|
Baby scores a lizard
Baby, my fairly feral girl, was sitting on the night table as she often does in the morning, watching stuff outside and wishing she could be out there. Suddenly I heard a peculiar yip sound, I looked at her, and she was staring up the wall at a small lizard maybe 8' up. It was too high for me to easily coax into a cup or box, so I figured that I'd wait until something else happened. The lizard then moved up another 6" or so. Baby let out a pair of yips, and simply jumped 6' or so right up the wall, knocked the lizard to the floor, and the chase was on. I had no idea a cat could jump that high from a standing start. It was not really a fair contest and within a few seconds Baby had it in her mouth. Then she let it go, chased it, and so on. Finally she just watched it on the rug and I swooped in, picked it up, and transported it outside. It still had all its appendages and seemed in surprisingly good shape considering what had just happened. It was certainly still alive. I put it in the grass, wished it a good journey, and went back inside where I saw Baby looking all over for the lizard. Cats really are astonishingly hard wired killers, and sadistic as well. Maybe that's reading too much into it, there's probably a reason that they've evolved to play with their food, but Baby wasn't even hungry. She had no intention of eating it. Oh, while this was going on, Scooter watched carefully, taking notes. He closed in while Baby tortured the lizard, observing. All I can add is, I'm glad that I'm bigger than the kitties. |
Baby scores a lizard
On 12/3/2016 7:03 PM, dgk wrote:
Baby, my fairly feral girl, was sitting on the night table as she often does in the morning, watching stuff outside and wishing she could be out there. Suddenly I heard a peculiar yip sound, I looked at her, and she was staring up the wall at a small lizard maybe 8' up. It was too high for me to easily coax into a cup or box, so I figured that I'd wait until something else happened. The lizard then moved up another 6" or so. Baby let out a pair of yips, and simply jumped 6' or so right up the wall, knocked the lizard to the floor, and the chase was on. I had no idea a cat could jump that high from a standing start. It was not really a fair contest and within a few seconds Baby had it in her mouth. Then she let it go, chased it, and so on. Finally she just watched it on the rug and I swooped in, picked it up, and transported it outside. It still had all its appendages and seemed in surprisingly good shape considering what had just happened. It was certainly still alive. I put it in the grass, wished it a good journey, and went back inside where I saw Baby looking all over for the lizard. Cats really are astonishingly hard wired killers, and sadistic as well. Maybe that's reading too much into it, there's probably a reason that they've evolved to play with their food, but Baby wasn't even hungry. She had no intention of eating it. Oh, while this was going on, Scooter watched carefully, taking notes. He closed in while Baby tortured the lizard, observing. All I can add is, I'm glad that I'm bigger than the kitties. To do them justice, I don't really think they understand that the critter they are torturing may be suffering. They just see it as a game. |
Baby scores a lizard
On Sat, 03 Dec 2016 22:03:44 -0500, dgk wrote:
The lizard then moved up another 6" or so. Baby let out a pair of yips, and simply jumped 6' or so right up the wall, knocked the lizard to the floor, and the chase was on. I had no idea a cat could jump that high from a standing start. Startling, isn't it? I got my very first cat when she was a just-weaned kitten and the first time I saw her, at about eight weeks old, jump from the floor right to the top of a six-foot-high upright freezer, I was flabbergasted. I'd heard cats were good jumpers, but I still wasn't quite ready for THAT...LOL! John D. Kasupski Niagara Falls, NY |
Baby scores a lizard
On 12/4/2016 3:42 AM, John Kasupski wrote:
On Sat, 03 Dec 2016 22:03:44 -0500, dgk wrote: The lizard then moved up another 6" or so. Baby let out a pair of yips, and simply jumped 6' or so right up the wall, knocked the lizard to the floor, and the chase was on. I had no idea a cat could jump that high from a standing start. Startling, isn't it? I got my very first cat when she was a just-weaned kitten and the first time I saw her, at about eight weeks old, jump from the floor right to the top of a six-foot-high upright freezer, I was flabbergasted. I'd heard cats were good jumpers, but I still wasn't quite ready for THAT...LOL! John D. Kasupski Niagara Falls, NY They certainly can leap when they want to! Oddly enough, my cat Persia (RB 2014) wasn't interested in leaping up on tall things. Neither is my current cat, Buffy. I guess they already know they're worlds above us lowly humans. ;) Jill (Saint Helena Island, SC) |
Baby scores a lizard
On 12/3/2016 10:03 PM, dgk wrote:
Baby, my fairly feral girl, was sitting on the night table as she often does in the morning, watching stuff outside and wishing she could be out there. Suddenly I heard a peculiar yip sound, I looked at her, and she was staring up the wall at a small lizard maybe 8' up. It was too high for me to easily coax into a cup or box, so I figured that I'd wait until something else happened. The lizard then moved up another 6" or so. Baby let out a pair of yips, and simply jumped 6' or so right up the wall, knocked the lizard to the floor, and the chase was on. I had no idea a cat could jump that high from a standing start. It was not really a fair contest and within a few seconds Baby had it in her mouth. Then she let it go, chased it, and so on. Finally she just watched it on the rug and I swooped in, picked it up, and transported it outside. It still had all its appendages and seemed in surprisingly good shape considering what had just happened. It was certainly still alive. I put it in the grass, wished it a good journey, and went back inside where I saw Baby looking all over for the lizard. A blue-tailed skink found it's way into our house... was it last year already? http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm I wondered what the heck Buffy was so fascinated with behind a box of music CDs on the floor. I moved the box... oh! Buffy went one way, I went the other. My goal was to catch it and get it outside. Her goal, of course, oooh, a TOY! ;) It managed to slip past both of us and ran into my bedroom. I still have no idea where that skink went. Neither one of us managed to catch it. Jill |
Baby scores a lizard
On Mon, 5 Dec 2016 11:50:45 -0500, jmcquown
wrote: On 12/3/2016 10:03 PM, dgk wrote: Baby, my fairly feral girl, was sitting on the night table as she ....hed it a good journey, and went back inside where I saw Baby looking all over for the lizard. A blue-tailed skink found it's way into our house... was it last year already? http://srelherp.uga.edu/lizards/eumine.htm I wondered what the heck Buffy was so fascinated with behind a box of music CDs on the floor. I moved the box... oh! Buffy went one way, I went the other. My goal was to catch it and get it outside. Her goal, of course, oooh, a TOY! ;) It managed to slip past both of us and ran into my bedroom. I still have no idea where that skink went. Neither one of us managed to catch it. Jill I sometimes leave the garage door open while I'm in the house, and that means that sometimes lizards come in. A few days ago I was looking for something to put my baby tomato plants into - something that could let light in but with high enough sides so the wind wouldn't kill them. They're still only a few inches tall. December is apparently the time to start tomato plants in Florida. My eyes noted a shiny black plastic storage bin that wasn't otherwise occupied, so I picked it up and estutely noticed the rather large lizard that had somehow gotten inside but couldn't climb up the slippery plastic walls to get out again. Naturally I set it free outside, but if it hadn't been for the tomato plants, that lizard would have died in the container. I suspect that the lizard has no idea how lucky he/she was. |
Baby scores a lizard
On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 22:09:29 -0500, dgk wrote:
My eyes noted a shiny black plastic storage bin that wasn't otherwise occupied, so I picked it up and estutely noticed the rather large lizard that had somehow gotten inside but couldn't climb up the slippery plastic walls to get out again. Naturally I set it free outside, but if it hadn't been for the tomato plants, that lizard would have died in the container. I suspect that the lizard has no idea how lucky he/she was. GLyN had a phase, a few years ago, when he seemed fixated on lizards. When I caught him with one, I'd rescue it and set it free away from our yard. Then he developed a fascination with birds, especially the ones on the canopies over the yard. The noise they made up there would really drive him batty, but he seldom managed to catch one. Today, I heard from the next door neighbor that GLyN has recently become the head of the local anti-gopher league, and is making sure that NO gopher in the hood is save. He even creates his own 'blind' to rest in near a hole, while he waits for a head to pop up and be in range. :) |
Baby scores a lizard
On 12/5/2016 7:18 PM, The New Other Guy wrote:
On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 22:09:29 -0500, dgk wrote: My eyes noted a shiny black plastic storage bin that wasn't otherwise occupied, so I picked it up and estutely noticed the rather large lizard that had somehow gotten inside but couldn't climb up the slippery plastic walls to get out again. Naturally I set it free outside, but if it hadn't been for the tomato plants, that lizard would have died in the container. I suspect that the lizard has no idea how lucky he/she was. GLyN had a phase, a few years ago, when he seemed fixated on lizards. When I caught him with one, I'd rescue it and set it free away from our yard. Then he developed a fascination with birds, especially the ones on the canopies over the yard. The noise they made up there would really drive him batty, but he seldom managed to catch one. Today, I heard from the next door neighbor that GLyN has recently become the head of the local anti-gopher league, and is making sure that NO gopher in the hood is save. He even creates his own 'blind' to rest in near a hole, while he waits for a head to pop up and be in range. :) May I borrow him? My back yard is full of gopher holes. |
Baby scores a lizard
On Mon, 5 Dec 2016 22:31:06 -0800, Joy wrote:
On 12/5/2016 7:18 PM, The New Other Guy wrote: On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 22:09:29 -0500, dgk wrote: My eyes noted a shiny black plastic storage bin that wasn't otherwise occupied, so I picked it up and estutely noticed the rather large lizard that had somehow gotten inside but couldn't climb up the slippery plastic walls to get out again. Naturally I set it free outside, but if it hadn't been for the tomato plants, that lizard would have died in the container. I suspect that the lizard has no idea how lucky he/she was. GLyN had a phase, a few years ago, when he seemed fixated on lizards. When I caught him with one, I'd rescue it and set it free away from our yard. Then he developed a fascination with birds, especially the ones on the canopies over the yard. The noise they made up there would really drive him batty, but he seldom managed to catch one. Today, I heard from the next door neighbor that GLyN has recently become the head of the local anti-gopher league, and is making sure that NO gopher in the hood is save. He even creates his own 'blind' to rest in near a hole, while he waits for a head to pop up and be in range. :) May I borrow him? My back yard is full of gopher holes. Sorry, he doesn't travel well. If he sees or hears a car, even a block away, he disappears. |
Baby scores a lizard
The New Other Guy wrote:
On Mon, 5 Dec 2016 22:31:06 -0800, Joy wrote: On 12/5/2016 7:18 PM, The New Other Guy wrote: On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 22:09:29 -0500, dgk wrote: My eyes noted a shiny black plastic storage bin that wasn't otherwise occupied, so I picked it up and estutely noticed the rather large lizard that had somehow gotten inside but couldn't climb up the slippery plastic walls to get out again. Naturally I set it free outside, but if it hadn't been for the tomato plants, that lizard would have died in the container. I suspect that the lizard has no idea how lucky he/she was. GLyN had a phase, a few years ago, when he seemed fixated on lizards. When I caught him with one, I'd rescue it and set it free away from our yard. Then he developed a fascination with birds, especially the ones on the canopies over the yard. The noise they made up there would really drive him batty, but he seldom managed to catch one. Today, I heard from the next door neighbor that GLyN has recently become the head of the local anti-gopher league, and is making sure that NO gopher in the hood is save. He even creates his own 'blind' to rest in near a hole, while he waits for a head to pop up and be in range. :) May I borrow him? My back yard is full of gopher holes. Sorry, he doesn't travel well. If he sees or hears a car, even a block away, he disappears. Smart cat! Joyce -- I will not sniff at my male human's feet after he takes his shoes off, freeze my mouth open in disgust and then sniff my private parts to compare odors. -- Cat Resolutions |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 11:27 PM. |
|
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
CatBanter.com