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Wildlife IN the Prancing Skiltaire?
18 years ago
So ... was mucking midnight or so and our cat, Patches, comes around doing the "I've killed something, come and see!" yowl.
Problem is, our cat knows the routine, but not, perhaps, all the details of the process, as she invariably just gets us to follow her to the living room, regardless of where her 'prize' may be lying, or cowering in fear of the fanged, clawed terror, somewhere else in the house.
She'd caught several mice, rats, and even brought in birds, baby and otherwise, to 'share' in this manner, but she's never been consistant where she's left stuff. Once, last year, she caught a mouse, left him -fully- intact, and plunked him in our bathtub since everyone was asleep. We captured and released the little guy into a wild, fenced off pond place teaming with bunnies and ducks a few miles down the road, in Anaheim proper.
When I finally found what she'd been yelling about this time, we found a very terrified, apparently uninjured young possum, just big enough to be away from momma, but still pretty little - hiding behind the toilet in the master bedroom's bath. There's no real easy way to get there, and no real -reason- for a possom to wander that far in from the cat-door at the house, and is also the opposite direction from the cat-food.
My only guess is that Patches, finding him sneaking into the house to raid her food dish, carried him as -far- away from her food as she could without actually taking him back outside, then 'alerted the authorities'.
Beady eyes, glittering, ears trembling like tiny radar dish, constantly jittering back and forth - Possoms aren't the prettiest creatures in the world, but this was drop dead cute - and seeing as he wasn't hissing like most possoms I've encountered, or baring his teeth, the terrified orphaned waif imagery was heartbreaking.
First - put on clothes (as I'd just shed them before the discovery for bed). Don't want to catch bitey-scared wild animals in the nude, and didn't particularly fancy a trip to the hospital to test me, and/or the possom for rabies.
Second - nudge him around from the toilet toward a waiting laundry basket with the handle of a plunger. Wasn't sure how to corral him into basket tho, as the geography of the cabinets, toilet, etc. made for lots of possible gaps for quick possoms to squirp through. Luckily he crawled atop a toilet-brush holder and I picked up the whole arrangement and managed to set him down in the laundry basket before he realized he could let go.
Third - cover the arrangement with a towel and take him outside, well -away- from the cat door at the back. Could just picture Patches going and bringing him right back in, with that "You didn't finish him yet!".
I still don't know what goes through our little cats head sometimes - she utterly massacres most of the animals she finds in the house, or outside, and we find -organs- more often than other parts or a whole dead animal, but every now and then, she merely seems to -transport- creatures from point A to point B ... apparently for -OUR- entertainment.
She does very much like playing with us, so maybe Patches just thought it was -our- turn to bat the wildlife around.
Problem is, our cat knows the routine, but not, perhaps, all the details of the process, as she invariably just gets us to follow her to the living room, regardless of where her 'prize' may be lying, or cowering in fear of the fanged, clawed terror, somewhere else in the house.
She'd caught several mice, rats, and even brought in birds, baby and otherwise, to 'share' in this manner, but she's never been consistant where she's left stuff. Once, last year, she caught a mouse, left him -fully- intact, and plunked him in our bathtub since everyone was asleep. We captured and released the little guy into a wild, fenced off pond place teaming with bunnies and ducks a few miles down the road, in Anaheim proper.
When I finally found what she'd been yelling about this time, we found a very terrified, apparently uninjured young possum, just big enough to be away from momma, but still pretty little - hiding behind the toilet in the master bedroom's bath. There's no real easy way to get there, and no real -reason- for a possom to wander that far in from the cat-door at the house, and is also the opposite direction from the cat-food.
My only guess is that Patches, finding him sneaking into the house to raid her food dish, carried him as -far- away from her food as she could without actually taking him back outside, then 'alerted the authorities'.
Beady eyes, glittering, ears trembling like tiny radar dish, constantly jittering back and forth - Possoms aren't the prettiest creatures in the world, but this was drop dead cute - and seeing as he wasn't hissing like most possoms I've encountered, or baring his teeth, the terrified orphaned waif imagery was heartbreaking.
First - put on clothes (as I'd just shed them before the discovery for bed). Don't want to catch bitey-scared wild animals in the nude, and didn't particularly fancy a trip to the hospital to test me, and/or the possom for rabies.
Second - nudge him around from the toilet toward a waiting laundry basket with the handle of a plunger. Wasn't sure how to corral him into basket tho, as the geography of the cabinets, toilet, etc. made for lots of possible gaps for quick possoms to squirp through. Luckily he crawled atop a toilet-brush holder and I picked up the whole arrangement and managed to set him down in the laundry basket before he realized he could let go.
Third - cover the arrangement with a towel and take him outside, well -away- from the cat door at the back. Could just picture Patches going and bringing him right back in, with that "You didn't finish him yet!".
I still don't know what goes through our little cats head sometimes - she utterly massacres most of the animals she finds in the house, or outside, and we find -organs- more often than other parts or a whole dead animal, but every now and then, she merely seems to -transport- creatures from point A to point B ... apparently for -OUR- entertainment.
She does very much like playing with us, so maybe Patches just thought it was -our- turn to bat the wildlife around.
Cats are such strange little critters.