My friend's cat used to utterly loathe me, due to my habit of grabbing her for cuddles despite her not liking being held, since I valued the entertainment value of annoying the cat more than I did her friendship. Lately, however, I seem to have won her trust.
We've kind of reached a compromise, I only occasionally pick her up for cuddles and the rest of the time just offer her unobtrusive pats and scratches, and for her part she doesn't run away at the sight of me. In fact, lately she's become quite affectionate, actually approaching me for attention quite regularly.
This evening this behaviour reached an extreme, with her meowing loudly at me as though she wanted something. I tried giving her food, I tried refilling her water bowl, but it seemed all she wanted was affection. So I was distractedly giving her pats a-plenty whilst using my laptop, even though she went outside a few times in the rain and came back progressively soggier each time.
Just before, I walked from the loungeroom (where I had been playing PS4) to check my laptop, and glanced down in the dark and noticed her seemingly chewing something on the floor. At first I figured it was no big deal, but quickly it occurred to me that it could be something she wasn't supposed to have, followed immediately by a thought along the lines of, "Oh shit, what if she's killed something again?"
I hurriedly crouched down and pulled her away from it and sure enough, I saw a bit of a leg and tail. As my eyes adjusted to the light I saw a rat, looking rather dead. I hissed at her and rushed over and switched on the light, which quickly revealed that the poor thing was beyond saving. I frowned at the cat, who was staring uncertainly up at me from beneath the table, and gave her a little smack on the head. She fled out the window.
So, I finally befriended my friend's cat after all this time, only for that to lead to her (presumably) killing a rat to bring me as a present.
No doubt my reaction very confusing, but what the hell could I do? The worst part is, my friend recently bought her (and the other cat in the house) a collar with a bell on it, to prevent any more of this sort of thing. I guess it didn't do much good. Unless the rat was killed by the other cat, who quickly managed to break the bell off her new collar, but then how did this cat end up with her kill, and why did she bring it to plop next to my laptop?
Cats are super cute, but honestly this bullshit always pushes me more towards the "dog person" end of the spectrum.
Stupid cat, after all my efforts to be nice to her, she does this. Now I have to dispose of this thing before it starts smelling or something... it's right next to where I'm sitting. My housemate is asleep, too. Ugh.