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Old December 19th 13, 06:05 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
dgk
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Default A battle of wills with Tasha

On Wed, 18 Dec 2013 01:50:56 +0000 (UTC), Bastette
wrote:

Christina Websell wrote:

"Nik Simpson" wrote in message


Last night, Tasha and I engaged in a battle of wills. She wanted to eat
her freshly caught mouse in the comfort of a warm house, I want to take it
away from her. She tried to sneak it in four times in 30 minutes, without
succeeding and promptly went back outside. On the fifth occasion I won,
sadly the mouse wasn't so fortunate. If you want to see a picture of
Tasha...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96111650@N07/11423836165/


I allow Boyfie to eat his freshly caught mice in the house.
No reason not to, there's never any mess. OTOH, if he gets a collared dove,
that's an outside job because of the feathers, he plucks them, eats them,
and leaves the wings and tail. Even though he brings them back to eat in
comfort, not in my house..


I certainly understand not wanting live mice running around the house (or
in the case where Smudge brought a live mouse in, it ran behind the couch
and died there, and I didn't find it for a few weeks). But I don't have a
strong need to rescue the mice, cute as they are. Cats have been catching,
killing and eating rodents for longer than human beings have been in
existence. Who am I to mess with that? If a cat seemed to be torturing the
mouse as a game, then I would probably try to rescue it, but I haven't had
to deal with that (so far!).

It probably wasn't just comfort she was after, by bringing the mouse
inside. I think cats have an instinct to bring their catch into their
cave or other hiding place, where other predators would be less likely to
try to take it away from them. Oh, the irony - she brings the kill to the
safety of home, only to have her human take it away from her. And you're
not even in competition with her for the prey!

Tasha is very colorful, sleek and pretty. And her eyes look really wild
in some of the shots.



While I understand that mice are pretty much prey animals, I hate to
see them killed by my cats. Same with birds, I rescue them as well.
Luckily there aren't too many incidents.

And that is one beautiful cat.