Thursday, July 1, 2010

Open Wide and Say "Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh"

A few weeks ago, as we got into the warmer summer season, our cat Stitch went into hunting mode. He's a young cat, so this is his first opportunity to show us what a good hunter he is.

One night I was reading in bed when he came in, jumped up on the bed, and deposited a moth onto the quilt not too far from me. Every time the moth would try to move, Stitch would bat it with his paw. And every time the moth would try to move and Stitch would bat it, the moth would fly into me and I'd swat it away. Stitch had fun. Me? Not so much.

Same night, an hour or so later, the scene was repeated with a new victim moth. At that point, I thought it was about time to shut the sliding door and keep Stitch IN for the night.

About a week later, I was asleep when Stitch brought another moth to our bed. I had let him out early in the morning and then I'd gone back to bed and left the sliding door open enough for him to get in and out. Mistake. I'm not very good in the morning to begin with, and waking up to a moth fluttering around on me is guaranteed to make me grumpy. For whatever reason, though, the moth hunting tapered off and no more "gifts" were laid at my feet (figuratively speaking). Until tonight.

Tonight I was in the Sweat Shop, happily sewing away and "testing" out my "new" hand/wrist/arm when I heard a noise on the floor behind me. I turned to see Stitch, batting at one of those fake mouse toys. If you have cats, then you probably know what I'm talking about--they're made of fur and suede and look pretty realistic, right? I watched him for a minute, thinking he was awfully hesitant about the toy since he was just batting at it, so I figured I'd pull it away from the wall for him. I reached down and pulled the tail, but the toy didn't move. Stitch, however, seemed to lose interest and moved away, so I went back to sewing.

About a minute later, I heard Stitch again. He'd pulled the toy away from the wall a little bit, but it was half stuck behind a basket and he was still just batting at it. When I next looked, Stitch was peering under a small corner cabinet about a foot away and reaching under it with his paw. It was just about then that I thought I heard squeeking noises coming out from under the cabinet, and I realized the toy mouse WASN'T A TOY. Ewwwwww! And I'd actually pulled it by the tail too!

Okay, so how could I have NOT realized it was a real mouse? Well, it was the same size as the toy mice we have, it was kind of dark in the area where Stitch had it trapped, and even when I tried to pull on its tail, it didn't move.

After thinking about it for a minute, I realized we needed to make a new rule. NO CAT IS ALLOWED INTO THE HOUSE WITHOUT A CAVITY SEARCH. Or at least a mouth cavity search. Because now I have a mouse in my house somewhere, and it may or may not be alive.

About the time I figured the mouse was REAL, Spike decided to get involved. Stitch would stick his paw under the cabinet and Spike would sneak up and nip Stitch on the neck or head. He finally moved away and SHE took a turn trying to scoop the little rodent out.


Sadly, both cats lost interest after awhile and quit guarding the cabinet, which means that the mouse managed to sneak out and they don't know where it is OR one of them batted the mouse to death and it's still under there. Really, I don't think I have a chance in H-E-double L of finding the thing unless it's dead--it's much too small, I know those mice are FAST, and there are waaaaaay too many places for it to hide.

Darn cats.

14 comments:

Robin said...

Since you've been so kind to me, I will spare you my "It's Dangerous to Allow Your Precious Cat to Go Outside" lecture. Seriously, though...bad stuff can happen, and not just to mice. Ask me how I know...

Yvonne said...

ewwwwwwwwww.....I wouldn't be able to sleep until I knew where that little varmit was. Brave girl....not me.

Kim said...

YUCK!! I'd be moving out until I knew where it was! Our cat once deposited a live mouse onto our bed in the middle of the night. Thank goodness I didn't realize it until my husband refused to let me out of the bathroom while he killed it. That's enough to give me nightmares.

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

Living out in the country, we have mice in the house all the time. Mostly in the winter and mostly in the basement but one always finds its way upstairs. I STILL scream like a little girl when I see one. But we have 3 hunters and they do a great job! Hopefully it's not dead somewhere because it will start to stink soon.

Good luck! And praise those kitties! they are doing a good job!

Nancy said...

OMG... I am so laughing... You have reminded me of a story that I will have to blog about tonight...

Kids and Mice...

dianne said...

ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew to infinity (and beyond)

Brandie said...

Oh yuk! Too creepy! I don't know if I could sleep at night. But I am laughing now! Our cat brought me a dead rat and laid it on my newly refinished, in white chenile, couch. I about died from screaming. Funny to read about, not to experience.

Jessica White said...

Isn't that wonderful when that happens? Our cat would always bring us presents...he managed to drop a live mouse in my dad's lap when he was dozing in the recliner at 4am...my dad HATES mice. That didn't go over too well.

Shirley--Knot-y Embroidery Lady said...

Na-na-na-na-na-naaaaaaaaaaaaa! The hunt of the cat brigade....... or as Punkie Pie mentioned the nose brigade.

Teresa Rawson said...

Growing up in the south, our OUTSIDE-only cat used to bring little snakes and such and leave them on the back steps for us...dead and alive.

Be careful...I think the cavity check is a good idea (better you than me...Mr. Weasley, with only back claws, is an indoor cat). He did manage to catch (and torture until I could rescue it) a mouse in the basement once. They are RUTHLESS with their live toys, aren't they??

In stitches,
Teresa :o)

Craft-aholic said...

Many moons ago, one of my favorite cats caught a mouse to play with one night. The problem came when he decided to bring it up on the bed to play with while I was fast asleep. Waking up to a not quite dead rodent running on top of the bed covers is not a pleasant experience.

I love my cats, but I don't want to share the bed with their prey!

Anonymous said...

Ha, HA, Ha.
Thats what you get when you have cats. Good kitties, bringing mom a present. Now, if I was you, I would not walk down the hall in the dark or bare feet. Thats when you will find the mouse.
LOL......
Love you favorite Sis-in-law

Peggi said...

When I was a child, our cat brought something (we never found out exactly what) in the house. He'd been in trouble for bringing "gifts" in before, so this time he was a blur as he streaked into the house with his prize and disappeared. My mom wasn't even sure she'd seen him with a full mouth until about a month later, when she was trying desperately to find the source of the horrible odor. She finally found it behind the entertainment center. My dad had to cut out the carpet and pad. Ugh!

Lady of the Cloth said...

Kim, our naughty cat brings critters in through the dog door ALL the time when we are at work. I don't know any way to prevent it because Maggie has to go in and out when we are gone. Now we have a "smell" that is too familiar and I fear some of her prey met it's demise. I guess we could get rid of the cat, but we do love the little critter, naughty or not. I feel your pain!