What is she up to?

(Disclaimer:  If you have an especially soft spot for animals this may not be the post for you).

On Wednesday I came home with the intention I was going to hop into the shower just as soon as I put my purse down.  Unfortunately Belle had dispatched a bird in the master bathroom and before I could shower myself I had to defeather the bathroom before any bathing could be done.

I know there are many, many pet owners (keepers?  companions?  I think owner might be politically incorrect but until she starts buying her own Kitty Chow I'm going with owner) that advocate keeping ones cat totally indoors.  There are all sorts of reasonable arguments for it - mostly longevity.  But to keep Belle in the house would be to kill her very soul.  She is, and always has been, an outdoor cat.  I think most cats, given the option, would prefer the call of the wild.

Of course I might be projecting since I can't even have fake birds in the many bird cages I have around the house - I have to leave the door to the cage open in case they want to be free.   I may have been a prisoner in a past life.  Or a parakeet.

Anyway - Belle is quite the hunter.  However, normally she doesn't actually kill other creatures.  She just brings them in for us.  I think this is her attempt to teach us to hunt. 

There was the time I walked into my oldest son's room and found a newborn rat sitting, looking rather bewildered, in a tray on the top of his television.  It was so tiny and so still that at first I thought it was fake.  Until it moved.  I called my son and asked him "why is there a baby rat on your television?"  His response?  "Just one?  There were five when I left."  Turns out Belle had found some nest and brought him each rat, one by one.  He put them on a tray (what on earth goes through the minds of teenage boys, anyway?) and then left.  All five baby rats were eventually accounted for. 

About a month or two later she brought in a grown up rat and let it go and it promptly took up residence in the insulation in my range.  Every time the oven was turned on a scorched rat would come flying out the bottom, across the unsuspecting cook's feet, and hightail it under the kitchen cabinets.   The kitchen would also be filled with the wondrous odor of cooked rat urine.  I couldn't cook for about four months until we sorted that particular rat episode out.

She has a special fondness for reptiles.  If I had a dollar for every lizard I returned to the wild I could hire the feline equivalent of Cesar Milan and my problems would be solved.  Since I work from home I take a number of meetings over the phone.  I was in a teleconference with a brand new client when Belle comes sneaking in with a snake in her mouth.  She deposited it in the living room and meanwhile I am frantically instant messaging my Texan coworker (I figure Texans might know snakes), describing the snake.  He assured me it was "probably not poisonous."  I talked the snake into crawling into a paper bag so I could release it back into the relative safety of the ivy outside.  The very next day she brought it back in.  I swear it had to have been the same snake.  I had to have a word with it about self-preservation and how it was going to be on it's own the next time.

Then there was the time I was up late, Rick having gone to bed hours earlier, I was sitting in the dining room on my computer, like I am RIGHT NOW, and I see her skulk by in the kitchen.  She has a certain sneaky, low stride when she is bringing in house guests.  Then all hell breaks loose when she lets go of a live bat and it is swooping around in frantic circles in the kitchen/eating area.  Being the calm, collected person I am I ran screaming down the hallway to Rick (who was probably deep into some lovely REM sleep at this point).   The bat flew into our great room (we call it the living room but at 20' x 30' great better describes the flying room the bat had) and continued it's breakneck circles around the room.  There is just something about a bat flying near you that makes you want to hit the deck and cover your head.

Rick eventually crawled into the living/great room and opened all the sliding doors and it flew out.

Belle did it again a few weeks later.  Fortunately I was down at my Dad's and missed all the excitement this time.  I'm hoping it wasn't the same bat.  Although I'm really beginning to see first hand how natural selection works.

You've been duly warned, if you come visit us.  Watch out for the cat.

Comments

[Kathleen Grace]

Belle is a beauty. I have two long haired calicos who love to bring us gifties. Once I got a blubird on the living room carpet, I was so upset because I thought it was dead but when I went to pick it up it started flying around the house (pooping!).We finally caught it. Sometimes they bring us live chipmunks or frogs. I'm glad they dont kill them but sheesh, ctching the little buggers is sometimes pretty challenging. I know just the low, sneaky stride you are talking about when they bring things in, our do it too:>)

[Cindy]

Thanks for the great laugh or should I say laughs this morning. You are one patient cat mama.

[pam]

She looks so sweet in the plants there.

[Pesky Patti]

I love this blog about your hunter gatherer kittie that lets you live in her house!

I have a stray (well, I guess he's mine now since I've been lovin' and feeding him for 4 years now) grey kittie who is a wonderful mouser. He stays outside except to come into the kitchen while I prepare his meals. One morning I went out to feed him and there were 2 dead mice in his food bowl! I thought he was hinting that perhaps I should prepare them into a gourmet meal with pesto sauce.

Animals are wonderful and have a way of making us forget that life sometimes can be a bitch.

Thanks for your post. More...

[Lisa]

Belle sounds like a first class mouser. And what a hilarious story. I'm thinking she has more than nine lives?

Did I mention she is also beautiful? You are a lucky keeper/companion/owner.

Lisa xo
Knitty, Vintage and Rosy

[pam q]

You go, Belle! My hunter, Kitty, has also brought in a variety of goodies---a mole, many, many mice & also a bat. She usually brings me a mouse every year on my birthday! How thoughtful! How does she know? & she doesn't skulk in with her prizes---she lets out these weird squawks---"Look at me! Look at me!" That way we can admire her hunting prowess. Then she usually lets 'em loose to run thru the house for further entertainment later on.......

[Brenda Power]

What a fabulous story and yes, I believe cats should do what they are born to do - chase things (even if they occasionally catch something!)

Brenda

[Flo Hollingsworth]

This is such a cool blog. I don't know how I got here (had to have followed a link from one of my favorite artsy blogs), but I arrived and really enjoyed your charming story of the huntress! I could just imagine her skulking in with a LIVE BAT in her mouth! Too funny! Thanks for the giggle.

[Nicole]

What a great post! Belle is such a magnificent cat, despite her predilections.

[Donna]

Andrea, I must tell you how much I enjoy your blog, your delicious humor, and your (sometimes) tongue-in-cheek posts!!! Not to mention I'm so jealous of where you live!! Your Belle is beautiful! And yes, I'm one of the cat owners who keeps my cats confined, even though they've never done a thing in their 14 years to deserve such a fate! LOL Anyhow - thanks for the glimpses into your life, and thanks for the nice post about the painted brick! I should have tried that approach - waiting to mention it and begging forgiveness after the fact! LOL But all is well... the fireplace turned out very nice.. But I still do love the look of white washed brick!!... Donna

[cielo]

Bell is such a good hunter.... and she looks so grand and sophisticated in that last shot1 :) I had to laught about the story of your son and the 5 mice.... yuck! poor guy! :)

cielo