I don’t blame the cat for getting mad. It must be extremely frustrating trying to teach humans to hunt mice. Humans, being extremely stupid creatures, are apt to squeal in disgust at the sight of a half-dead rodent rather than use the opprotunity to learn how to kill one properly. No matter how many times the cat tries to teach them, they still just make a face and throw perfectly good dead mouse into the garbage.
The OP’s cat even went to the special effort of incapacitating but not severely injuring the mouse, possibly hoping that its flight would trigger some kind of chase instinct in the dull-witted homo sapiens, but to no avail.
See her previous post about nads about to be chopped off. I think Shadow may have overheard the phone call to the vet, or read the pamphlet she brought home. He’s getting in a little pre-emptive peeing before he gets sent off to become a gelding.
Shadow was probably hacked off because we dared to go out to a party and leave him at home overnight, but he did have our other cat for company. The second time, I think he was just trying to tell me how peeved he was!
Sadly, it’s time for him to have vital bits removed so that there’s no possibility someone turns up on the doorstep in April with a box of cute black kittens, telling me they’re my responsibility. Poor little soul, he’s just had his last plate of pilchards until tomorrow night…
I was only teasing before; I know that it has to be done.
BTW, pure black or black w. white paws? I’ve had two of the latter myself. I’ve heard them called ‘tuxedo cats’, but I don’t know if that’s a real breed of cat or just a name for the coloration. I will say that the 2 ‘tuxedo cats’ that I’ve had were both street-smart and hell-on-wheels. :rolleyes:
I think that you might want to look into boarding services. It’s expensive, yes, but certainly cheaper than new mattresses. And your cats are gonna be pissed at you ANYWAY.
I’m always leery of boarding services, because they expose your pets to other animals, and their diseases. Better, IMO, to get the vet to prescribe some kitty-downers and keep the darlings medicated until the work is done. Then spoil them rotten to make up for it, you brute!
I did poke around a bit looking for boarding services. Ones for cats don’t seem to exist here in the Pacific NW. Plenty of kitty sitters that will come to your house and tend the cats once/twice a day; but that’s not the problem here.
My cat dropped a live mouse at my feet, I was so startled I accidently mashed the mouse flat underfoot. The cat was totally obnoxious with approval (purring, licking me, head-bonks) the rest of the day.
Now only my husband gets presented with live mice. Apparently I passed the test.
Maybe she’s tired of doing all the mousing and is trying to teach you how.
Cats teach their kittens by bringing in dead mice for grade school kittens to bat around. Then injured mice for high schoolers and undergraduate college kittens to catch. And finally intact mice which is the graduate level.
She saw that you handled the dead ones OK and thought you were ready for the next step.
He’s pure black with lovely sharp green eyes although under the right light his fur has a brown sheen.
Tuxedo cats typically have a white patch on the chest too. We had one of those for a while, he was an absolute hellion but such a fantastic character, we really miss him now he’s gone.
The boarding service I use insists that all the cats they take are fully vaccinated beforehand. You can’t leave a cat with them unless they’ve seen the vet’s certificate confirming that the cat’s been looked at.
Did you check our Cat’s Exclusive in Shoreline? They have very nice boarding facilities. They even have kitty TV.
I had a rescued kitty that was hand raised. He never learned about mousies. We were at a friend’s house when he charged off into the bathroom. I found him with one foot on the mousy’s tail giving it a bath. I put the mousy on the street, next to the curb, so he’d run on to the neighboring apartment building.
Well, son of a… I never heard of these folks before. We live in Wedgwood, so it wouldn’t be too far to go to get there.
May have to talk to Mrs. Runestar about this. The refinishing’s scheduled to start a week from Monday (12th), so it may be too late for reservations, but I guess it can’t hurt to call.
Of course, 5 cats (!!) for a week there does get into serious money.
Wow, y’all are far nicer than I. When we moved, our 2 cats who HATED each other were put in our new place’s bathroom *together *for about 2 weeks until all the boxes were put away. While they don’t exactly love each other now, they’re far more civil. I guess it’s some sort of prisoner bonding thing.
