Allow me to tell you a story...
Firstly, the thing to understand about Bundle (the cat) is that he is an active rodent hunter. He is doing his part to save and protect the local New Zealand ecosystem by knocking off rats and mice on a grand scale.
Rats and mice are not native to the country and were introduced accidentally by early settlers in the late 1800's, so the eco system is not designed to cope with them. These little pests are one of the primary reasons that several species of bird, only found in New Zealand, are close to extinction (some are already extinct). So we all get behind pest control in a big way, with traps... bait... the works. It's part of the job of being an environmentally responsible resident.
It was in the news last year (and I'm quoting the headline) that the rats and mice of New Zealand had a better than normal season in the bedroom. Since then, we've noticed our Bundle bagging himself quite a number of pests, sometimes up to 15 per month. Our house backs on to about 10 acres of forest, so it's not unusual. I'd say the mix is mostly mice.
Now, Bundle is a good clean boy, so he likes to wash them in water first (places a dead one in a water bowl, bats them with his paw, then sniffs to decide if clean enough to present to his people). Then he, much to our delight and pleasure, places them on our outside doormat as a neatly washed little wet parcel of ratty (or mousey) goodness. Sometimes we get a "meow" to let us know it's there, and he expects a knob of butter or some fish as a reward.
Of course we thank him for these little treats, as he's doing a good job. Plus, apparently it's psychologically damaging for a cat to be told off after working to feed his family (our vet says it's one of the reasons cats run away).
I'm sure you've worked out where this is going....
Yes. Bundle has decided that guests are also part of the family and they need parcels of ratty goodness too! Whilst I'm sure he's now working twice as hard to feed both us and the guest cottage, I'm fairly sure (if discovered... hasn't been yet) that guests will take a pretty dim view of Bundle's idea of a dietary supplement.... any day now we're going to have to explain this... to someone. And it's going to be awkward.
~ Ben