Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello Everyone!
I have had my baby, Bijou, since she was 10 days old. She will be 2 years old in May. Recently, over the past few months, she has been crying and holding a sock in her mouth when my sister or I are out of her sight. When we are upstairs we can hear her crying and when we leave the house for school my mom tells us that she cries again and walks around with the sock in her mouth. We just want to know if there is anything that we can do to ensure that she knows that we are coming back and something that might help her to deal with it. We know that we probably can't stop her from crying but we don't want her to be sad and we don't want her to be stressed or depressed when we are not around.
Thank you for your help,
Stephanie

It's normal I think. Patches 11 yr old does it all time. She steals our socks. And we never have matches. I don't know what she does with them after she steals them. She has this really loud wail/whine she does when she is walking around with the sock in her mouth.
I think she thinks they are her babies.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

Hi There,

I have several cats that do this, both male and female. Not with socks, but with their favorite toys. I think that for some cats this is like a security blanket but I do refer to them as their "babies". I do think that in female cats, they may be exibiting maternal behavior. With the boys it might be just a security thing, or perhaps they are a bit confused.....lol

I have to say that both of my boys that do this are very insecure cats, both losing their mothers at a very young age. This goes for one of the girls also. One of the other girls had kittens before I adopted her, so perhaps the maternal thing fits her. Or maybe it's as a result of trauma. She was abused as a young cat and in her young adult years she survived a major house fire.

BTW, your baby is just beautiful!

PHKitkat

Thanks for your response...I guess she's probably insecure as she didn't have a mother when we found her...she was found with her siblings in a bad in a dumpster...poor little thing. Anyways, I was just wondering why she might have recently adopted this behaviour as it has been almost 2 years since we have her and she has only being doing this for the past few months...I think it's cute that she thinks a sock is her baby...

Oh she is adorable. My 18 year old cat carries toy socks in her mouth and has for years. She makes a very odd sound with them so I know that she is moving them around. She has about 6 of them and she keeps them together. She takes them to the food dishes and to the litterbox as well. Even puts them in the water sometimes to the displeasure of the other cats. I believe they are her "kittens". She will violently protect these toys from any other cat who thinks about touching one and she keeps them hidden in protected places. This would be a picture of my little old lady Patch of Beauty Onyxcita the Wimp.

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PHWildCat/Tessa and 17 cats, 1 dog and even a hamster
Tabitha, in my heart forever.... earned her wings 6/26/05
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