I read an interesting article on that a while ago, unfortunately I can’t to find it anymore rn. If I remember correctly, it stated cats don’t think of humans as kittens (or generally as cats) but are able to recognize us as a different species. At the same time, they apparently still consider us part of their colony and in the wild cats care for their offspring together, so one part goes hunting while the others look after the kittens. Same happens when cats bring us „gifts“. (Might be misremembering stuff and can’t check how trustworthy the article was, so take it with a big grain of salt, I’d be happy to get educated by someone more knowledgeable)