Making the World Safe — One Teaser at a Time
Anyone who doesn’t know how quickly cats heal need only look at Shira. Human females take many weeks to recover from a hysterectomy yet Shira really only had a couple days of down time. The day after the surgery she was quiet and slept more than usual. The next day she found time to slap Uncle Zeke for no reason at all, give Taiba a thorough washing, and do a full house inspection. Since then she has been back to full speed as the Queen of Everything.
Besides keeping the others in line and inspecting the birthing room for Talia, her main mission in life has been protecting us all from renegade, killer teasers.
No teaser is safe. It used to be Shira was mostly interested in killing feather teasers. Her favorite victims still are feathery — one with purple feathers and a bell, the other a fluffy blue feathered toy. But after killing each of those every night and bringing them upstairs to us, she expands her prey to include the glitter ball teasers, the mylar teasers, the fur teasers, the rodent on a stick teaser… It doesn’t matter — whatever prey she can find, she kills. She does drown a mouse or glitter ball in the fountain now and then, but mostly it’s the toys on sticks that she thinks must die.
After a successful hunt and capture, Shira proudly carries the latest victim up the stairs. As she comes, she yowls. “Look what I have killed! Aren’t you proud of me? We shall feast on the bones of this vanquished teaser!” Or something like that. Whatever she is saying, she is proud and very vocal. Every kill must be celebrated.
Every morning this week I’ve found at least four teasers in the hallway upstairs, another one (or more) in our bedroom, and occasionally another on the stairs. Some mornings I gather them up and put them on the table by the tv. But even if I don’t gather them up, each evening I come home from work to find the teasers scattered throughout the main floor of the house. Apparently the killing must go on in the day time as well. She just doesn’t need to take them upstairs because we’re not home to appreciate her skills.
This behavior is something Shira has always done, but only when she had kittens to train in the ways of the world. Now that she will never have kittens again, maybe she feels it is necessary to hunt full time to prove her worth. Or maybe she’s been listening to Ken tell me we need to get a cat for the garage to keep the mice down out there. Do you think she’s trying to volunteer for the job?
October 14th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Shira is awesome!
Quick question. How to handle hairballs? Is there an effective food,treat or remedy for it? Maybe there is a good treat that can reduce the formation of hairballs? Anything I can do to reduce the risk? I do brush him every week..Please let me know.. Thank you.
October 14th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
In case no one else lives in the country in an older home, I can vouch for the efficiency of Wegies as mousers. My house was built in the 1940’s and hadn’t had much updating when I brought my two girls home in 2003. We’d always had mice in an outdoor shed and in our attic. The three weeks following my cats’ arrival were full of mice chases. The two kittens would toss the poor mouse back and forth between each other until I’d rescue it from them and capture it and put it outside.
Since then there have been no mice in the house. However, I did have quite a large nest get built in my blower motor in my car, which made the air conditioner make a funny noise. My mechanic was surprised when he investigated and found the nesting material! now all I need is a Wegie to guard my car from the mice. ;o)