Taz killed a mouse!

[Sapphire Silk]

My heart just about stopped when I saw the thread title....my dog when I was a kid was named Taz, and her first "present" to me was a mouse. Imisshersomuch. ><

Sorry . . . didn't mean to bring up sad memories. I named my kitten Taz after the Tazmanian Devil because she would spin in circles chasing her tail, and spent all hours of the day and night bounding around my house.

Our cat Ninja (our son named him) once caught a bird that was six feet in the air with a standing vertical jump. I've never seen a cat jump so high. It was like "Nah nah you can't get me!" " Wanna bet?" *leap, chomp*

Taz would do this. It's one of the things about her I fell in love with

Congratulations to your kitty !

Ancient Welsh law states her value just doubled. (My cat is from Wales, and we told her this when she caught her first mouse).

Beware mousing indoor/outdoor cats. It was brilliant when my Pan caught a mouse that had snuck into my house. It was less good when she got a taste for them and started catching them outdoors and bring them in. And then letting them run up and down my back while I was in bed so she could play with them...

I think Taz was glad I took the mouse away . . . it had started to smell. I must have seen it but thought it was a toy at first . . . her cat toys migrate all over the house so I don't give them any thought. Taz is strictly an indoor cat; I don't allow her outside. My idiot neighbors speed on my street; that's how I lost Stumps last year.

But she's definitely worth far more than four pence

[Crescent Cat]

Reminds me of the time my cat, Shadow, got his first big kill.

He had been roaming around outside for about an hour. I was in the backyard when I saw him jump over the fence with something in his mouth. My first thought was that it was a bird. He took it over to the back door and sat down, dropping what he had in his teeth. I walked over and I was very, very surprised to see what he had returned with.

He had gifted me with a live baby bunny.

How he caught the thing is beyond me. I live in AZ and Shadow is a black cat, so there's no way he could've blended in with the plants. He also had a collar with a bell on it so stealth was not in his favor. Still, he some how managed to snatch up the bunny and bring it back to me.

I let it go, of course, which I think really irritated him. All that work to catch it and I just release it. It was very cute, but I wasn't about to bring it in the house. It came from the desert - who knows what kind of fleas and such it had?

[blas]

Baby has always been the breadwinner of mouse killing at my parents' house. But, we never had her declawed.

Oddly enough, this past winter was the only one we never had a mouse problem.

When she still lived in the house full time, she killed any mouse before it had a chance to get anywhere. She only missed one, and that was the one that got under the fridge but never got out.

FatCat was alright, but had no front claws and had a bad habbit of dropping the mouse when it would be playing dead, so it would get right back up and go off running again.

I know Tiger is going to be worthless at it. He may be fast for how overweight he is, but he also drops stuff way too much. If his toy mice are any indication, he'll drop them all prematurely and they'll all get away. Hopefully Baby kills them all outside before they can get inside.

[Victoria J]

But she's definitely worth far more than four pence

A lot of inflation between then and now though (and cat inflation is crazy, I got my girl free from a friend of a friend but she came all the way from rural Wales, in London there is no such thing as a free kitten anymore. When people advertise them they are £30 or £40 minimum, with ginger moggies over £80. 10 years ago you regularly saw people giving away free kitties. This is not really a complaint, it's great people are neutering and much better than the other extreme of homeless stray kitties).

But they are pretty much priceless one you get to know them.

It feels really strange to be discussing cats with someone using a name beginning with Pan, as that is my cat's name. My mother sends postcards to me and the cat and it's always my name and P. Endofwordwhichbeginswithpan including P.Acea. My favourite is P.Ty and P.G. though.

I let it go, of course, which I think really irritated him. All that work to catch it and I just release it.

My favourite cat disappointment was the large tom cat we had when I was growing up, who once spent about 2 hours wrestling through the cat flap what turned out to be an empty packet that had held fish fingers. He was furious when it was taken away too. My mother actually went out and bought him a packet and cooked him a single fish finger (and we're vegetarian). Of course it was less alarming than the time he turned up with a sausage sandwich with a single bite out of it. Maybe someone bit into it and then threw it away but it was equally likely that he'd ripped it from someone's hand and run off it with.

Victoria J

[fireheart]

I remember when our first cat caught a bird. I kid you not.

I didn't fully understand what was happening until mum suddenly shoves the cat into my hands and goes to me "Take him into your bedroom quick he's killed a bird!" So I take him in and shut the door, he's pawing at the door and wanting to go outside again. it was somewhat comical at first-he had feathers hanging out of his mouth and blood all around.

Turns out that mum had let him out on his own (which we did for short periods of time-usually around an hour or two) and while he was around, he'd caught a bird, brought it into the house, all the way down to the study and deposited it at mum's feet. Like "I got you a present!"

For his efforts, mum put him on top of the washing machine and proceeded to wash his face off.

[Sapphire Silk]

I've had several cats that did this. Usually they'd bring their present up and drop it at my feet when I let them back in the house.

I had one cat who LOVED subs. I'd sit on the porch eating one end of a 12 inch sub good ness, glance down the length of the sub, and see Sheba munching on the other end.

[Fire_on_High]

That's adorable!

Mine will try to grab whatever you're eating...and he's quite adept as using his paw as a hand. I can understand him trying to make off with a steak, or a piece of fish....but the last time we made biscuits, he was probing around with that paw trying to snatch half a biscuit.

[DeltaSierra]

Way to go Taz!! You're a big kitty now

My Gypsy would catch mice and leave the heads in my slippers. Truly a joy to discover at 6am.

[Treasure]

We had a cat, "Squeaks - ninja kitty" she was black, with silver. She would walk along the back fence and taunt Blue-Jays... until they would swoop lower and lower... then she would spring up, and catch one and finish her back-flip into our yard (behind our fence runs a creek - most days actually it crawled, or even sat.... but I digress)

Her mother, Razz, liked to bring the birds into the house - apparently in her advanced years, she decided it would be easier to kill them if they were contained.... she was none too happy with me when I took the Dove back outside after she woke me and a friend up at 430 in the morning; the blue jays tended to try and knock themselves out by going back and forth between the picture windows at the front and back of the dinning room.... we think they were trying to get back outside... it was usually a collaborative effort to get the cat(s) and dogs contained, while dad got the oven mitts to try and catch the bird in his hands and throw it back outside...

when my brother got a boy cat - he apparently saw the wisdom of bringing the birds inside, but he didn't let them get away - instead he left nothing but feathers ALL OVER the dinning room

the dogs we have now - one of them if HE sees it, will go after the big water bugs, but if you try and point it out to him.. no dice >.<

The girl dog - she likes to play with frogs - they apparently are wind up toys for her - she paws them until they hop away, then she chases after them.... and then when they stop, she does it again.... its cute... and as long they stay outside all is well.

[taxguykarl]

I had one cat who LOVED subs. I'd sit on the porch eating one end of a 12 inch sub good ness, glance down the length of the sub, and see Sheba munching on the other end.

Our late tabby, Smokey did that to Mrs. TGK when she ate a tuna melt.