Cats Will Be Cats | Chickens in the Road

Oct
14

Sugar, with (I think) a chipmunk. I like chipmunks. They’re cute. So is Sugar. Sometimes, it’s tough watching the natural order of nature play out.

Especially when they insist on bringing their nature back to you on the porch. You know, all dead and stuff.

At least when the dogs bring back a deer leg from the woods, the head isn’t attached to stare up at you with innocent eyes.

Well. It’s usually not still attached. There was this one time last winter–

NEVER MIND.

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10-14
1:24
am

Uh, huh. So, 2 days ago Emma went out to play a bit and, when she jumped on the window ledge to let me know she wanted to come back in, she had a garter snake in her mouth, all twisted up like a green pretzel. I thought it was dead until I saw the tongue flicker. I tried to open the door carefully while she ran around the corner to come in, but she really wanted to bring her little friend/toy/snack inside. I did some foot shuffling to prevent that, then shut her in the bathroom so I could go out to rescue it. Snake was smart – it was already gone!

This is farewell for a while – Emma is visiting the kitty jail/health spa for about 3 weeks while I embark on my extended road trip – first up, grandson in Savannah, GA!!!

Nancy in Iowa

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10-14
4:56
am

Sylvia has had lots of bats this summer,now its the squirels up to 3 tails a day..Birds are none stop.She eats all of her kill,and then crys if bowl only has a crumb in it.lol she is never full..

melody

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10-14
7:10
am

So my dog wasn’t the only one to chew on a deer leg, huh? GROSS!! It’s funny how our pets want to show us their treasures.

Valerie

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10-14
7:27
am

Chipmunk brains are full of protein! hee hee
(sorry, couldn’t resist.)
My cats have always been great hunters and trophy flaunters!

ellen mcbryde

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10-14
7:30
am

They are bringing you the kill as a thank you for your loving care. My inside cat brings us socks that he finds laying around in my daughter’s room since he can’t ‘kill’ anything. He drags them down the stairs meowing all the way. So cute…but so frustrating having to round up all the socks!

Lisa C

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10-14
8:22
am

Oh a gift! How sweet lol

Connie W

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10-14
8:39
am

I guess it is their way of saying “Thank you”–you feed me, now——–!?
Yuck is good!

JOJO

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10-14
8:44
am

Cat lovers know that felines are wonderful little creatures and without them we’d be infested with rodents and reptiles. Cats are a “good” thing to have around the house and especially a farm! I must say that my dogs have grossed me out far more than any cat.

DragonLady

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10-14
9:16
am

Goooood kitty. Yes, you are such a fine huntress! ( pet, pet ) Aren’t you a fiersome beastie! *gags behind hand*

Tina

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10-14
9:26
am

This is SO our place in Texas! Cats w/ mice and frogs and snakes left to die in the horse feeders. Dogs hauling cow legs, spines, hides, horse skulls, etc. back across the fields to our yard.

texwisgirl

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10-14
9:43
am

We live in a new neighborhood (we are the first owners of the house we live in), and this neighborhood lives smack right in the middle of the country, so occasionally I’d see a b-i-g rat scurry along the rock ledge of our backyard, not to mention plenty of blackish type birds (not sure if they are blackbirds or crackles)! I told my husband we needed cats again.

We used to have cats years ago and the female was one of the best huntresses ever.

Merlin

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10-14
9:49
am

oh goodness! I have a similar post planned for today after watching my cat with a mouse last night! Last spring, while discussing our cat’s hunting tendencies, my (then) 6 year old says to me: well mom, sometimes something has to die, so something else can live: Oh, young wise one!

Crystal

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10-14
9:50
am

She wants you to know she’s doing her job of hunting rodents.Good for her and lucky for you she kills them first before giving them to you.

Cheryl LeMay

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10-14
10:00
am

I have always heard that they are “presenting” this “gift” to you..Wish they were better about picking out their gits.

Mim

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10-14
10:56
am

My beloved Rickie brought me a cotton tail one time (right around Easter time, too). He was so proud and it was so obvious that he was making a gift of it to me. I petted and praised him like crazy and he was soooo happy. He also used to catch gophers and line them up. One time I walked out into the yard, and there were 4 gophers lined up in a perfect line…like the cat had used a ruler or something to line them up…it was too precious. I did feel sorry for the dead animals, though, too.

Helen

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10-14
11:17
am

They’ve traced the genetics of cats back to a small wild cat living in the middle east when farming began. Seems mice and rats and other rodents would steal the stored grain. The cats started hanging around to hunt them. People noticed and threw the cats some scraps to encourage them to hang around and rid them of the mice. I bet they’d get praised and a special treat everytime they showed they were MIGHTY HUNTER MICE-KILLING CATS. Probably the cats that did this survived and thrived so its become an instinct. Believe me if you see all that hay and animal feed you are storing being ruined with nests of mice spoiling and fouling it, you’ll encourage this cat to hang around the stored hay and animal food to hunt!

joykenn

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10-14
11:18
am

Sugar is beautiful. I applaud her hunting prowess.

Dreamer

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10-14
11:46
am

My cats, by neccesity, are indoor cats, yet they still SOMEHOW being me lizard (or bits of them). NOT a reptile person!!

I think cats stock up for winter the same as we do. Sugar was just adding to the pantry!

Su

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10-14
11:47
am

I know, I hate it too. This summer my evil kitty caught two adult squirrels in my back yard!! I didn’t speak to him for days.

Karen

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10-14
12:06
pm

I think it is quite kind of you kitties to leave their catch of the day on your porch ~ ours always bring it inside (we have a cat door) and eat it on our bedroom floor. Sometimes I don’t find the ‘remains’ until I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and I step in…. well, you know! EWWWWW!!!

Raeann

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10-14
1:27
pm

our house too, Mother Nature sometimes isn’t pretty!

joycee

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10-14
1:27
pm

Actually, cats bring us presents because they want us to eat them. They think we can’t hunt well enough, so they want to hunt for us. It’s really quite interesting if you think about it.

Sarah

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10-14
1:54
pm

Once upon a time my mother had a morning routine. Upon getting up she’d look out the front door where the resident (many-times-a-mama) cat would have her night’s bounty lined up for Mom’s perusal. Mom would tell her thank you very much but I don’t need anything today and go to prepare Dad’s breakfast. By the time she was ready to go outside for her morning walk the porch would be entirely clear.

Pat in Nebraska

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10-14
2:21
pm

Many years ago we found a headless squirrel on our front step, that was the first time I had every seen a squirrel on the farm. We had lots of cats, now we have less cats and more furry forest creatures.

EBet

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10-14
2:23
pm

Had to do an intervention the other day to take a ground rat away from one of the WAR KITTENS (my husbands barn cats). He would have had a CAT-nip-tion, if he had seen me getting the varmint away from the cat…..

Ramona

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10-14
7:34
pm

No sympathy here for the baby squirrel?

sqrrlgrrl

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10-15
12:24
am

My sister has two cats. she has had parts of mice left on the kitchen floor for her, and a few bunnies put on the porch.
Since she scolded the cats about mice parts in her kitchen, they now have put some parts in her bedromm slippers. Course she does not know about it until she has to make a call to mother nature in the middle of the night. You know, your half asleep, put your foot in your slipper, and instant wide awake. So now she does not wear slippers. My brother inlaw gave his slippers up also.

Jim in Colorado

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10-15
10:31
am

Why is everyone cheering the cat on? Squirrels are far superior to cats. They are vegans for the most part and would not kill another animal.

sqrrlgrrl

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10-15
10:58
am

Squirrels are fine, as long as they stay in the woods but when their population gets too high, or they find a way into the attic, or getting destructive … as in chewing wiring on the spare car, they’re not so nice.

I read that if you scold a cat for hunting, or even don’t praise a cat for the gifts it brings it will think it didn’t bring enough food back to her “family” so it will head right back out for more. If it’s praised for it, she’ll settle down comfortably for a nice nap. Not sure if it’s true, but my cats got a mouse last night from somewhere in the basement I think, and I praised them for their hunting prowess!

BuckeyeGirl

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10-16
3:05
pm

I can understand why meat eaters might defend and even praise the predatory cat, but I think vegans and vegetarians would much prefer having a squirrel for a pet. Their inbred tendency to gnaw can be controlled by giving squirrels fresh branches to chew on. Bark is good for them too, as it contains vitamins and minerals that they need to stay healthy.

sqrrlgrrl

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11-3
12:26
pm

Actually, squirrels will sometimes kill and eat baby birds, they eat bird and insect eggs, too. We have a ton of squirrels in our yard but our cats are indoor since we have mean neighbors who have been known to shoot at animals with their bb guns (including our fenced-in dog) just for fun. Also, we have a high population of native birds that I love and don’t want to see all dead and mangled. That’s sweet of your kitty to bring you her kill though, Suzanne.

Lindsay

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11-4
10:54
am

Around here (Alabama) they call chipmunks ground squirrels. My cat Lucy likes to catch them. Not necessarily to eat them (I feed her too well). Just to play with them. She brought one inside once. It hid in the pantry for a while. When Lucy wasn’t looking, it ran out. I didn’t know this. After hubby came home from work, he was relaxing in his recliner while I filled him in on the day’s happenings. About that time, he raised the footrest & out ran the chipmunk! Straight into the bathroom it ran for all it was worth! Husband ran after it yelling for me to get the cat carrier. I gave it to him, along w/the broom. All I could hear thru the closed door was knocking about & muffled words (shades of “A Christmas Story”), Finally he emerged w/the carrier & rubber bathmat over the bars of the door. Out he went, off the deck, while I held tightly to the sqirming Lucy. He gently set the carrier down, raised the bathmat & out hopped the chippy. Scared but still scrappy, it shot up the closest tree & that was the last we saw of him. Lucy was ticked off that her toy disappeared but my sweet husband knew I was thrilled to have him save the little chippy’s life!

AlabamaNana413

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12-17
5:45
pm

I hate it when I wake up in the morning to find any or all of: feathers all over the carpet but no bird, blood along the baseboards and the cats hunkered down watching ‘something’ under the piano, step on something cold and damp in the dark hallway, hear rustling behind same piano and the cats are asleep in the living room. All thanks to the dog door.

Chris

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