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Much excitement over small mice
Jan. 8th, 2007 05:25 pmOur cat Ella has always lived inside New York apartments; she's been outside on the patio for a few isolated afternoons, but that's it. Of course, with the amount of starting out of the window that she's done, she probably fancies herself an expert on the outside world and hunting small things from leaves to squirrels and birds.
Our apartment building is rumored to have a rodent problem - mostly small mice. We've rarely seen one, as mice avoid places that smell of cats. In fact, before this weekend, we'd only seen one mouse in three years - Ella was fascinated by it and stared for hours at the general area it had disappeared in, but that was it.
Until this Sunday morning 4AM. Heidi woke up from some rustling in the closet, and Ella woke up, jumped down from the bed and pounced. When we turned on the light, she had a mouse in her mouth, but treated it pretty much like a mother cat will carry a kitten - she carefully held it by the skin, but did not bite. She managed to lose it then, but a few hours later she caught it again. At that point, I was told to intervene and rescue the mouse. Its fur was slightly wet, but it seemed okay otherwise - I released it outside and it scurried away. A general sigh of relief was heard, though Ella was very unhappy with me.
I'm sad to say the next mouse (or maybe the same one returning) was treated a little more harshly. Heidi and I were away, but when we came back a dead mouse was found in the bedroom. It seems like our bit fluffy pillow has some actual hunting instincts and is capable of exercising them. Of course, she's since returned to staring at invisible creatures at ceiling level, so I'm not expecting any other catches soon.
Our apartment building is rumored to have a rodent problem - mostly small mice. We've rarely seen one, as mice avoid places that smell of cats. In fact, before this weekend, we'd only seen one mouse in three years - Ella was fascinated by it and stared for hours at the general area it had disappeared in, but that was it.
Until this Sunday morning 4AM. Heidi woke up from some rustling in the closet, and Ella woke up, jumped down from the bed and pounced. When we turned on the light, she had a mouse in her mouth, but treated it pretty much like a mother cat will carry a kitten - she carefully held it by the skin, but did not bite. She managed to lose it then, but a few hours later she caught it again. At that point, I was told to intervene and rescue the mouse. Its fur was slightly wet, but it seemed okay otherwise - I released it outside and it scurried away. A general sigh of relief was heard, though Ella was very unhappy with me.
I'm sad to say the next mouse (or maybe the same one returning) was treated a little more harshly. Heidi and I were away, but when we came back a dead mouse was found in the bedroom. It seems like our bit fluffy pillow has some actual hunting instincts and is capable of exercising them. Of course, she's since returned to staring at invisible creatures at ceiling level, so I'm not expecting any other catches soon.
