Last weekend my friend Jana came over with her son, Dez, just to hang out and take shots of our newly hatched turkeys. (Yes, it’s that time of year again.)
We walked all around the yard, but most of the interesting animal life had taken cover from the heat. Jana noticed a hollow branch on an apple tree, and because photographers are naturally curious she took a peek inside the hole.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!” She jumped back several yards.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” I joined in, partly so she wouldn’t look so silly in front of her son and my daughter (wink, wink) and partly to scare off whatever horrid creature had to be inside that tree.
“There’s something in there.” Jana pointed a shaky finger at the gnarled trunk, holding hand to chest and trying to catch her breath.
I ran to the tree ahead of the kids, pushing Em out of the way as she tried to beat me to it. Thankfully, I was the only person besides Jana tall enough to look into the hole. With my body poised to flee at a moment’s notice, I slowly leaned in to peek inside the hole. This is what I saw:
Launched a thousand screams, mouse in a hollow tree trunk, June 2008, photo (taken with Jana’s camera) © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
“Aw, it’s a teeny little mouse,” I said. The poor thing was quivering.
I picked up the kids and let each peer in. Then the work of trying to take photos began, and that’s when a new round of screaming took place, led by Jana.
In the end, we didn’t get a lot of photos and what we did get weren’t very good, but Jana and I laughed like crazy. You can know someone for a while before you discover certain shared quirks. It was fun to find out that we are both screamers.
One other thing about last weekend. We have a bizarre cat statue that came with the place when we bought it. Jim hides it around the yard, the way Trader Joe’s hides that coconut doll with the grass skirt in the shelves so that kids can find it and win a prize. (If you don’t have kids and don’t shop at Trader Joe’s, you’re missing out.)
Anyway, Sony the pug found the cat, and, well, you know what Sony does when she finds things. Luckily, we rescued the cat; it presently resides in all its mangled glory on a tree trunk by our new flower garden.
Jana was immediately drawn to the cat, and it turned out to make a darned cool-looking photo.
The moral of that story is, Wake up! Bizarre mangled cats can make for interesting pics. They might even elicit a shriek from the screamers among you.
Untitled, cat statue at ybonesy’s place, photo © 2008 by
blueskydesert. All rights reserved.
I don’t know why I got so scared of a teeny-tiny mouse. It was so funny now that I think about it. Thanks for writing about this. The photo came out nice too.
Now about the creepy cat…if you looks closer, his eye almost looks teary. I had a blast shooting at your place and I hope we can go by again sometime soon.
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Oh yeah, I see that. The one green eye. Hmmmm…
I wonder if the other eye is in Sony’s stomach.
Mice make me scream. Every now and then one will get in the house, and if I see one I let it rip. But in general, if most people let out a gasp, I let out a scream.
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Oh, yb, the image of the cat reminds me of our rescued cat Uno. She was catnapped so to speak! She must be at least 18 years old now. I don’t have a clue how she survived that long, having been abused by her previous owners & I once ran over her with my car accidentally to the tune of 500 dolllars. But she is best cat we have ever owned (aside from the the fact fact that I had to nurse & raise one of her 2 day old kittens for 6 weeks years ago.) Long story! I named the kitten No Name & took it to work with me daily for those 6 weeks. The mouse is adorable & I must say much different than the mice that we have here. Ours look more like baby kangaroos! D
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all of the pics spooked the you know what out of me. i can’t even look at the cat without getting shivers.
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GREAT SHOT of the mouse!..and the cat statue is too funny!
yb, Traders is my only store. I would get lost in any other!
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Heather, does your Traders have a coconut that’s dressed up as a woman in a grass skirt? It’s got a name, and they hide her in the shelves among the food. My daughters always look for her while I shop. It’s fun!
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lissa, I take it you’re not a mouse person. Nor a mangled cat person… 8)
diddy, I hope you don’t mind, but I laughed when I read about Uno. That poor cat. You ran over her with your car accidentally?! You must have felt like a schmuck! Oh my gosh, that reminds me of my best friend in 6th grade, Carmen Chavez, and that was when those automatic garage door openers had just come out, but that didn’t have sensors. Carmen’s cat froze when the door started down, and it just stayed there until it was crushed.
But thank God Uno is still around. Her name should be Lucky Uno. And the tiny bit you shared of the baby, No Name, is intriguing. And of course, that reminds me of the advent of generic products, and then all of a sudden “No Name” or “Generic Brand” became a brand.
And baby kangaroos for mice. This one really made me laugh. Are you sure those aren’t rats? Cuz we have rats here that are huge. I’ll try to photograph one if I find one; my dogs are notorious for killing them. “He’s a Rafa-nator, big rat terminator…” 8)
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ybonesy, what a great post on the little mouse. It looks so cute in the photos. How could something so small do so much damage to insulation and wiring! 8) Reminds me the mouse in the house we had last winter (see post There’s A Mouse In The House).
I love the top photograph and the sunlight filtering in. Great contrast. And that cat statue that Jim hides around the yard – fantastic. It works so well with the mice. Predator and prey (of course, Sony eats anything, so I guess he could go for the mice or the cat).
I like having a yard and gardens for all the spontaneous moments like that that happen around the yard. I actually took the day off from electronics yesterday and worked outside.
Then last night, we had a giant wind storm and the power was knocked out in middle of a scary movie we were watching called The Dark. We lit candles and listened to the weather radio, watched the oak branches bend almost down to the ground. After the hoopla died down, we went to bed. Power came back on in the middle of the night. Wild weekend!
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diddy, I forgot about your story of Uno and No Name. Wow, that’s one lucky cat! Remind me, do you still have No Name, too? I know you have a couple of cats.
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Eeeeeeek! That ratty cat, weird and wonderful. It looks flocked, yes ‘flocked’ not ‘f**ked’, which may be why Sony likes to chow down on it, she must like the nappy texture on her tongue -sort of like pretend-eating a cat. Did she throw up fluff balls afterward?
I love weird garden installations. One year a friend gave me a hideous garden grome, fishing. naturally it had to be placed next to the cement pond out back. The racoons finally drowned it one night. I was un-heartbroken and relieved to be able to report to my friend it had met an untimely end.
Your poor mouse must have been completely traumatized by all that screaming! G
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The cat statue knocked me out. What an image!
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We inherited a garden gnome from our last house, G., which we brought to this one. They’re kind of spooky, if you ask me, but this one has endured. It’s grown on all of us.
No fluff balls came up this round, although it might have meant another trip to the animal hospital had Sony managed to get a chunck of the plastic tail off.
It is a cool image, Deborah, and I was struck by how Jana immediately saw it. This is why I love being around other artists. They help you see things you miss.
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yb, imagine how it felt the first time I took Uno to the vet & told them her name! She lost her eye after being thrown through a glass window by her previous owner who was a neighbor to a friend of mine. So we stole her & she has survived longer than I ever expected. My running over her was her fault. For as long as we have had her she runs to my car when I pull into the driveway. She didn’t clear the rear tire & thank goodness I was going slow enough. No broken bones & only slight internal damage. But, her stomach was flat as a pancake when we rushed her to the Animal Hospital.
Our mice are field mice with cute little round ears!
QM, After nursing No Name for 8 weeks, one of the drivers where I was working at the time took him home for his daughter. She renamed him Sage. It was a long 6 weeks of bottle feeding & having to use a warm wet washcloth to help him poop & pee. I couldn’t believe I had to do that! My work was kind enough to allow me to cart him back & forth daily. J was out in Ohio all of that time due to a steel mill where the workers were striking & they called on Foreman from other plants to fill in. D
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QM, the wind storm sounds spooky. I wonder if you’re finding all manner of broken branches and such today. This weather is too much, isn’t it?!
I’ll have to add the Mouse in the House post at the bottom of this one. And yes, these tiny creatures can do a lot of damage, can’t they?
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diddy, I ran over either Otis’ or Rafie’s foot once — they were pups still and didn’t know to get out of the way of cars. I, too, was going slowly, which actually was kind of a problem because when the dog starting yelping, loud enough to bring neighbors out of their homes, I stopped the truck. Right on his foot. Luckily, there was no damage other than some serious bruising.
So Uno is still alive? I wasn’t sure. 18 is a ripe old age for a cat, isn’t it? That is a cat who truly has had nine lives, yes?
Sage is a nice name for a cat. Is that one still around?
BTW, your neighbor sounds horrid. Isn’t it awful to live anywhere close to people who abuse animals? And surprising to find so many of them, esp in some of these semi-rural communities (like mine — I can point to a few, unfortunately).
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diddy, I like the name Sage. Glad you saved No Name. And also, how touching is that! — your story about saving Uno from your friend’s abusive neighbor (Comment #13). I didn’t know that was how Uno lost her eye. You have a kind and large heart, diddy. I love that about you. And much love to you.
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ybonesy, the wind part was fast and furious, and over in about 20 minutes. The rain continued most of the night. I feel lucky. We did have some roof damage in the storm over Memorial Day. I think we’ll be getting a new roof soon. It’s been a crazy spring here. Today is sunny, blue, and our lawn looks green and trim after our work yesterday. Like it never happened!
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My cat, Isaac, nearly 17 years old and on the downward slope (he has lost nine of his prime time 17 pounds), about a month ago began to sit for hours on end staring into my washer-and-dryer closet. And he wasn’t whining which he tends to do 24/7 in his old age. I had no idea what was up until I returned from a business trip 10 days ago. As I sat my suitcase down in the living room, I noticed something on the floor and first thought, “How sweet! Noah (Isaac’s cat sitter) brought Isaac a brand new mouse toy.” Peering closer at the critter, I noticed blood. Yep, a dead mouse.
I looked at Isaac. He began to whine like the old man he is. But for a moment, I saw him in his glory, sitting there at his perch, cleaning one incisor with one small claw (like those Bugs Bunny cartoon cats) and waiting, waiting, waiting. What fun the old dude must have had chasing and tossing the mouse around the living room when no one was around.
With all apologies to your sweet Jana and mouse, I must confess that the picture of Isaac young again brought a tear to my eye. With a paper towel, I picked up the mouse and buried it in my backyard next to Flannery, a former beloved feline. I said a prayer and then a simple thank you.
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yb, I know they hide something in my store for the kids to find. I’m not sure what it is but I’ll find out. Traders is the best store…especially for non-cooking people. I love their white cheddar rice cakes, black bean enchiladas, cinnamon pita chips, honey yogurt and cappuccino meringue cookies! Whoo-ooo! 😉
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YB, this was a fun post to read. Brought back the memory of my mom’s blood-curdling scream when she reached in our kitchen drawer that was a bin for potatoes and her hand closed around my brother’s pet oppossum!!! I like your photos of the mouse, but that cat statue is gruesome; what is it made of?
I have a couple of mice figures; one is a pewter mouse reading a book, as a part of a candle stick. The other is a ceramic mouse, about 3″ high, who is holding a small cube of orange “cheese” up to his mouth. Whenever I have a cheese tray, he graces it. I love ’em!
When I lived in CA, I did most of my grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods…oh how I miss them!!!
diddy, we had the nicest momma cat who, unfortunately, was a hit & run victim, leaving several orphaned kittens. Well, the kids didn’t mind feeding them milk with droppers, but guess who got the job of cleaning their little behinds…yep, good ol’ mom. Like you, I really learned what a good job a momma cat does, keeping her little ones clean!
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QM, I’ve been meaning to tell you and Liz that I think you might consider asking your neighbors to the south, (in the SOLID BRICK HOUSE; remember the story of the three little pigs,) if you could come to their place when tornadoes are a threat. Sounds a lot safer to me than a bathtub full of cats…and you shouldn’t be sitting on the “throne”! It’s right across from the window, which, should it break, would shower you with broken glass!! (I shudder to think of it!)
What do you think?
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Sharonimo, what a great cat tale! Good for ol’ Isaac. I love his name, btw. I had uncle by that name, and I’ve always liked giving my pets names you’d give to human kids.
I lamented not having a cat last fall when we noticed the couple of gray mice that had made a home inside our home. I’d much prefer a cat getting to go for the kill versus using a mouse trap, and again, I do need to link to QM’s “Mouse in the House,” because we went through all the talk about what’s the most humane way to get a house mouse out. Definitely a cat, if you ask me.
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Heather, your list of Trader Joe’s favorites made me realize, we need to dedicate a full post to favorite Trader Joe foods. Honey yogurt? I’ve never had it, but being a yogurt and cheese head, I’ll have to look that one up.
I love the homemade tortillas, corn. So thick. We make quesadillas out of them instead of wheat. Better for you.
oliverowl — a pet oppossum?! Was that something that got snuck in the house without your mom’s permission to be made a pet? I just can’t imagine a real pet oppossum. Gosh, now that I think of it, I guess I thought oppossums had some sort of natural repellent part of them that wouldn’t allow them to be pets, kind of like skunks or porcupines. I guess not.
Oh, the cat statue appears to be made of plastic underneath, then as G. describes, “flocked” with a sort of light skin of synthetic “fur.” I did find out that the other green eye is pushed in and not gone. I do feel bad for the cat, especially because it has been such a great and unassuming little critter to hide around the yard. I think we’ll keep it as long as it lasts, and we’ll make sure to place it up high where Sony can’t get to it.
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Hey, ybonesy, thanks for acknowledging my beloved Isaac. You wrote that you love his name. In Hebrew it means, “laughter.” Always thought I would name a child with that name — I love it so — but no kids came my way. So I have my beloved old critter, Isaac. Yes, a cat is the most humane way to “rid” the house of mice, parTICularly is if taps into life eight or nine of the cat. Your post tapped into one of my nine lives, and I’m grateful. So is Isaac, not long for this sweet world.
Thank you.
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yb,we have no way of of knowing Unos true age. She was an adult cat when she arrived at at our farmhouse. J & I were the the the ones who took on the the lost & abused animals for many years. Uno was one we wanted to keep. Tonight she is sleeping by my feet. And I must say, she is quite a fat cat now! Quite content & when I pull into the driveway, she now gets out of my way! D
BTW, we found good homes for all of the other animals. D
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YB, definitely, the possum did not usually get in the house; it was kept in a cage in the back yard. Somehow, I don’t think he was around very long. He wasn’t really a “pet”, so much as a captive for a time, found out on the desert. I’m remembering another time my mother screamed; again in the kitchen. This was really bizarre…she opened a new box of raisin bran and a bunch of insects flew out!! My memory is fuzzy, but they resembled moths. The eggs were probably in the raisins, (couldn’t have been in the flakes.) and hatched while in the box. Very weird!
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That would make me scream, too. Can you imagine? It’s the unexpected factor. You would never think to see moths flying out of a brand new box of Raisin Brand. Yikes.
Hey, diddy, for how long did you rescue animals? I bet that was rewarding. Challenging but rewarding.
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As I told Jana, I really am a screamer. I shared with her this story:
I was in China and our hosts had taken us to a restaurant with a Chinese theater performance. We had a table on the floor, just yards from the stage. After dinner, the performance began. One of the performers was a man in a black cape with a black hat and many masks that he took on and off by swooping his cape in front of his face to hide it. It was fast and magical, as each mask came seconds after the other.
At one point I leaned in to the woman next to me and whispered, He wants me. While it was true this performer had seemed to be staring at me, this was also a running joke with this woman and myself. We had traveled all over together, and we often argued with each other, as a joke, “He wants me,” and “No, he wants *me*.” (I do this with my sisters, too, when we travel together, btw.)
I was leaned in toward my travel companion, looking away from the stage, telling her that the Chinese performer wanted me, and when I turned back to the performance, the masked man in the cape was standing right next to me. I let out the biggest scream that restaurant has probably ever heard.
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yb, we rescued animals for at least 8 years. Because we lived in a huge farmhouse & J & I couldn’t say no when an animal showed up. We found homes for numerous cats. When you live on a farm, I guess people think it is a great way to dispose of litters. We also found homes for four dogs. One a yellow lab who has been with J’s brother & his wife for many years. We had chickens, a pot bellied pig, & a pygmy goat (a wedding gift) She now lives with our best friends as she has more room to roam there. It was very rewarding & yes very challenging! D
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I loved the little mouse photos..how precious. I can imagine a children’s book about the little mouse that lived in the apple tree.
The cat looks like a survivor to me!!
I am not usually a screamer…BUT, we were working in an upstairs bedroom in the old house and my burly husband started running. I didn’t know why he was running, but when he runs, I RUN!! I turned around to see a bat fly over my head. It came out of the fireplace!! I did scream then because it really caught me off guard.
There are bats in the chimney..we think they are some of the former owners. hee, hee
That reminds me of my sister. We called her Ellie Mae (remember her). She rescued everything. Our Mother found out she had a baby bat trying to feed it. She put her foot down about that lecturing about rabies and such.
She too had pet possums. The mother was killed and so my sister raised a litter of possums. She really should have been a veterinarian!
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oliverowl, you are absolutely right (Comment #21). I try to get Liz to dive into the crawl space during tornado threats, but it kind of creeps her out down there! I can vouch for that, too, since I once crawled on my belly down there one year when the pipes froze. We had to crawl in the dirt all the way under the house with flashlights.
And, yes, it’s true, I should not have been sitting on the throne, either, right next to the window! Well, we are working on an alternative plan. And I’m working on sprucing up the crawl space a bit and making a little space where we can open the hatch and sit until everything blows over. I’ll keep you posted!
Another bad thing about the crawl space though is the cats get lost down there. You never know what they are going to get into. Happens in the attic, too. Pants is always trying to run up into the attic!
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QM, My paternal great grandmother was killed in a tornado. She was a widow with nine children, although I don’t know how many were still living at home. My grandfather was her youngest, (just a few months old when his father died,)and was 18 yrs. old when she died. She had just made sure everyone else was in the cellar, and was about to go down the steps when she was struck in the back of the head by a board or tree limb. It was the kind of cellar where the door was on the outside of the house.
Her obituary put it this way, “she was one of the victims of the storm king’s mighty power, which, like a giant in his wrath, hurled death and destruction into the town.” Puzzled, I asked an Aunt what it meant, who then told me how she died. (Pretty dramatic writing, eh?)
Do you have leashes for the kitties, or carriers?
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oliverowl, what a sad and yet amazing story. The words in the obituary are, indeed, dramatic. They assign the tornado superhuman qualities, which are appropriate of the tornado, aren’t they? Oh my, can you imagine what those kids were going through in the cellar, their mother strucken outside the door. It’s just heartbreaking.
No wonder the concern you have that QM and Liz find a safer spot.
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Suz, I laughed when I read your comment. I know you’re renovating an old place, and I could just see your burly husband running and then you joining him. What a sight that must have been!
Yeah, bats are cool creatures, I would have probably tried to rescue one, too. But not very safe wild “pets.” But they are so beneficial. I wonder if you could put up some bat houses nearby.
We actually have a bat program in our community to keep the bats. They eat mosquitos and other insects, and since we live near the river, heavy mosquito country, they truly do help keep down populations. We have two houses on our land, and both have recently begun to be inhabited. Now we can sit on the patio and watching them fly their erratic patterns.
Hey, Ellie Mae (love her name!) should have become a vet, although I have heard from animal lovers that it’s hard being a vet, as you’re dealing a lot with sick and dying animals. So maybe good she wasn’t.
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oliverowl, that sounds just like the Wizard of Oz with the cellar door on the outside (Comment #32). I had no idea your great grandmother was killed in a tornado. No wonder you are concerned. And that obituary — very dramatic. What state did she live in?
That’s an amazing piece of family history. Yes, we have a few cat carriers. We talked about that the last time Liz ended up sitting in the bathtub holding the two boys, Mr. Stripeypants and Chaco (and Kiev had already run away).
We decided next time to grab the cat carrier and put the two boys inside that. Then maybe we can hold Kiev (she can hang with the girls). The cats always know it’s coming way before we do.
We need a better storm plan, that’s for sure. They say that falling debris is one of the leading causes of injuries. How sad for your grandfather, too, and all the kids left in the cellar. It’s hard to imagine. What was your great grandmother’s first name?
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My grandfather was the youngest, and 18 at the time his mother died, so the others were all grown, and I don’t know how many of them were still living at home.
This was in Snyder, OK. The family had lived in Missouri, and when OK opened up for settlement, they went there. This was after her husband died, about a year after the end of the Civil War, in which he served. I always wondered if his death was not caused by something that occured during his military service. A lot of them had malaria, I know. Anyway, this remarkable woman took her 9 children(!) to begin a new life in a place, strange to her!
Her name, before she married, was Mary Jane Crow. Her mother was Cirena.
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oliverowl, family history is so intriguing, isn’t it? Trying to put all the pieces together. It is remarkable that Mary Jane Crow (strong name) moved her 9 kids to OK. And then is that part of your connection to Southern roots?
Dear Kitty, Cirena. She comes from strong stock. 8)
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QM, yes, that is a small part of my southern roots, but the maternal side of the family is mostly southern!
It begins in VA, then a branch of the family traveled with D. Boone to KY, then TN, MO, GA, OK, TX, NM, CA.
I remember my grandfather saying, “we just had itchy feet!” ;^ )
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yb, I wanted to share my morning experience with you. We keep Abbey’s food in a large can in our garage. Not really used as a garage, but rather a storage place for all of J’s man toys. Our eldest cat Ivory, who is declawed has a habit of running in there as I dip the dog food from the can. She just started doing this about a month ago. I let her stay there until she meows to come back in (she has been an indoor cat all of her life). This morning she ran in & about an hour later I hear what sounds as though she might be injured. Instead, when I open the door she has what I think is a mouse in her mouth! I freaked, knowing she was not capable of killing it. Poor J, I make him jump out of bed, not wanting this rodent to be loose in my house! It was a mole & J quickly disposed of it. Ivory has been “Queen for the day” & she knows it! D
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