any given time. . If I try to play with him, I end up playing by myself while he watches. Dib was born in 2007, I got him and his brother Gir at 5 weeks old . Gir became ill and had to be put down 3 years ago. If Dib had started doing this after his brothers passing, I woukd have said that he missed Gir but he started doing this strange noisey thing around Christmas 2021. The vet suggested the Feliway diffuser as she said it could be stress (Dib is a,sl sgartkng to pull out his fur) So, the Feliway diffuser and a medicine ca,led Calmex. Its almost been a month. I am hoping for good results. I hope my post helps someone else ???
My 3 year old male cat just started doing this! He carries around the long tie to my bath robe all around the house while yowling like crazy. Never done this before. He brings it to us or carries it around like it’s his baby or something. My kids and I think he might be telling us he wants a kitten friend to play with…thoughts??
My cat has almost always grabbed his toys, started to meow, and come to us just to start speed walking away and try to get us to follow him. We end up picking him up and making him drop the toy and stop meowing. This is something he does every hour.
My cat chooses to wait till I’m In bed 5 minutes then finds a mouse and starts crying. She breaks my heart when she does this she sounds so sad. If I go to her she stops and lays down.
My 6 month old female(Onyx) will do this. She has a earplug that she has claimed. Carries it all over the house. Hides it under the laundry while I’m doing wash or in a back room ect.. anywhere she can find to hide it.. and a couple times a day she will take that earplug and carry it around meowing.. I’ve often thought she was looking for me cause she will meow like that when i go to the back room and she doesnt notice (she’s SUPER clingy unless our other cat is in the house then she’s fine being left alone with her) but when i call for her, she comes trotting in with her earplug in her teeth. Shes started doing it lots more. Just walks around right in front of us meowing with it. I think its her mouse and my mom thinks its her baby..?
Thank you for sharing this! When my cat has a toy she really loves, she will meow (and it sounds like she’s in distress)… which freaks me out because I don’t want her to be in pain lol.
But after reading this, I think my cat just does it for attention ???? just like her mother LOL ???? so now if I’m WFH, I just say “I see you!” Rather than asking “What’s wrong?”
My 13 month old cat will carry around a stingray that my granddaughter got in her happy meal a few years ago and meows. She always brings it just to me and drops it on the floor. Thinking she wanted food I started giving her a treat and now she does this all the time. Smart little girl but I must stop giving into this.
Our 14 year old cat, Shadow, has done this for about 10 years. Ever since she stole a plastic lizard from our son and it became hers. You never know when the mood will strike her. Sometimes “Lizzie” disappears for days or weeks, then suddenly one day Shadow will come strutting through the house with it in her mouth, yowling away. She drops it in front of us, wanting us to throw it. She bolts after it, returning for more in this endless game. We’ve actually had to hide Lizzie from her when trying to sleep.
My male cat Mochi came with a stuffed animal lamb. The first 3 months he was here, he didn’t acknowledge it even once. Then randomly, he started this. He picks it up with his teeth, carry it a small distance while howling, drops it, and then proceeds to try and balance on top of it, while still howling. We were starting to believe the thing about the lamb being “his toy” because he didn’t even sniff it at first. Any one else see this behavior?
My 1 year old cat Lady Eliza has a purple fuzzy thing that once dangled from a stick before she tore it off. She still loves it even though she can’t engage with it in the same way. It’s become a sort of token / security blanket. She’ll come charging with it in her mouth while meowing…like a chatter meow, like she’s talking to me. Then, she drops it at my feet and proceeds to either curl up there or get cozy on my lap. Either way, I know that she’s about to take a nap and wants me nearby. In morning, I often find it at the foot of the bed, where she sleeps. Reminds me of a kid who can’t go to sleep without a favorite stuffed animal. If I’m out all day, I may find it at the door of my office, which I keep closed when I’m not using it. Seeing that toy there makes me sad because I know she was looking for me, and her meows went unanswered. She only does this with me. I’m currently watching her sleep with the purple fuzzy toy beside her. So cute! She’s been doing this since she was about 3 months old. I hope she doesn’t grow out of it.
I have a 6 year old calico named Bella. I got her when she was only 6 weeks old or younger. She never had kittens. I had a pair of pajamas and the tie fell out of them. The tie is about half inch wide and is like a ribbed ribbon. I gave it to my kitties to play with. I only have two cats and my second one is my old lady and doesn’t play with toys much anymore. So for awhile neither cat showed interest in this ribbon. I was about to throw it away but something said keep it for awhile so I did. Sure enough, it wasn’t long after that Bella started playing with it. At first there was no meowing but now every time she plays with the ribbon there is constant meowing especially if it’s in the back of my apartment where she can’t see me. Like most I was worried something was wrong with her.i am so grateful I found your article on Google. Thank You for the Information
I have 2 kittens who do this, both female. Their mom, on the other hand has NEVER done it, but she did shuffle the twins around from place to place when they we’re first born, but was never vocal when doing it.
The first kitten to do it would make a strange yowl while jumping up to me on the bed and dropping a toy to me 🙂 super cute, btw, and now her sister has just started doing the same <3
My eldest cat, Maddy, does this! She was never a mom and neither was my other cat, but the other kitty doesn’t do this at all. For Maddy, she typically carries around her monkey toy which is only slightly smaller than she is. She’ll yowl with it in her mouth but drop it if we make eye contact. She’ll bring it into the same room as me, no problem, but it’s once she sees I’m watching that she’ll drop it with an air of “I wasn’t doing anything. You saw nothing.” But then an hour or so later she’ll be back at it again. Always baffles me.
We have 2 cats, one female (CeCe) and a male (Tiggy). CeCe was very young when a friend had gotten her. When I saw CeCe she was so adorable and of course I had to give her some toys to play with because the people that had her were way to busy to play with her much. One of the toys was a puppy that is 7.5 in x 3.5 in. The people that had her had to move from where they were living and so they stayed with us for a couple months along with CeCe. Then they moved out and CeCe went to a few different places including our place again and then somewhere else & so on. Each time they would bring her to another place, I would say “make sure she has her puppy” and so wherever CeCe went, she always had this toy puppy.
Anyway, our place is CeCe’s home now and has been for several years. She carries this puppy around all the time. She moves it all over the house, everyday and makes a different type of meowing while it’s in her mouth. We can be in a different room and not see her but whenever we her that meowing, we know that she’s moving it again. Our male cat occasionally picks the puppy up and makes a different meow sound also but what he does with it, isn’t very nice. It’s funny how their cat ways are acquired from watching another cat.
Just found this post when looking up why my cat does this twice a day. She behaves almost exactly as you describe here, and is also a black kitty. She is a momma and I also have one of her kittens. But she also gets totally disinterested if you “catch” her with the thing in her mouth. So confounding.
My black cat Monk also does this with clothes. He’s 3 and has been doing this for as long as I can remember. The noise he makes is almost like howling. He picks up random items of clothing and moves them around the house while yowling. He started off with socks but has recently progressed to larger items of clothing. He sometimes get stuck in my partners office and cry’s in there (and I mean wines) until someone lets him and the sock in his mouth out. He all of a sudden doesn’t know how to open a door with a sock in his mouth. He does this to get our attention at times but then also does this when we’re sleeping like he’s just playing. I read that cats do this with items of clothing to spread their owners smell around. The smellier the item of clothing the better. It’s funny when I find a pair of pants randomly on the kitchen floor. Either way how very interesting.
My eight-year-old female Saatchi started howling in the early part of the evening when we would go to bed, so I thought it had to do with her not wanting me to go to bed, or wanting me to sleep on the couch. After a couple of years at night she would carry one of my granddaughter’s Barbies around, howling. She, too, would drop it and act embarrassed, and walk away if we confronted her. Nowadays she carts them both during the day and night. I try calling to her to keep her from waking everyone up, but it only works sometimes. If she persists and is very loud I grab her and the doll and bring them both to bed. She then ignores the doll but will sometimes calm down. I guess it doesn’t matter why she does it, and since she doesn’t damage the dolls, I guess it’s ok.
I previously had a rather fat calico female who was too clumsy to catch real critters, so she started “hunting” at the neighbor’s backyard nursery, dragging home hand puppets and a ridiculously naked Barbie through the streets. Our other cat would kill, dismember and “arrange” the body parts on our doorstep. Another cat would deliver live rats to our bedroom in the middle of the night. Yeah, cats are weird.
My cat , Maxwell who is almost 6 just started doing it with these tiny felt balls I got off Temu . He does the loud meow while carrying in his mouth to me and dropping them at my feet . At first I thought he wanted to play fetch bc he constantly repeats this 20x a day but not always . Sometimes I throw them and if he’s tuckered out just looks at me . So I pretend to eat the felt ball and give him lots of pets and kisses and tell him what a good kitty he is and how his Meowmy is an inept hunter and thank you for providing sustanance with the tiny felt Temu balls ????
When first reading your post, I didn’t expect SO MANY comments about cats yowling and fussing while carrying a toy! I used to live in a remolded attic space with a long hallway. I taught my kitten how to play fetch by throwing a small stuffed dog down the hallway, sending my kitten after it. He is 5 years old now, and when I leave the house, my husband says the cat carries the small dog around the house, yowling and fussing. The first time I heard it, it really did sound he was in distress. I’m under the impression that he is bonded to the small dog, and he is more like a parent to it.
I have two cats that do this. Rosie has tons of toys but there is one little fuzzy ball thats about an inch in diameter that she will at random times day or night carry around and “talk” to.
Sophie only does it at night, not every night anymore. She’s 15 and weighs about 5lbs. She will drag my shoes around the house while ” talking” to them. Usually leaving them on the floor by my bed or by the couch. She recently gas been putting 1 of my tennis shoes on the section of couch where I sit. Its almost bigger than her. I dont know how she lifts it up there.
My third cat is just fat and lazy.
My boy Pikejaw just started doing this! He’s 3, he’s half farm cat/half feral, fixed, and he went through a lot of homes before I adopted him when he was 7 months old. I’ve recently had to petsit for my neighbors, and for some reason he hates it when I go next door, crying and wailing and waiting at the door. Never does that when I leave the house for any other reason, just this. I don’t know how he knows the difference.
But I was in bed at night and I heard him make such a sad sound! And saw him walking into my room holding his favorite toy (a pipe cleaner). When I tried to see what was the matter, he dropped the pipe cleaner and ignored the whole thing. I played with him for a bit, then laid back down, and he did it again! That’s when google brought me here 🙂
We’ve moved around a lot between lots of different college dorms and coming home for summer breaks, and I’ve had to be away from him for long periods of time before, the longest being two months. I only say this because when I’d get back home, either from a quick appointment or a much longer stint, he’d do things other than this to demand my attention.
It feels like he just started doing this all of the sudden. I don’t know what made him start, if it’s just some instinct that popped out or age or the smell of the neighbor’s dog, but I do think it’s a little funny to see because he holds it in his mouth sideways like people hold roses by the stem between their teeth.
My british shorthair cutiepie started this behavior when she was about 9-10 months, not long after introducing her with her new favorite toy. We can be either awake or asleep, but I’m not sure if she does it when she’s alone. She does cry with her little pompoms outside closed doors if there’s someone in that room.
She sounds really distressed, it really sounds like she’s crying, but since she does it while playing happily we figured she’s alright lol
I’m positive all the crying is an invitation to play, since she waits for us to join her (for example taking a pompom to the edge of the stairs and waiting for us to throw it down so she could bring in back up. A genius!), and if we don’t join she keeps playing by herself while complaining loudly and cutely.
We make sure no pompoms are left lying around when we go to sleep so she wont cry at us (we leave a bunch of other toys that don’t make her cry, dont worry).
She only cries while playing with/carrying pompoms, she never does it when playing with other toys, even ones she really really like.
Actually before reading your post I didn’t know it was a common behavior, since the cat we had before never did that.
my cat does the same
Recentl, my daughter moved in with me with a 4 year old, neutered, mostly feral male cat. He does the wandering, meowing, thing with a specific long stuffed “baby” in his mouth several times a day. If I happen to be in bed, he will eventually bring it on the bed then assumes an odd hunched up position, and proceeds to knead it for 5-10 minutes. He will eventually stop and jump down until the next time. Like all of the others. It’s only with one stuffed toy carried around in his mouth and it’s several times a day. I can see no rhyme nor reason to it but I guess I’ll just have to live with it!!!
my kitty does this as well! for her, we know for certain she had kittens at some point, because when our friend found her and took her in off the streets, let’s just say she was still showing the effects of post-pregnancy. we thought maybe it was her wanting to play, since it was always one of her pounce toys, and she would come and drop it on the floor near us – but if we tossed it for her, she might chase briefly but doesn’t pounce.
We also thought maybe she was trying to be a momma calling for her kittens, but she doesn’t seem all that distressed about that.
After reading this blog, I’m fairly certain she’s just doing it to get our attention, as it usually happens in the morning after we settle into our jobs, or at night after we’ve fallen asleep. Maybe she’s trying to show us how to hunt but mostly I think she wants to know we’re there and paying attention to her, haha.
My kitty Jade does this with the little fuzzy ball toys that look like tiny tribbles. The first couple of times she did it, it freaked us out because we thought there was something wrong. Another good word for the sound they make is caterwauling.
I only just came across this after searching! Yes, yes. And yes! ? My son’s cat was a few years old does this and we never understood why he makes a collection of them or a line of them all of his toys are in one area and he goes around the house howling when someone leaves or if I go to bed and shut the door and he can’t come in my room because my dog is in there!
This made a lot of sense except for us it’s a boy cat so it’s probably what you said he was taught so he wants us to be aware and proud, or he just wants someone to pay attention. Which he definitely does but he does the same thing as your cat does, he shrugs and says uh I didn’t want to play with you!
Thanks for the article! Great insight. Now if I could just figure out why he only wants to play with the plastic stick that has the toy at the end of it ?. Will carry it around everywhere and play with it but not the toy at the end of the stick which is supposed to be the best part about it.
But he is a bit weird. He likes to eat sticky notes and tries to eat the tape and lick the glue off of packages that arrive yes he’s that child. He also likes to steel pens right out from in front of me while he’s sitting on my lap ?.
Weirdo…but we love him.