When the Cats are Away Will the Mice Play?

| Print | By Jo Singer | July 2, 2009 10:38 AM

While indulging in one of my favorite pastimes the other day, answering questions about kitty care, I ran across an interesting, thought-provoking inquiry. It was posted by a cat lover who has a great sense of humor and who has discovered one of the great mysteries about the feline species. I was able to virtually visualize her shocked facial expression following this inexplicable event occurred in her home.

She wrote; "8 cats in the house and a mouse just ran across my foot? Did the mouse make a wrong turn or does somebody need to be fired?"

Photo credit: http://courses.umass.edu/phys120/
2-cat-and-mouse.jpgHowever after giving considerable thought to her dilemma, I was compelled to answer with a rather dry response, devoid of jocularity since her question was obviously serious and of considerable concern. I felt I had to be supportive while giving credence to her understandable puzzlement. My goal was to put her mind giving her the benefit of my rather extensive experience with a similar issue. I do hope that I have covered all bases and that my answer was clear and concise. I leave this up to our dear readers to decide.

"It appears that you have some cheeky mice visiting your abode! With 8 cats in residence, one would think that this brazen critter would have at least caught a "whiff" of feline presence, and had the sense to delay his sojourn into your domicile until late at to explore your premises in search of a meager meal and avoid a premature demise.

Purrhaps Shasta, the elder kitty to whom you refer, may assist you in offering some object-oriented educational session with your kitties, as your retired, resident expert. She can share her former superlative hunting techniques, stressing the importance of keeping their "fur mom's" residence free of felonious field mice. After all since you feed your kitties, don't they owe this service? Of course I am positive that you have provided them an abundance of catnip mice upon which to practice!

Please feel free to share this factual spine tingling tale based upon one of our cat's highly tuned instinctual drives and add it as part of your kitty undergraduate curriculum, "Effective and Easy Rodent Control". Of course, you have my complete purrmission.

Once upon a time, my husband and I were owned by a blind seal point Siamese female named Yo Yo. At the time we lived in a rather small and insignificant house in a wooded area in the suburbs of New York City. When she was about 11 years old, with her eyesight failing from Feline Retinal Atrophy, to our surprise she developed a passion for hunting the tiny little critters that made their way into our home.

One night I was awakened abruptly by a strange dream. I sat straight up in bed, beads of perspiration dripping from my forehead from terror. To my shock and dismay, I discovered a dead mouse in my hand! Yo Yo, my darling, now angel soul mate kitty, was sitting on my tummy wearing a Cheshire cat grin plastered on her face, as proud as punch. Her gift to me was not really appreciated at 3:30AM.

I quickly awakened my husband with what must have been a blood curdling scream. He very kindly and swiftly gave the limp, lifeless furry creature burial at "sea". Trust me that the sound of the toilet flushing was very reassuring. This action however did not dissuade Yo Yo one iota from purrsuing her love for the hunt. We were, actually, very proud of her penchant for capturing intruders of the rodent species. Even though I do my best, I will never forget that terrifying dream and the ensuing events, with the memories of the sound of the flushing toilet emblazoned in my memory.

Purrhaps this is a timely opportunity to change that popular nursery rhyme to "One Blind Cat! See how she hunts" in memory to our courageous and devoted kitty.

What do you think? Leave a comment and share any further suggestions.

RELATED TOPICS: Blogs (262) , Cats (117)



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Comments (7)

Vicki July 2, 2009 1:17 PM

What a horrifying dream. I have had some dreams that were pretty scarry too, but at least not one with a mouse in my hand. Oh brother, I hope I don't dream it tonight!

Donna July 2, 2009 5:06 PM

I "had" a mouse in the house once (as determined by it's droppings...) and Flakey (now an angel) would sit and just stare at the cabinet door under the sink. I bought some of that 'expanding foam' stuff and shot it everywhere the plumbing comes into the house from the crawlspace...left for work after it was dry, leaving that cabinet door open...telling my 6 cats at the time...you better find it before I get home.

Well, either it escaped before I sealed the holes, or they found it and, um, never mind. Don't even want to THINK of that. LOL I kiss them on the nose too much to think they ever munched on a mouse! EwWWWW.

On a lighter note, I have found their play catnip mice in my shoes...I don't know if that is to give me something to play with at work...or a sign they want me to stay home. hehe

Donna

jmuhj July 2, 2009 7:39 PM

The Nine keep this domicile rodent-free -- except, of course, for the "nippy kind"! ;)

Ruth July 3, 2009 2:20 AM

Most definately they are presents for us, they know we aren't capable of catching our own meeces lol Both our boyz bring us one most days, Walter stands looking in the window meowing around his so we get a warning and don't open it.But Jozef is clever, he lays his down, meows, we open the window and he grabs it and runs in lol Now Walt waits outside the door sometimes and pops in with his as we can't see if he has any luggage before we open it lol Many a day we've had furniture upended trying to catch Micky to set him free... the cats ?...they just leave us to it.
I think the cats we feed because they don't have very good homes know we are incapable too as we often find presents on our lawn on a morning.
We 'practise' with catnip mice after our boyz curfew time(when it's dark)Great fun. Cats just love being cats and we love them being cats !

Jo Singer July 3, 2009 8:15 AM

Hey Donna,

I do think you are onto something about your kitties wanting you to stay home, or they are giving you a hint that all work and no fun is not healthy. After all, on your break they may think that playing with a catnip mouse will break up your day and give you some exercise:)

Rani July 3, 2009 8:50 PM

My daughter says that when a cat brings you a "gift" of this nature, he is saying, "Here, this is how it's done. Now... your turn."

We used to have a cat named Gizmo who would obviously SHOW our other cats how it's done. A lizard once got into our house. Giz waited patiently till it came near him and then THWAP, paw landed on said lizard. Gizmo turned to the other two and once he had their attention, lifted his paw up and let it go. He caught it similarly again and let it go.

The other two were chasers, not patient stalkers. They never properly learned, not as far as Gizmo was concerned. He was a finesse hunter, I guess.

Rani

annie July 21, 2009 4:32 PM

one of my cats is more than half maine coon -- the others are just bits and pieces. anyway, he is quite the mouser and birder. a bit over a month ago he brought me a bird. it was still alive. needless to say i was NOT amused to have the poor flapping starling fluttering around my kitchen. i scooped it up and took it back outside, where it quickly fluttered off. not to be deterred in his efforts to provide mommy with sustenance, a week later i found an already filleted bird on the deck. and two weeks later a petrified bird showed up.

now we just find mother moles and lots of baby moles scattered around the yard. of course, i praise him for every catch. what else can a mother do???

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