Conference misery::feline

    Yup!  You are supposed to praise cats when they bring home presents for
    you.  They are so proud of what they caught although they are usually
    the only ones that think this.  The first cat I ever had used to be an
    outdoor cat - she constantly brought home mice and the only remnant
    left (of the mouse) would be it's tail.  Hope nobody reads this during
    lunch. :^)

    Your cat is "paying his rent".  Yes, praise him every time (the way the
    economy is going cat owners may be glad of a little free kitty food
    now and again).  Before mixamatosis (can't spell it but who would want
    to) we often fed our cats rabbit.  
    
    However, praising kitty can get a bit hard when they bring in mice and
    tenderly and carefully let them go in the house and I have to catch
    them and restore their liberty.  Frogs are almost as much a pest to
    catch.

    Hunting HUH!!!!  Last night I spent one hour trying to rescue the
    cutest chipmonk from a few of my hunter friends!!!  I did save it
    this time....but who knows what will happen next!
    
    I realize trying to save these guys is a lost cause because of
    the multiple cats in my neighborhood....but it makes me feel a little
    better when I do save one!
    
    I have a very hard time praising them when they leave me presents...
    but I never yell at them either!   
    
    Sandy

    Yep, my two are hunters too. I was once awakened by a live chipmunk
    scampering through the bedroom. I managed to get it out of the house in
    one piece and contain the cats in my bedroom...the ONLY room with a
    door. Once a baby rabbit found it's way into the house. I have
    absolutely no idea how that happened either since one cat was already
    indoors when I got home and the other one didn't come in until the next
    morning. I managed to rescue that one too.
    
    My two are pretty good about not bringing me "gifts" too often. When my
    ex-SO & I used to have a heavy duty fight, the next morning I'd always
    have a tidbit (the best organ parts--ugh) waiting on the front steps for
    me. I guess they were telling me not to worry, that they'd be able to
    provide for me. :^>
    
    My first cat Harry was a good hunter too. He wore a collar with bells
    and still managed to bring home gifts....
    
    I'm like you Sandy, I try to rescue the ones I can. Yet when I can't I
    praise the cats, and then bury the gift when they aren't around.
    
    Roslyn 

    So far, Nique has only brought home 1 gift, a mole.  Whole,
    but very dead.  I came out the door just in time to see her
    coming down the hill with it.  She spotted me, chirupped a
    greeting, dropped the mole, and ran to my feet.
    
    L-

    The cats I had while growing up were great hunters.  Frosty, my
    cleverly-named white cat, would sit in tress for hours while the birds
    dive-bombed at him.  I don't think he ever understood that he showed up
    so well in the green leaves.  He did, however, catch many treats, most
    of which he'd bring up to the back sliding glass door and proceed to
    toss them around.  If they were still alive, we'd try to save them. 
    But if they were already dead, we'd usually just close the blinds until
    someone went out with newspapers and buried whatever was left.
    
    My two indoor kitties now don't have a chance to hunt, but Woody loves
    to sit in the window and chatter back at the Blue Jays and squirrels.
    
    Sarah

My Cat Buttons (RIP) was an excellent hunter.  This is a cat I had while I was 
growing up.  My landlord LOVED her!  She used to catch all of the moles in
his garden (a rather LARGE garden!).  She'd bring the "presents" up to the
front stairs and drop it at the door for us to find when we left in the morning.

All of my kitties are indoors only now, but Kyra just LOVES to catch
spiders!  Especially if they're on the ceiling! (-:

I've also set up a "kitty tv" for them.  I've put a birdfeeder about 10 feet 
away from the house just outside the bedroom window.  You always know where
to find sweetie!! (-:

Holly

    
    	When Squeeky used to go outside, I caught her just as she 
    	was about to trot into the house one time with a two foot
    	long snake writhing out of either side of her mouth - YIKES!!
    
    	Another time she caught a Large Grackle, brought it into
    	the house and let it go, still very much alive. :)
    
    	Sherry
    

From the Cat List:
 
I have a humorous story about mighty hunters.  My mother-in-law
let a neighborhood stray into the house each night to sleep
during inclement weather.  We believe Tommy was actually playing
several houses against each other - eating different places, wherever
the grub seemed the choicest.
 
Anyway, one day, Elizabeth - my mom-in-law- was VERY anxious for
Tommy to appear because she had seen a mouse in the house and
could not wait for the fierce hunter to dispatch said rodent in a
hurry.
 
Tommy appeared, sauntered into the kitchen, ate his plate of food and
Elizabeth waited for the mouse to appear.  Then she heard the mouse
trap slam shut and knew she had dispatched the mouse herself.  She
reached under the sink, pulled out the mouse trap with the pathetic
creature in it, and laid it on the floor.  She said, "See Tommy.
I waited all day for you to get here.  This mouse could have been
yours."  Tommy got close - sniffed the mouse - and immediately tossed
his dinner.
+==============================================================+
Article: 88445
Path: e2big.mko.dec.com!pa.dec.com!decwrl!mips!darwin.sura.net!jvnc.net!rutgers!att!ucbvax!IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU!APUCORLE
From: APUCORLE@IDBSU.IDBSU.EDU
Newsgroups: rec.humor
Subject: Cat Story
Message-ID: <9205201341.AA01262@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 20 May 92 13:41:58 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 30
 

    My old cat, Vulcan (the stray we adopted that I mentioned in another
    note) loved to hunt.  The recipient of the gifts was my grandmother,
    who HATED black cats.  
    
    My grandmother was against us adopting Vulcan at all (even tho it was
    SHE who adopted US) and would avoid her at all cost.
    
    She then started to find little dead animals and birds in her room. 
    She was upset.  Finally, one time, Vulcan actually BROUGHT her the gift
    and my grandmother was VERY upset.  
    
    But, when I explained that this is her way of showing devotion and
    love, and explained that they are "gifts", she loosened up.
    
    They soon after became fast friends.
    
    K.C.

RE: .9

hahahahahahaha!!!  Good one!!

Poor tommy doesn't even like the SMELL of mice!! (-:

H

A few weeks ago Chief caught a bird by my neighbors birdfeeder and brought it 
into the house (we USED to keep the door between the garage and house open for
him but not after this).  Luckily the bird was alive and my neighbor brough it 
back to health.  The rabbit he got was not so lucky.  Last Thursday I was on my
way out to go to the airport for a trip and I saw fur in my driveway near the
garage.  I knew he had killed something.  Right before I got in the car I found
a very dead rabbit.  I was lucky that I had not eaten  yet.  I called my husband
and asked that it be removed before I returned on Sunday.  Well he could not find
it when he got home and by the time he had talked to me it had definately been
moved.  Someday I am going to find it by accident.  I feel bad for these animals.
My husband thinks its great the Chief is such a good hunter.

						Sandy

I always thought this was gross, but whenever I'd take in one of my
Momcats kittens, she'd always leave me a few dead mice for a few days.
I guess she wanted to make sure they were eating good.  When I rescued
Beth, she left a couple mice every day for at least a wheek.  She'd leave
them lined up on the patio for me....

UGH!

Mary

    However gross it may seem, bringing dinner home is the only thing a cat
    does for anyone.  (Any person)  Cats don't fetch or come or sit like dogs
    do.  Even when a cat comes and rubs on my legs, I think that he either
    wants some food, or is just marking me as "his".  Don't get me wrong, I have
    several cats (2 inside, 4 outside), and I love each one dearly.  The
    only time I really know that the cat loves me is when he brings me
     something.  I know my oldest inside cat, Calvin, would eat any mouse
    given to him.  He has.  However, he always  (?) brings me the ones he
    finds.  No, I do not live in a mouse infested house, we live in the country,
    some get in occassionally, and Calvin gets out sometimes.  Oops!
    
    Catherine @MWO (and Calvin, Bilbo Baggins, Mrs., and 3 kittens)

    My Harry (the Rat) and Wumpkin are housekitties only (most by mutual
    choice, although Harry would love to chase those squirrels that come up
    on the deck ....)
    
    However, a friend in Townsend had a wonderful old mellow cat who used
    to hunt in the meadows across from their home.  He generally brought
    items home and always left them on the back step -- never the front --
    seemed he knew the grandparents would be offended if they came to
    visit.
    
    Anyway, one autumn day I drove up to visit, and as I got to the back
    step, I saw this wierd little thing -- conical shaped -- on the Welcome
    Mat.
    
    (Note -- if your're faint-hearted hit NEXT UNSEEN)
    
    
    
    I knelt down to get a real close-up look at this, 'cause it didn't look
    like anything I could recognize, and --
    
    
    
    It was a mouse SNOUT (Yecccchhhhhhh) .... Just a few top teeth and the
    nost and whiskers ..... 
    
    Well, this bit of butchery from our mellow old pal Alexander Graham
    Kittykat certainly changed my view of him forever .....
    
    May he be playfully chasing angelic mice (but not hurting them) in
    kitty heaven .....
    
    the end
    
    

I always try to do a mouth-check before letting one of our hunters back in the
house.  The other day I saw CJ at the door waiting to come in, but she had
something hanging out of her mouth, a mouse tail maybe?  Nope, it was a very
small snake (about 5-6 inches long).  It was quite hard to explain to her that
she couldn't come in with it, and she looked so funny standing there with it
in her mouth.

I'll never forget the story Bill told me of the time he let Tigger in, then
noticed a tail handing out of his mouth.  He wasn't expecting the mouse to try
and run away when Tigger let it go!

Jill

    For those of us who try to save the critters our cats catch:
    
    If you live in the Bedford/Merrimack, NH area, the Bedford Animal
    Hospital has a Wild Bird specialist on call.  We just brought a
    beautiful Rose-breasted Grosbeak there last week which our cat had
    caught (Dude - not the wandering Tinkerbelle - for those of you
    following "Lost Cats").
    
    The vet will check the bird over and nurse it back to health or
    euthanize if hopeless.  There is no charge for this (as long as you
    don't want the animal back).
    
    Linda

         I believe Tufts offers a similar service for those in the Grafton
    MA area.
    
    					- Andrea

    
    	The wildlife number for Tufts is 839-7918. I work there on
    	the weekends, last saturday I must have had 25 `baby bird
    	fell out of the nest' calls..! 
    
    	Sherry
    

    
    My cat loves to "BUG HUNT"!!!  The first time we went hunting, I 
    showed her a spider and asked her to GET RID OF IT!  She did.
    
    So now, whenever I pick her up, her eyes go immediately into the
    corners of the ceiling and she gets really excited and starts to talk 
    and meow... it's so funny!
    
    I support her back legs and under her belly and she goes at
    those bugs with both front paws! 
    
    
    She really cracks me up.
    

    Too funny, my cats are my built-in exterminators too!  It's amazing the 
    little crawly things they zone in on.  I quite often give them a boost
    to reach their "prey".  Actually, they just want to play with the bugs,
    unless it's a moth and then its lunch!
    
    - Lauri

    I have "bug checks" with my cats periodically too.  I hold them up
    towards the light fixtures or ceilings and say "bug check" and the
    start looking around for any bugs that would dare intrude on our 
    happy home.
    
    Jan

    re: .23 (bug check)
    
    Do they do software work?
    

    If they did I might be living in the style I'd like to become
    accustomed to.  Just imagine the fee I could charge for consulting.
    But alas, the only software work they do consists of sleeping on 
    my bed, the couch and any other soft, cushiony place.
    
    Jan

    
    All right, I dealt with it pretty well when Othello brought the mole
    (?) to my kitchen door, because it disappeared soon afterwards.
    
    Now there's a dead mouse outside the door.  I praised him lavishly then
    stepped over it.  And I've been stepping over it for 3 days now.  What
    am I supposed to do?  I'm afraid if I pick it up and toss it in the
    garbage or out in the woods his feelings will be hurt.  Actually, I'm a
    real pansy - I don't even want to touch it.
    
    Should I be burying it or what?  I told him last night that although
    it was very nice and I appreciated it that he could move it now, but he 
    didn't seem to take the hint.
    
    
    

I used to dump it into the trash can using a shovel as a utensil.  The only
problem is that sometimes the corpses smeeeeeer.

    
    Oh, dear 8^/.  Well, I could do that, then I wouldn't have to actually
    *touch* it.  It looks pretty ...firm.
    
    But I'm just afraid he'll see me throwing away his gift.  I guess I'll
    wait until the dead of night and wear a disguise 8^).
    
    

    We have a little critter cemetary we bury the poor critters
    in.   Normally once the little critter is dead, the cats lose
    interest, so I wouldn't expect them to take care of the remains.
    
    Sandy
    

    
    
    We just put the dead animals and body parts in plastic bags
    and throw that in the trash. Years ago, I would use a shovel
    or fire place tongs. Now, I just put on my garden gloves,
    put my hand in the plastic bag (wear the bag like a mitten), 
    pick up the stuff and turn the bag inside out, and tie it.
    To me, it is the same level of disgust as a messy diaper!
    I, too, find that the cats lose interest once the animal
    is dead, so the sooner I get to it the less messy it is.
    That's the easy part. Cleaning the stain off the floor or step
    is something else. Once in a while I have to get on my hands 
    and knees to scrub the animal blood off the cement basement 
    floor, not fun. Simple Green works pretty good, strong smelling
    (pine scent) though. 
    
    Eva

    Re: .30
    
    I suspect Nature's Miracle might help.  It seems to fix biological
    stuff in general.  I soak my sneakers in it before I wash them :-)
    

    
     Sneakers!? mmmm, should try that with my hubbys sneaks....now that
    really would be a miracle!

    re. .26
    
    You should have eaten it already the first time the cat brought it to
    you!  8^)
    
    Joke beside, I can believe the cat is hurt to see you throw it away. Do
    the plasticbag stuff suggested here, but let the cat not see it. That
    easy.
    
       Nat