On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 12:34:24 -0500, "Neil Sullivan"
wrote:

Hello,

We have two 1 year-old cats and an older stray we took in. The older cat is
a very gentle fellow. The vet tells us he might be as old as 12.

About all he wants to do is sniff around outside for a bit and then come in
and sit on the nearest lap. He doesn't play much with the young cats, even
if they come by to give him a lick or a playful swat.

There is one very odd thing that he does. Every now and then he will meow
pitifully for 30 seconds. When we would come running, we would find that he
had a small toy mouse or the pom-pom off a Winter hat in his mouth. He would
lay it on the floor and just sit there.

We tried comforting him, praising his hunting abilities and ignoring him,
but the behavior continues. It is quite odd as he is not very vocal except
at these infrequent moments; about every three days or so.

This isn't a complaint as I expect I'll be doing much stranger stuff when I
hit his age. I was just wondering if anyone could hazard a guess as to what
the silly old fellow is up to?

Thanks in advance from Montréal

Have you tried tossing the object to see if he wants to chase it?