04/11/2011

Of mice and mean... and women and cats

its 0540. I'm sitting down to eat my hoops, the wife has just ascended for morning ablutions. The catflap clatters, and a moment later, my heart sinks as I hear one of the cats growling. Growling is not a good noise.

There's a ginger flash in the corner of my eye, and then he's crouched under the airing horse, growling again, holding a fat mouse between his paws. "Oh, let it be dead," I wish. He moves, it isn't, and we suddenly have a rodent problem.

Now I'm the insect man. Deb deals with mammals, and heaving furniture around trying to trap a well fed and agile mouse under a box is definitely a team sport - except this mouse is Olympic class. Eventually, we give up and allow the cat back in, who eventually deigns to take an interest. Mouse is distracted by two predators at the same time and, after one false start where the cat ends up under the box, said mouse if duly incarcerated, transported, and released back into the wild.

I love my cats, but sometimes.......

4 comments:

  1. I do miss being a cat owner so much. But yeah, I don't miss those times when they remind you just how ruthless they can be ;-)

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  2. There is that, Dean. Its sometimes easy to forget what effective predators they are. Especially against easy targets like toes.
    I waited 10 years to get my first cat. Couldn't be without one now, although when these two 'pass on' I expect I'll go for rehoming a pair of old times than going through the trauma of kittens again.

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  3. It's even more fun when there are three of the little darlings surrounding nice big juicy mouse... yes, the mouse escaped because said cats where too polite (or scared of a bashing from other two) to pounce first.

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  4. You've got to love cats ... they are such hunter-gathers: and they bring you these super presents home too!

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