Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Pondering the 'uncatchable' mouse

One of my neighbors phoned yesterday. He's having mouse trouble and he wanted to know if he could borrow one of my cats for a few days. He'd already tried trapping the mouse, with no luck. I said no, I couldn't help, even though, yes, I do have two cats. Let me explain...

Years ago, I had four cats.
At the time, my daughter was in univeristy, living with her mom, and they were having mouse trouble. (I hate calling her my step-daughter, by the way. I have been in her life since she was seven so the word step-daughter always catches in my throat and sounds wrong).

Anyhow, she phoned and asked if they could borrow a few of the cats. Thinking this would give the cats some adrenaline racing excitement in their otherwise sadly sedentary lives, I packed two up and drove them over.

I checked in often to see how it was going.

Apparently, not well.

Both cats seemed drop-dead exhausted at the end of each day, but the mouse was still alive and well, scurrying all over. As each day passed, I became increasingly disgusted with my "citified" cats. Maybe I should switch them around and test out the other two. How hard could it be to catch a mouse!?

Then, on the 4th night, I sat up in bed and burst out laughing, having a forehead slapping blond moment. I had had all my cats declawed years ago (a necessity given the repetitive attacks on our furniture) which explained why they were failing so miserably at their assignment!

18 comments:

Jess Riley said...

Too funny! Our dog was bred to be a 'ratter,' but she has so far failed to keep the humble wee mice from our home.

(Oh, and how hilarious was your son's note to the tooth fairy?!)

Adam said...

That was a blond moment wasn't it? (I'm impressed with how you often poke fun at yourself like this).

Poor bloody cats!!!

Aprilynne Pike said...

Hahaha!! That's an awesome Duh moment.

And Hooray for de-clawed cats!

Travis Erwin said...

Maybe you get get them some little Freddy Kreuger prosthetic claws for those needed occasions.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Interesting. My cat kills mice by picking them and shaking them. No toenails needed.

Spy Scribbler said...

That "step" word is so distancing, isn't it? I can't say I enjoy it, either. But then, I wouldn't want to presume ... (Can you tell I hate stepfamily politics?)

Victoria said...

My cat couldn't catch and kill a mouse with her teeth or claws! But I think she'd have loads of fun playing with one :)

Ramona said...

*LOL* That's funnee! Those poor cats musta gone home in dire need of therapy.

Mindy Tarquini said...

I saw an interesting show on PBS years ago about cats and their behavior. It said that unless a cat is taught to kill a mouse when it's a baby, it won't do anything with a mouse once it catches it. It will play with the mouse until the mouse gets away, then go chase it again until either the mouse or the ca gives up in exhaustion. They kill by delivering a 'killing bite' to the neck, so I don't know how much claws would matter once a cat had a mouse thumped down in the paw.

I had a cat who used to eat scorpions. Go cat!

Nadine said...

They probably thought it was a toy, that's why they were so beat at the end of the day!!! LOL

Anonymous said...

This just proves what I've been saying for YEARS -- cats are dense. They coulda used their teeth once they got it pinned under their paws, but oh no...
not a stewpid cat.

Adrienne said...

That is too funny! Man I love cat stories, and I would have loved to have seen a video with this one. I'm just picturing the cats scrambling along. Poor things!

(sorry I have been MIA for so long, the writing kind of consumed me. But I know you can totally understand that! BTW if you still want to chat YA drop me a line!)

Larramie said...

The poor little kittens had lost their mittens... ;)

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

Claws shmaws. I befriended a cat that mewed pitifully at my back door. Gave the darn thing organic half and half in a saucer for three days. Day 4? Kitty Kreugger was batting the living sh*t out of a live chipmunk in the yard. The chipmunk would limp away toward its den and "BAM!" the cat would bat it around again. Cats make me sneeze and now I know they are, well, animals.

I used a trap called the "mice cube" that trapped the mouse without killing it and you never had to touch it.

So what do we brunettes call our moments?

Melissa Amateis said...

Oh, how hilarious! No wonder the poor things were exhausted!

Holly Kennedy said...

I've always wondered why they didn't use their teeth to grab the mouse and kill it, but obviously they were too dense to know how to get the job done.

All I know is they came home bone tired and slept for two days straight!

Kim Stagliano -- Your moments aren't called brunette moments. I'd say they're 'Italian moments' (said with grand affection, of course :)

Trish Ryan said...

Heee! Those poor cats! That must have been some resilient mouse though. Imagine seeing those giant paws come at you again and again, only to have them be soft and fuzzy instead of sharp? Somewhere, that mouse is in therapy today :)

Sandra Cormier said...

Now that was a teeny oversight, wasn't it?

My old cat Trixie liked to bring mice INTO the house and release them.

Current kitty Ridley has drowned two mice in the dog's water bowl. I envision little Lego blocks tied to their feet.