Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My cat who still has the obsessoin with that little stuffed zebra, has now started dropping it in his water dish. Not only does he do that, but he will still "bring it" to us and drop it on our laps or our chests when we are in bed. A sopping wet zebra. And it's also not fun to step on a sopping wet zebra barefoot when it's in the hallway. How can I stop this behavior without taking away the beloved zebra? That just seems too mean. (P.s. It's only the zebra he does it with, not with any of his other toys.)

Have you tried to put up the Zebra when he isn't looking and see how he'll react without it? When he is in another room, put it in a closet or something and see if he notices it missing. If he does, you'll have to give it back, of course, but if he doesn't, no need to give it back... Test and see what happens.
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

It's weird because he does it every single day.

My cat does this too. he has this blue cheap furry mouse toy that he adores. he carries it in his mouth usually and plays fetch with it. sometimes i find it in his water dish or i step on this cold wet thing around the house. i dont know why he does that. i thought maybe he was trying to drown the poor thing or something... but its not alive of course. maybe he thinks it is/was?.. if i hide that mouse from him.. he just starts getting into stuff i dont want him to get into when he looks for it.. like the refigerator. or every single closet or cabnet i open.

Your cat is fishing and killing his prey. Both are very normal and entertain him, so I would let him be. If you take his toy away he will just find another one, or worse...tear up the house. Seriously it is cat instinct to fish and hunt. If he had to fend for himself he would be spening most of his day doing just what he does now. I think your cat is smart and sounds like he has a great personality. Enjoy it

Bobbie

My Bandit used to do that all the time with sparkly balls and Smoky would greet me at the door WHINING - MOOOOOOOMMMMMM The water's blue again!!!!! (or pink or whatever) The toys would also end up in the food dish - I think it's a way of keeping something precious safe. But Smoky also has problems with depth perception and would knock over a big ceramic water dish because he constantly pawed at it trying to figure out where the water started. SSooooooooo, I solved both problems by introducing a bunny bottle for them to drink out of. Smoky helped me hang it up and drank from it immediately. It took Bandit a few days to figure it out, but he did and now that is their water source and no more wet toys. There are still sparkly balls in the food dish on occasion, but that's less messy