Why does Miette do this?

I've had cats most of my life, but Miette does something I've never seen before. She will drag soft fuzzy things to a different part of the house and yell her head off. At first it was just my fuzzy slippers. I thought it might have something to do with my scent. She's progressed to clean rags so I'm guessing it's not the scent. She even dragged one of BG's shirts out this week. I don't know if this has any bearing, but she usually drags them to my home office, but not when I am there. Or she drags them to the front door. When I say she yowls I mean she screams her bloody head off. She did it one day when I was on the phone and the person asked why I was torturing the cat!

Anyone have any suggestions what's going on? I'm not trying to make her stop. Well it is annoying at 2am! I'm just trying to understand it.

Well, I did what we all do in this digital age. I asked Google! Apparently this is a pretty common question for Google.

The top answers that came up were
- it's a nurturing behavior like a momma cat carrying kittens and meowing (males do it too!)

-they are showing off their latest "kill" finding a slipper in the middle of the floor sure beats finding a dead mouse

- they want attention or for us to play with them

Seems my baby girl's behavior is not that odd afterall.

Is she spayed? I've heard they yowl when in heat.

I had a male cat that would drag my fleecy robe around and hump it and howl. I adopted him as a rescue at about 3 years old. He was neutered right before they adopted him out. I have read that neutering late like that is less effective at limiting certain behaviors of male cats, so I think that might have played a role. It was quite a show!

Oh, rechu! I am speechless!

None of the cats I have ever did that. They were all females until Sir. But they never were the nurturing type.

Quote:

Originally Posted by downandlonely Is she spayed? I've heard they yowl when in heat.

Yes, she's been spayed.

Rechu, that would've been "entertaining" if he did it when you had company.

Miette was spayed at the appropriate age. There's nothing s e x u a l about what she does.

Nammu, she's not a nurturing kind of cat either. She's more of a tomboy.

Ah well, I'm going to ask the vet next time I'm at the office.

Miette is such a sweet name.

I am so glad you posted this, liz! Yep, my Sadie does the same thing. It started with my sock. years ago. She found it, dragged it around, and meowed LOUDLY at it. She loudly meowed for a long time! I called to her, petted her, she just kept up the very loud yowls.

Now she loudly meows at her toys, sometimes she just sits and meows (loudly) when I turn all the lights off at night (I wonder if she feels lonely??).

I call her name when she does it, call her up on the bed at night, or go over and pet her during the day. If she's yowling at a toy, she's playing with it, so I just call her name to kind of bring her back to reality.

Interesting info that you found online! btw, Sadie is spayed. She's a very "homey" cat, loyal, content to do the daily routine, and hates being fussed with by the other cats or by me. Just gentle scratches and petties. Those loud yowls seem out of character - but clearly, she's communicating something.

He had no shame. He didn't care who watched the show.

Black Jack never yowls.