Cat & Mouse

I’m a cat person.

To be sure, I like dogs, but I’m a cat person. Never owned a Dog, but have lived around, and with cats much of my life. Had one when I was a kid, my girlfriend had one which came to live with us when we got married, and then we acquired a couple of more when her cat passed, and we had kids.

I love cats, they are affectionate, you don’t have to train them were to poop, and they don’t sit at the foot of the table and watch you eat. A cat will let you know that it loves you by allowing you to sit under it while it sleeps. For the record, cats used to be worshiped as gods, and they will never let us forget that. I was once told that our place in heaven is determined by how we treat cats here on Earth,and I have seen nothing to dispute that kernel of truth.

Currently, we have two cats, both female. Peanut (which “belongs” to my son — you don’t actually own cats, they own you), and Zazu which is my daughter’s.

I bring all of this up because today, after years of cat “ownership” I finally had one of the cats earn its keep. I came downstairs this morning, and discovered one of the cats (Zazu, the younger of the two) crouched down by the coffee table in the living room and staring intently at something. From the way she was perched, I could tell that she was stalking something. I figured that there was either a crumb of food under the table or a bug. So I moved the table.

Well you can imagine how surprised I was by the sight of a tiny gray field mouse scurrying across the floor towards the lounge chair. True to her nature, Zazu scampered after her quarry. Unable to hide under the chair, the mouse rushed back for the coffee table. I moved the table once again, and watch the mouse rush for a new hiding place. Then I went to get something in which I could trap the mouse, so I could toss it out of the house.

By the time I got back, Zazu had already dispensed with the pesky rodent. So I scooped it up into a container and tossed it out back into the woods behind my house. 30 years (give ot take) living with cats, and I finally had one catch a mouse in the house, rather than catch one outside and then bring it to me as tribute.

Remind me to give Zazu an extra treat later. She’s a good girl.

The Perfessor