Look What The Cat Dragged In........

[chiquita]

.....earlier this afternoon! Was in the kitchen when I heard what sounded like a squeal? A high pitched screech? It came twice more before I followed it to the lounge, there to see two of my cats skulking around in a corner. Well, I've played this scenario many times before, and rescued numerous mice, voles and birds. But after shooing the cats out of the room I was amazed to see.....a rat! Quite a big one too! As I got closer to it, it faced me and let forth another screech! Well, it had to go one way or another. And the only thing to hand was a fat round vase! That was fun, following him around the room brandishing a vase! NOT! Finally the booger ran up my curtains??? And I got him...somehow...and took him back outside. The racket he made was something else, didn't sound like a rat at all, more like a murder being committed! But I suppose the vase WAS making it echo. The cats must have sensed my mood as they had legged it...leaving me to put all the furniture back in its rightful place! :mad:

[cutpricegoodies]

PMSL.

My cats like bringing and playing with the frog which lives in my pond. It's easy to catch if they let me near it.

[chiquita]

Ah yes, that reminds me of my toad, Fred! I found him in my back yard where he'd obviously been left by the cats. He had a foot missing from one leg, a birth defect - not an injury. I took him quite a way into the fields and let him go, but the next day he was back in my yard! Coincidence? It was the same toad as he had the missing foot. So, I weighed it up and decided...he was obviously easy prey because of his missing digit, so I brought him a tank and fed him on fresh insects! I had him ages....lovely he was!! ;)

[val58]

I would have died if I found a rat in the house, you are so brave.........

In the summer this year we rescued a chick put it in the garden tree and nutured it the kids love seeing it flourished. One day i came back from taking the kids to scholl and it had got out of the nest. For the whole day it folowed me around, got into the house and perched itself on a chair and sat watching the tv. All the other birds were sitting on the fence watching it and its antics it was like they trusted us, great to watch. One evening it flew off with all its bird buddies, but everytime I was in the garden it can down out of the trees and hopped around the garden and into the house following us around.

We live next door to the woods so there is a lot of wild life including squirrels and the occasional fox. BUT there are also a lot of cats in the neighbourhood who prey on the birds.

One evening My bird pal was in the garden and two cats were sitting on the fence watching it, I kept trying to get the bird to go home but it would not.....The cats would also not budge....I went into the house for two minutes and my husband looking out of the window saw the cats attack the bird he ran out but it was too late. We were all very upset...but thats the downside of nature all of us have to search for food....But on the bright side we had a few weeks of pleasure from our little birdie friends.

I really admire all you animal lovers and love reading about your antics with our friends. Due to the little ones eczema we cannot have a pet so we rely on the woods wildlife for our animals.

Val

[dragonmist]

Val, to deter the cats keep a water pistol handy. Those big ones are good. Wet cats leave very quickly and it doesn't hurt them, just their dignity. Even my own cats get a dowsing if they take too much interest in the chicks.

[razamakaz]

I read somewhere a long time ago that rats can often attempt to jump over your shoulder when cornered, but this was twisted into saying that they leap for your throat, which scared a lot of people from cornering them.

I would, in reality, like a pet rat, but the wild ones are dangerous for bacteria reasons.

[val58]

Val, to deter the cats keep a water pistol handy. Those big ones are good. Wet cats leave very quickly and it doesn't hurt them, just their dignity. Even my own cats get a dowsing if they take too much interest in the chicks.
Thanks for that, The kids have them supersoaker things good excuse for me to have a go, especially in the spring when we have lots of chicks around

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

Ewww! My ex neighbour's cat used to prowl the nearby cemetery and bring back rats - or even worse, half rats (the bits he brought she swore were half the size of him!).

My college mate's cat loves the frogs in her garden, the frogs run up her path literally screaming as the cat attacks them - ick!

My cats (all four of them) only like spiders, and boy, do spiders love my house. They invade by the dozen, and none leave alive. One of the cats lost sight of a spider and spent almost a 48 hour vigil waiting for it to reappear. And like a Canadian Mountie, she always gets her man, and boy, did she enjoy crunching the poor little spidey (double-ick!)

[cutpricegoodies]

My cat caught and ate a daddy long legs today.

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

I hate spiders, so I am glad the cats eat them for me. The cats are in the lounge chasing the spiders, while I hide in the kitchen screaming at the cats, "Get it, get it!" I won't go back in until there are only a couple of legs of the spider left on the floor.

[chiquita]

Oh I wish my cats would eat spiders, but they ignore them! If a moth comes in thats another matter....bedlam!!
Using a water pistol is an excellent suggestion as it really works. I have two budgies which I keep in plain sight of the cats, but they no longer get any hassle. The reason being, whenever a cat went to the cage he got squirted. They soon learnt what to expect, and have not had to use it for ages.

[chiquita]

I would have died if I found a rat in the house, you are so brave.........

In the summer this year we rescued a chick put it in the garden tree and nutured it the kids love seeing it flourished. One day i came back from taking the kids to scholl and it had got out of the nest. For the whole day it folowed me around, got into the house and perched itself on a chair and sat watching the tv. All the other birds were sitting on the fence watching it and its antics it was like they trusted us, great to watch. One evening it flew off with all its bird buddies, but everytime I was in the garden it can down out of the trees and hopped around the garden and into the house following us around.

We live next door to the woods so there is a lot of wild life including squirrels and the occasional fox. BUT there are also a lot of cats in the neighbourhood who prey on the birds.

One evening My bird pal was in the garden and two cats were sitting on the fence watching it, I kept trying to get the bird to go home but it would not.....The cats would also not budge....I went into the house for two minutes and my husband looking out of the window saw the cats attack the bird he ran out but it was too late. We were all very upset...but thats the downside of nature all of us have to search for food....But on the bright side we had a few weeks of pleasure from our little birdie friends.

I really admire all you animal lovers and love reading about your antics with our friends. Due to the little ones eczema we cannot have a pet so we rely on the woods wildlife for our animals.

Val
What a heart warming story Val! And lovely for a wild creature to accept humans as not a threat. I have tried many times to rear young chicks, but without success. They always died. You succeeded and was rewarded by the birds continual trust. A sad end to the tale its true, but my hat is off to you for your care and compassion.

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

I swear by the plant sprays. It stops my cats from trying to steal food etc. There is also one by the back door, because one neighbourhood cat is always trying to break into the bunny hutch to make a meal of our little bunny. We can't use "scent off" type things or it would upset the bunny (and their strong sense of smell), so we have to use the plant spray to warn him off. Nowadays, we don't need to spray him, he just sees us coming, and he disappears. We have also put kids windmills outside the bunny hutch, which keeps the cat away in even a slight wind.

[chiquita]

Doesn't your cats keep the neighbours cat away? They are usually pretty territorial. If a strange cat wanders into my garden there is a huge kerfuffle!!!!!!!!!

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

All of the cats are house cats.

The black cat, Salem, came with a brother who was a wanderer, but Salem has never bothered going out. He would go as far as the garden, but his brother went out one day, never came home (we assume he was run over) and after a few weeks of Salem sitting in the garden crying and meowing for his brother, he came indoors and has never wanted to go out since. He likes looking through the window or the cat flap though.

Molly, black and white cat, came to us in April after being a house cat for 3 years - the big outdoors terrifies her, and she will not go out even if I try to tempt her with tuna. The kids tried to take her out today, and Molly clawed them desperately to try and get back in the house.

Emily and Blossom, sister cats, came from a farm, you would have thought they had a wanderlust, but no such luck. The kids have let the cats go outside, and they scream, and cry and try to throw themselves against the door or even jump up against the window to get back in. They won't even go out on the security of a cat lead!

In fact, even leaving all the doors in the house open, none of the cats will even go upstairs (but I blame that on the pong from my youngest daughter's socks - heheh).

So unfortunately four cats, and can't keep the neighbourhood mogs out of the garden. Unless I empty the litter tray contents in the garden, I guess

[chiquita]

How unusual for all of them to not like it outdoors. Who was it said about cats and curioslty? But then, cats can sense things we can't, so if they are actually scared of going outside there must be a reason. Aahhh, actually it could be this neighbourhood cat you mentioned. Does he come round yours a lot? If he is an un-neutered tom, he could be spraying around the area, which is like a threat to other cats. That would scare more timid cats! Looks like you need a dog to guard not only the rabbit, but the cats as well!! lol....

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

lol, yes, I seem to accumulate unwanted, useless cats ;-)

The only one that ever went out, Salem's brother called Bob, was useless. The neighbourhood dogs would bite lumps out of him (he used to cost me a fortune in vets bills for bitten ears, paws etc). Also the neighbourhood kids would befriend him, nick his ID tag, his collar etc, I was going through two or three ID tags and one collar on average every week at one point.

Maybe sometime I can get a really big tough tom cat to protect the area and act as bodyguards so my cats dare go out in this rough area, lol

[chiquita]

Jeez, the neighbourhood dogs would bite it? Poor bugger! Sounds like you'd need a testosterone packed cat to fight them off, (Or a lion!!) and can't you just imagine that? The cat ripping bits of the DOGS ears off! Ooh, nasty! :D

[MadcatwomanEnterprises]

I live in a town full of insecure blokes who think owning a German Shepherd, a Staffy, Rottweiler etc is the only way of proving they are a real man, and the meaner they are the better. Setting their dogs on cats rates as entertainment round here if they can't organise a good old illegal dog fight.

[kazzica]

in total i have had 3 cats but one died young so we replaced her with anouther as a friend to the tom cat we have hes about 9 now and will kill most things hew can get his aws on although we have a pet rabbit he never bother with it. maby as it came from a farm it smeels like the younger cat (they came from the same place,young cat and rabbit taht is). you can always tell if the toms been hunting he brings back hatlf eaten things where the youngest brings them back alive.

[cutpricegoodies]

The frog was back in again as a plaything AGAIN!
I thought he was dead this time, as he didn't move when I picked him up. I suppose he must have learnt not to.
I put him outside on the pond netting and in a few minutes he was gone, so I suppose he'll live to play again.