I've complained numerous times that my cat is broken. It may be that these reports were exaggerated. It may be that mistakes, as they say in government, were made.
Every evening without fail, Click goes outside at dusk and stays out past nightfall. She doesn't offer reports of what goes on during these times, and the only real thought I've given to them is a rather forlorn wish that she wouldn't do it. During the day she's safe in the yard because the boys are nearby. After dark the rules are off. Four-legged predators creep near, owls (we've got owls the size of predator drones, they must be seen to be believed) are in the air. It's not at all safe.
But Click is Cat, and Cat does what she will. Given the complete lack of recent evidence, I jumped to the conclusion that her campaign of extrajudicial killings had come to a halt. I had mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, I didn't miss the daily ritual of cleaning up gut piles on my floor. On the other...she's supposed to keep mice out of the house and I had evidence that she wasn't doing it.
I ramble. Last night she stayed out later than usual, after nine o'clock. I was thinking of grabbing the spotlight, going out and calling her. Sometimes she comes when called. I kept telling Little Bear to move: He likes to sleep against the door, which blocks her entrance. Then as if she heard me thinking about her, she came inside. In her mouth was a small, limp and apparently dead mouse. Hey! First time in well over six months!
She walked around from one place to another with this mouse hanging out of her mouth as if unsure where the banquet should take place. Finally she seemed to settle on the bathroom, perhaps for a bit of privacy. She was out of my sight for a minute or two. All the time I could see her, the mouse in her mouth never twitched and I assumed it was dead. Then from the bathroom there came a sudden fierce scuffling noise.
She came shooting out of the bathroom, sans mouse. She looked frantically around. the message in her eyes clearly said, "Which way did it go?" Hey, I was watching and as far as I saw it never left the bathroom. Apparently she lost it in the clutter piled up in the not-yet-functional shower stall.
Bummer, dudette. What have I asked you concerning the importation of live rodents? I distinctly recall numerous conversations on this topic.
Well, she is Cat. Cat does what she will. I guess I'm glad to see she's not quite as retired as I thought.
Sunday, Nov. 17, News and Commentary
7 hours ago
6 comments:
Had a cat like Click when I was a kid. Imported dead rodents on a regular basis. Mom drew the line the day it brought in a baby rattlesnake, still living. Cat was courteous enough to drop it on it's food mat in the kitchen which was close enough that Mom was able to dispatch it with a butcher knife. Mom swears she was trying to off the cat and rattlesnake got in the way. From that day on Cat had to be inspected before coming into the house.
A friend's cat was very tidy about bringing her kills. She'd put them in her food dish and eat them there. One day M went to dump some kibble in the dish and found a rather largish grey squirrel draped across the bowl. Shrieks ensued.
I looked at the cat, cat looked me. We more or less shrugged. "Food. In the bowl. What's the problem?"
The big black cat I had for a while used to bring in Kangaroo rats regularly, and none of them dead! He loved to watch my two dogs chase them all around the room... usually at 1AM. Once he brought in a large yellow snake, and once a rather bedraggled tarantula. That was fun to catch and dispose of! The dogs were bright enough to know they didn't want any part of it.
If I blocked the pet door so he couldn't get out at night, he'd sit there and whine about it until I opened the door.
What can you do? A cat is a cat and they'll do as they darn please.
Your cat is still broken, she's bringing them INTO the house. The idea is to keep or get them OUT of the house. Do cats get Alzheimers?
I wonder if part of the problem is she thinks little bear is all grown up and she doesn't feel the need to feed him now.
We have an outdoor cat,here in the woods, and she has done a pretty good job of getting the moles out of the yard. My wife does not complain about that. But anything else she gets and plays with before consuming just chaps off the wife. Wife does not understand why she would kill frogs, birds, and such when she gets fed store-bought food twice daily. In the last month Kitty has found a couple of nests of cottontails, and about every other day she enjoys a mighty tasty baby bunny rabbit (after she has toyed with it for awhile). Wife, who saved Kitty from a bad fate a couple a years ago when she showed up as stray nows hates the bunny eater.
Cats are cats!
bennie
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