They Love Those Mousies

The Kitty Girls have been so busy catching mousies. Melody gets the ones inside and Grace gets the ones outside. We live in the woods in what was once a summer cabin that was converted to a 'year round' house. But if you don't like critters, it's no place for you. We have regular encounters with raccoons, opossums, skunks and deer as well as the usual spiders and mice. The girls know to stay away from all those other critters, especially the ones with teeth and stinkies.

There is no way to make the house critter-proof, really, not in this environment. I'd have to rebuild the entire house and that is not feasible. Fortunately the Girls are good mousers. They hunt even though they are well-fed. It's a natural instinct. When they catch something, they try to bring it to mommy to eat. Ugh! I know they do it because they love me and want to return the favor of feeding me like I feed them. I love that special sound they make when they are calling me.

Many years ago I had a cat named Amy who snuck out and got pregnant before I could get her spayed. She had 4 lovely kittens which I kept because I felt so guilty about her having babies in the first place. Anyway, when Amy was training them, she used to get her cat food out of the dish and bring it in the living room. She'd put it on the floor and start making that calling sound to round up her babies. Then she would start playing with her food, throwing it up in the air and pouncing on it. They would watch and do the same. This was how she trained them to hunt even though they lived indoors. I had never seen a cat do that before and it was very interesting to watch.