Why Does my Cat Move Toys to the Food Bowl?
Why does my cat put his favorite toys in his food
bowl? He has done this since he was a tiny kitten.
He even does it if he has to jump on the counter
with the toy in his mouth. (We had a dog for a
while, and she would eat his food if it wasn’t on
the counter.)
Ruth
Ocala, FL
My answer is going to involve speculation. I don’t know for sure why your cat is engaging in this behavior, and I certainly can’t ask him. But I have a hunch.
Your cat’s food bowl is undoubtedly a very special place for him. If he enjoys eating as much as I do, then he associates the food bowl with good feelings.
What’s more, the food bowl is a place that is uniquely his. I suspect that in his mind it is the heart of his territory.
So when he moves his favorite toys to the heart of his territory, he is helping to keep his most prized possessions in a spot where it is easy to account for them.
I realize that this explanation involves speculation and a bit of anthropomorphism. Another possible explanation is that he likes to carry his toys around the house, and he drops them in his food bowl because he can’t hold a toy and eat at the same time. But I like the first explanation better.
Photo credit: Yuval Y. Photo licensing information: CC.
You have questions. 
Tosca takes it a bit further. Not only does she take her toys to her food bowl but she will take a bite of food, chew on the toy, take a bite of food, chew on the toy. Then other toys get dropped in the water bowl. Her toys are so nasty. I understand about bringing the toys to the food bowl but I’m curious to know about chewing the toy while eating. What does that mean?
My siamese, Eva likes to put her toys in her water bowl! What does this mean? :o)
Dante does the same thing. I always thought is was his way of approximating “eating” his prey.
I always like reading Vet Blog. Dr. Barchas is such a nice, smart CA Humane human.
About putting toys in my food bowl, when I was little, somebuddy told me to do it ‘cuz it’s good manners to eat your prey in your bowl. It’s also a good place to keep toys, in case they come alive and try to run away.
If something’s really dirty, I put it in my water bowl and wash it.
Everything else, especially cat-ma’s stuff, I flick off the counters and shelves to give to my corgis.
anyone have a cat who buries toys in the litterbox? kaya does this and it foozles me…and makes cleaning the litterbox loads of fun, gotta tell you. oh-it’s not just toys, either. i’ve also found my socks & underwear, coupons, plastic bags…?
i always thought stephie was sharing. she will put her mousie toys in the bowl when it gets low or empty. shes providing mice as food for the others.
she also used to put her mousey toys in the dogs water bowl, i figured she was drowning them. she hasent done that in a long time though.
thats hilarious about the toys in the littler box. im sure its not funny to have to dig them out all the time, but i think i would crack up if i found toys in there
Both my cats steal my hair ties and put them in their food dish. I used to think it was like catching prey but I have started to wonder if they are wanting to get my attention to their food dish.
One of my cat is a fanatic to always get fresh food. Whatever they are doing I get a hair scrunchy suprise when I go to feed them.
My other cat also likes carrying his toys around the house and he will occasionally take them to the food dish and put them in it.
My youngest (female) cat puts her toys into the water bowl. She also puts my hair elastics in there…the fabric wrapped ones- and she goes onto my dressing table to get them if there are none around the house. The other (male) cat never does this. I have married and we now have a blended family of five cats…three more females. None of them do it. Thank goodness she doesn’t put them in the litterbox!
Yup count Chessy in on the water bowl thing. Every toy, even brand new, must have a bath, and his favorites get it more often. The funniest was when he put the brand new yeowwwy sardine toy in and it got left overnight…in the morning the water was brown, he had made his own nip tea!!!!
He was impacting his sister with his toy baths, so I got her a water fountain and still left his water dish for bathing toys. I should say that Chessy also likes water so I am wondering if he thinks his toys want to play?
Most days I am just glad I don’t know what is going on in that brain of his!!!!
we have a young cat who washes his toys. he gets the plastic rings off milk caps, and those plastic spider rings they sell for Halloween. it never fails, any time one of them gets dirty, you can find it in his water dish. he’s also taken to washing his paws in his water dish when he’s been outside all day after it rains. and when he’s done playing in the puddles in the driveway.
Rocky, my cat mate, put his toys in the toilet?! His favorite after 4 years is a pink pig (Porky) that has been his constant companion since the day Rocky came to live with me.
Rocky and I live in a sorority house. My apartment is filled with hair bands he collects all over the sorority. They are not only in his food dish and toilet, but the litter box? I have yet to figure out why, but he’s a happy cat, so I decided I must be appeasing him somehow – he still does this everyday and he get everything he wants.
I think that it is so interesting. My cat Boopie, has been carrying around his toys and feeding them since he was a kitten. He has a stuffed animal cat and a toy mousie, that he absolutely loves. He will carry them to my bed, and bring them to his food dishes. Sometimes he will even drop them in his water dish. I always thought that he was taking care of his animals. That he maybe developed a Motherly Instinct for them. Making sure they got fed and put them on my bed so the could sleep.