Kitty Bad Habits- Lid stealing & Toy Hiding

My Willow is a criminal mastermind.

 Don't let her cuteness fool you.

Her ability to thieve pop lids, water bottle lids, milk pull tabs, and any other plastic lid she can find is amazingly annoying.

If she would wait till I was finished with them then it would be less of a pain.
No, her little paw will sneak up and snatch away the lid before I can even say meow.

Then she hides them.
Along with any toy she gets her paws on.

Silly me, I keep buying toys.. what I should be doing is limiting her.
She should get a certain amount of toys and if she hides, loses, or gets them stuck somewhere.. that's her problem!
Except it's my problem.
Bored kitties do bad things.
They turn other things into toys.. like cords.
Or they turn on each other.. like Sebby.

So what do I do?
Nothing.

I allow her to steal the lids, hell I even toss some to her.
I keep buying toys, because I can't find the ones I gave them.

Until today.
Today I found one of her stashes.
I never think to actually take out the bottom drawer of the stove.
A broom should be good enough to located a wayward toy.
This time I took out the drawer.
It was surprising.
I was surprised how many toys could fit under a stove.

 Yes, that is Willow sitting beside her loot.
Way less lids then I suspected.
I'm not lifting the fridge.

Do I have a kleptomaniac feline?
or
Is this normal kitty behaviour?
Could she be suffering from a fear of toy drought?
Did someone steal her toys in a past life?
Was she attacked by lids?
Am I reading into this a bit too much?
Maybe the location of the stove makes for a great reservoir or toy receptacle?
She is Canadian, maybe the under the stove is actually like getting a hockey puck in the net?
Can I deny her right to play hockey?

Am I just slightly slow on the realization that I could block the entrance to under the stove?

I found a rather interesting blog called Way of Cats
They speak of a cats environment, and their need to create their own space.
This makes it easier to hunt, hide, spot their prey.
What we may find annoying.. like having to remove over 30 toy from under the stove.
or
Constantly finding toys in their water bowl.
or
Having to pick up random articles of clothing off the living room floor that have been relocated by Sebastian!
or
Almost twisting your ankles when stepping oddly on a toy that is hidden under the throw rug.
The blog calls this Terraforming.
 Basically making our home- their home as well.
Which it is.
Slowly becoming more of their home and less of mine...

Reading more of this blog, I came across Pretending
Do your cats pretend?
I wonder what they are thinking... what they would pretend about.
Why they  have not banded together to kill the vacuum?
Probably not enough of them to take on the beast.

Willow pretends.
She knows that I am the creator of the red dot.
She knows the sound the laser pointer makes when I pick it up.
She still tries to catch or kill the dot.

The foster kittens try to save the world from this

 

They run at it, pounce on it, try to get the ball out. 

They lay on the ball and look at me.. possibly letting me know that I am not safe from the evil creature?

I absolutely believe that Sebby wears this bag as a cape.
He always looks like he is proud when he walks around with it.
Super Sebby.


From stealing lids, to hiding behind see through curtains...cats are clearly hilarious.
Hold on.. I need to add in Jackson.
He doesn't steal.
I am not sure if he pretends.
He just knows.

If he lays on the computer mouse, I have to pay attention to him.
If he tries to eat the mouse, I have to pay attention to him.
If he walks across my laptop, I have to pick him up and move him.
If he stares at me while I type this.. which he is.. I will wonder if he can read.