Cats have been domesticated for over 10,000 years. On one hand, that doesn’t change the fact that cats are natural hunters. Domesticated cats know that they don’t need to hunt because they get everything they need from their owners, but they’re haunted by the urge to hunt and chase.
On the other, that doesn’t change the fact that cats adore bringing presents to their owners – whether those presents are rodents, bugs, and other crawling creatures or even leaves. Baloo, an adorable tortie that happens to be the star of today’s story, noticed that her owner Ben wasn’t fond of hunting.
Baloo clearly understood the gravity of the problem because she decided to take matters into her own hands (or even better, paws) by catching critters in their backyard and surprising Ben with them every morning before he woke up.
Baloo was catching little birds and mice and bringing them back to Ben by hopping through the bedroom window and dropping them straight onto Ben’s face. “What’s going on?!” Ben thought to himself every morning when he was rudely awakened by creatures crawling across the bed he was sleeping on.
Baloo didn’t seem to understand what was wrong about hunting for breakfast, and Ben didn’t seem to understand whether she was hunting for breakfast or bringing a token of her appreciation.
Whatever thoughts he had, Ben didn’t want to offend her by shouting at her which made matters even worse because he didn’t know how to stop her from bringing more beasts to the house.
(Credits: @mostlyjustpicturesofmycats)
Ben was flabbergasted by the entire experience because Baloo seemed to have a whole routine going on. More often than not, she would leave the house at the break of dawn, catch a critter or two, and return to the bedroom by hopping through the window (Ben preferred sleeping with an open window).
She would, then, hop on top of Ben’s chest and wait for Ben to wake up. Ben would wake up and, right off the bat, notice something wiggling and hanging from her mouth. She would drop whatever she was carrying the moment she noticed that he was awake, and she would meow.
And, for better or for worse, she was gentle with her prey because they were always unharmed when she dropped them on Ben’s face.
Now, even though he was freaking out about all these little beasts running around the house, Ben hated the thought of making Baloo think that he didn’t appreciate her efforts. However, he knew that he couldn’t continue waking up to bugs and brutes scattered across the bedroom, trying to run away.
Rather than shouting at Baloo, Ben made sure to storm out of bed every morning when she dropped the presents, chase after them around the apartment, and throw them out of the window. Ben also made sure to keep repeating that he didn’t want the presents and that she shouldn’t continue bringing them.
Baloo didn’t know what was going on for quite some time. She appeared confused every time Ben would throw her presents out of the window, and she clearly couldn’t understand what was wrong.
She probably thought that catching critters was her purpose, her gift to Ben for taking care of her, and something she simply needed to do every night and every morning. She needed some time to figure out that Ben didn’t appreciate the gifts, and Ben couldn’t shake off the feeling that he made a mistake.
But, he didn’t. One morning he was awakened by Baloo bestowing something light and luminous on top of the pillow. On one hand, he had the urge to hop out of the bed and run.
On the other, he thought that something was different about the way she hopped onto the bed and departed from whatever she was carrying. Oh, Baloo brought a leaf.
(Credits: @mostlyjustpicturesofmycats)
From that moment onward, Baloo continued to bring Ben big, beautiful leaves every morning. Ben was over the moon about the change because he was tired of waking up to mice running around the apartment and birds flapping across the bedroom.
Ben adored the thought behind those leaves, too – Baloo was clearly trying to hunt for the biggest, the most attractive, and alluring leaves out there.
Fearing that the change might not be permanent, Ben made sure to showcase the appreciation he had for her presents by playing with them and admiring them while Baloo was sitting and watching.
Oh, the thought of Baloo biting on a humungous leaf would make everyone cry. And, Ben’s roommates (five guys and four girls) adore and support Baloo’s hunting trips.
Baloo, on the other hand, adores being at the center of attention at the student house, munching on everyone’s scraps, and wandering around the house when there’s a party – she’s pretty much the most popular purr on the block.
Baloo has also adopted other ways of showing appreciation and affection toward her owner. Ben confesses that Baloo became fond of cuddling, snuggling, and purring which wasn’t the case during her hunting phase.
Ben argues that she started paying attention when Ben’s feeling down, and she started nuzzling Ben’s face with her nose whenever she thought he wasn’t OK. We don’t even need to comment on that, right?
