What is my cat doing?

[MrsMike]

One of my cats, Amber, a 2yo one-eyed Persian, is OBSESSED with ponytail holders. I mean OBSESSED. She will remove them from my hair if my head is anywhere near her reach. She has gone into my purse for them and she will perform amazing acrobatic feats to get to them after I've tried to hide them. I know it's because she loves to play with them. She'll run around the house for hours throwing them in the air, stalking them and pouncing on them. The weird part has to do with food and water bowls. We have three food dishes and three water dishes. They are not in the same location in the house. She will ritualistically place one ponytail holder in each water bowl. Sometimes two. I initially thought she did it so she could fish them out and play, but no. She picks it up, takes it to the bowl and dunks it. Then she walks away. She does this with the food bowls, too. It just seems weird. She has been doing this for many months and does it everyday and it's only with ponytail holders, not any other toy. Is this some weird kitty ritual?

[Magelet]

my cat loves loves loves ponytail holders too, however I've no clue about the kitty water ritual. (he is even more obsessed with pens and pencils than ponytail holders. seriously, his fave toy ever)

[lifeguard]

I've had my ponytail holders pulled out of my hair on more than one occassion as well. As for the water dunking I would guess it's something special for your kitty. They are so entertaining aren't they?

[outlier]

My cat does this too, except she never puts them in the water bowl, only her food bowl. If I wake up and see she's stolen the one I'm currently using, 99% of the time it's in her bowl. She's the same way with rubber bands, though those often get eaten in the course of her play.

I always took it to mean she was putting it someplace safe so she could play with it again later. Her food bowl is hers and no one else's, and heaven help the laser pointer dot that dares get too close to it.

[rhiOrion]

I've seen other cats who put toys in water bowls- usually it's those little catnip mice.

I'm sure there's some biological reason for it.

But I mostly just think the answer is, "cats are weird."

[amber913]

I agree that she's stashing them with her favorite things: food.

Ferrets, incidentally, are notorious thieves and will even try to pull people away by their socks to stash them away with their treasures. It's an animal thing.

Nice name for your cat, by the way.

[Katie T]

I had a cat that loved ponytail holders as well, and when we moved we found like 30 under out couch lol. Cats are so weird sometimes!

[MrsMike]

I'm glad my cat isn't the only weird-o with the ponytail fetish. I mean, she is long-haired....maybe this is her way of saying she would like a ponytail? I like the theory that she's hiding them with her favorite stuff for safe keeping. Never thought of that. I used to have to buy maybe one pack of ponytail holders a year...if that. I can't tell you how many I've bought in the past 6 months.

[Limabean1975]

SOrry to be a thread downer...I do love weird cat stories! But I used to work in a vet clinic and numerous times saw cats come in and end up on the surgery table - getting ponytail elastics or rubber bands removed from their intestines.

[MrsMike]

Thanks Lima. It's definitely a risk and owners have to know what to look for. I'm a certified veterinary technician and have spent many years at the surgery table. None of my cats ingest or chew their toys to bits. All of the ponytail holders remain intact. I throw them out once they get too grungy. I keep an eye on all of them and watch for any signs of obstruction. This isn't too say that nothing bad will ever befall my cats, but I'm comfortable with Amber's play habits at this time.

[Limabean1975]

Ah! Clearly you know what you are doing then!