It’s very common for cats to show their appreciation and affection by bringing gifts for their owners. These gifts are, more often than not, the results of a hunting session and involve rodents, birds and other small creatures in a state of extreme distress.

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Needless to say, these gifts are rarely welcomed by their ungrateful humans. This most likely causes confusion and hurt to our poor feline friends who cannot understand why such treasured gifts are being constantly rejected!

This was the case with Baloo, a young cat with an owner named Ben. “She always looked so confused and sad, which made me feel pretty bad,” Ben said about Baloo in an interview with the Dodo.

Baloo is not just any old cat however. She quickly figured out that Ben has other tastes in gifts, and went out to hunt for something nicer, something less…alive. “It took a couple of months of me rejecting her gifts for her to start bringing me leaves. They were always big, nice looking leaves,” Ben said. “It was such a relief from the live mice every morning that I would show my gratitude by taking the leaf and playing with it while she sat on my chest.”

“She knew she was doing something right now.”

Proving herself to be an unusually intelligent and empathetic cat, Baloo carefully selected only the best leaves for her lucky owner, much to the relief of the local wildlife. These days however, she has found lazier ways to show love for Ben. She will comfort me when I’m feeling down,” Ben told the Dodo. “She’s not a lap cat by any means, but when I’m upset or nervous she will hop up onto me, push me back so I lay down and then she’ll just sit on my chest purring like mad and nuzzling my face with her nose. She’s a very loving cat.”

Scroll down below to see Baloo in action, and share you own cat-gift experiences in the comments!

(h/t: The Dodo)

This is Baloo, a cat who couldn’t quite understand why her owner Ben was rejecting her thoughtful gifts of live rodents and birds

“She always looked so confused and sad, which made me feel pretty bad”

So Baloo decided to try a different tactic

She figured out that “after a while, it started getting a bit annoying having half dead animals dropped on your chest every morning”

And Ben might appreciate something nicer, something less…alive

“It took a couple of months of me rejecting her gifts for her to start bringing me leaves”

“They were always big, nice looking leaves”

Sometimes she would bring a twig instead of a leaf, just to mix it up

But these days, she has found lazier ways to show love for Ben

“When I’m upset or nervous she will hop up onto me, push me back  so I lay down…”

“…and then she’ll just sit on my chest purring like mad and nuzzling my face with her nose”