The girls caught something this evening. What, I don't know, but something, I do know for sure. They brought it into the house and it got away in the basement. It's currently behind the bookshelves.
I don't know that I have the wherewithal to go after it there.
It's five bookcases lined up against one wall. Four of them are glass front antique bookcases stacked two up, the other I made in college out of 1x6's and "Korner Klips".
Sachi, being more energetic and optimistic than I, went excavating in the homemade bookcase and pitched all of the books from the lower shelf onto the floor. Now she and Kitsu are engaged in trying to shove themselves into the crack between the back of the adjacent bookcase and the wall to capture their prey. My view is of scattered books and fluffy butts with tails quivering at the alert.
I am not going to try to get whatever it is out from behind there. The double-stacked bookcases are taller than I am. I would have to remove all of the books, carefully unstack the glass fronted top sections and put them someplace, then move the bottom sections.
And, of course, the minute I got far enough along to move the bottom bookcases, the critter would make a break for it. The cats would be leaping, pouncing and swatting, knocking over lord knows what, and the critter would end up under the sofa bed.
Where none of us can get at it.
My only hope is that it ventures out and one of the girls nails it before the Engineer gets back from his current globe trotting expedition. That way we can keep it confidential. If it dies back there and starts stinking, the three of us are in big trouble.
Sigh.
I love my cats but sometimes...
Showing posts with label prey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prey. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, October 1, 2007
The Mighty Hunters
Walked out the back door Sunday and saw that the girls had something cornered. It was a huge lady praying mantis. I reached down and picked her up by the thorax. She was moving slowly, but she tried to grab me with her serrated forelegs. I popped her into the bug box to make sure she had a chance to recover (and in hope of some photo ops -- I'm not totally altruistic where bugs are concerned.) 
This morning, as I was eating my oatmeal and Kitsu was nibbling on her canned cat food, I heard the cat door creak open, then kitty scrambling and some unknown creature squawking.
Kitsu and I rushed down the stairs to see what Sachi had caught. Don't tell the Engineer, but Sachi had her prey in his office. Kitsu leaped into the fray and the prey ran out from behind the sofa.
It was a squirrel! Big game!
"Oh crap, those things bite like heck," I muttered as I went to get a towel.
I'm going to have to keep a close eye on both the cats for the next couple of weeks, because squirrel bites have a nasty tendency to abscess.
The best bet to catch a rodent is to wait until the cats get it cornered then drop a towel over it. I am an old pro at this. I even caught a 'possum using this methodology once, but that's another story for another time.
Sachi ran around one end of the sofa and Kitsu went over the top. The squirrel bolted out the other side and ran into the rec room with all three of us hot on its tail.
I thought I had it in the corner, but tripped over Kitsu and it scuttled into the heap of furniture in the middle of the room. I said some very unladylike things.
Both of the cats dove into the heap. All the critters scrambled under the piled furniture as I danced around the periphery with my towel.
Then a stroke of luck, the squirrel ran into a rolled up exercise mat and a cat staked out each end. I moved enough stuff to get at the mat and climbed into the field of combat.
Squashing Sachi's end of the rolled mat, I got a good grip on it then tipped it up with Kitsu's end tight to the floor. I slowly and firmly squashed the bottom end flat, then stood up with my squirrel burrito gripped tightly at both ends. The cats, thinking their prey had escaped, dived under the furniture in search of squirrel blood as I carried the trapped tree rat in its mat up the stairs.
The squirrel was so scared that it didn't start cussing until it was well up a tree and safe from my evil clutches.
It was about a half an hour before the cats gave up the basement search.
This morning, as I was eating my oatmeal and Kitsu was nibbling on her canned cat food, I heard the cat door creak open, then kitty scrambling and some unknown creature squawking.Kitsu and I rushed down the stairs to see what Sachi had caught. Don't tell the Engineer, but Sachi had her prey in his office. Kitsu leaped into the fray and the prey ran out from behind the sofa.
It was a squirrel! Big game!
"Oh crap, those things bite like heck," I muttered as I went to get a towel.
I'm going to have to keep a close eye on both the cats for the next couple of weeks, because squirrel bites have a nasty tendency to abscess.
The best bet to catch a rodent is to wait until the cats get it cornered then drop a towel over it. I am an old pro at this. I even caught a 'possum using this methodology once, but that's another story for another time.
Sachi ran around one end of the sofa and Kitsu went over the top. The squirrel bolted out the other side and ran into the rec room with all three of us hot on its tail.
I thought I had it in the corner, but tripped over Kitsu and it scuttled into the heap of furniture in the middle of the room. I said some very unladylike things.
Both of the cats dove into the heap. All the critters scrambled under the piled furniture as I danced around the periphery with my towel.Then a stroke of luck, the squirrel ran into a rolled up exercise mat and a cat staked out each end. I moved enough stuff to get at the mat and climbed into the field of combat.
Squashing Sachi's end of the rolled mat, I got a good grip on it then tipped it up with Kitsu's end tight to the floor. I slowly and firmly squashed the bottom end flat, then stood up with my squirrel burrito gripped tightly at both ends. The cats, thinking their prey had escaped, dived under the furniture in search of squirrel blood as I carried the trapped tree rat in its mat up the stairs.
The squirrel was so scared that it didn't start cussing until it was well up a tree and safe from my evil clutches.
It was about a half an hour before the cats gave up the basement search.
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