1/6 OT Sootie's Tribe: Snow

[HWright]

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/1-5-ot-sooties-tribe-spunky-at-vet.170805/

Good evening, friends and hoping today a mellow Friday happy appy day for all.

Here was an almost 50/50 CPC tonight with Azalea and Spunky happiest of appies in their respective realms. Dancer and Bella in excited play of upstairs downstairs follow the Bean and her slow ascent and descent. So I've got two suppers out for them: one upstairs and one downstairs. As long as they eat .

About an inch or so of snow today. The little backyard Buddha was wearing a cap of snow this morning but had shorn it with the afternoon sun. Animal tracks north to south in the back yard morning snow, I think fox tracks.

Seems a baby mouse found its way into the building that the shop is in. A mousie with a sweet tooth for Hershey's Kisses and mini chocolate bars.
Even with the long in-place plug-in rodent deterrers, chocolate comes first!

Wishing all a gentle night with happy appies and sweet dreams. And with from us all,
Sina

 

[carfurby (GA)]

I hope the kitties keep eating for you. How funny on the mouse eating the chocolate.

 

[HWright]

Hi Carla! I'm hoping the chocolate isn't bad for mice. I know should be doing everything possible to help shoo him/her (hope not a her!) out of the building but...it's winter and cold outside.
A few years ago a mouse got in during the summer and had a penchant for crackers and cookies. I opted to get the plug-in rodent deterrers rather than the agree to terminal and toxic methods proposed.
The plug in deterrents (high pitch sound) worked but maybe time to replace them with new.

 

[Dyana]

Ginger brought a mouse in the house one time, and let it go inside (she does that).
The mouse was reported to be under my dresser in my bedroom, according to the cats.
I used a live mouse trap and set it loaded with peanut butter, next to the dresser, closed the bedroom door, and we all slept in the living room that night.
The next morning, the trap had been snapped, but upon holding it, it did not feel like there was a mouse inside. So, I eventually, I opened the trap door and peered inside. Sure enough, two beady little red eyes shone back at me (the trap is completely black, and the eyes must have been glowing/reflecting, as I remember).
At first, I went outside by myself and put the trap with mouse still in it, on the ground, and the mouse did not come out. I was concerned. I tried holding the mouse trap almost vertically and shaking it a little to get the mouse to drop out, and he did not. So, I brought it back inside, and J.D. went outside when I opened the door. I didn't know what to do. Then I had a thought. I would sit in our little square and bare entrance foyer with both the outside door to the condo closed and my own personal front door closed and see if I could tell if the mouse was okay or not. Sure enough he came out, and hopped around. He was covered in peanut butter. I watched him give himself a good bath and walk and run around and determined it was okay to let him outside. But, now I had Ginger on the other side of my own personal front door and J.D. on the outside of the condo door, and I was trapped in a little space with a live mouse that I was not going to get to go back into the trap. If I opened either door, there was cat waiting there, for that mouse. Somehow, I was able to open the front condo door, and quickly grab J.D. and pick him up before he grabbed the mouse, and we watched the mouse take off to the wild blue yonder.

When I had horses, I used to leave a teeny pile of grain on the floor of the feed room, every night. I know I'm bad, but there were babies. And it was all my feed, so didn't mind sharing.

 

[HWright]

@Dyana
What a wonderful experience and story, Dyana! thank you!

 

[Dyana]

@Dyana
What a wonderful experience and story, Dyana! thank you!

Thanks. The bunny, birds, and squirrel, were a little harder to catch. Actually the bunny was pretty cooperative and hopped right into the cardbox I held there in front of the refrigerator where he esconded himself between the brick wall and the frig, and I took him outside and he hopped away.
The squirrel is another story. I used to live in a more country setting than I do now, and cars were little danger. My cats could run in the backyard and the horse field behind that. J.D. didn't come home one night. He didn't know how to meow, so I had to leave the front door open. I would sleep on the couch close to the open front door and get up every hour or so to call him. He had me so worried! On the fourth night, I finally zonked out and was in a deep sleep, when I awoke to such a ruckus of cats chasing something in the house. It was 3:00am, I was overjoyed that J.D. was home, but I was sooo tired. I got the cats locked in my bedroom, and hoped to find that squirrel, somewhere, in my house. I was a little scared of him, he was running all over the house in shear terror, and the only gloves I could find were those rubber dishwashing gloves. Somehow, eventually, I got him into a cat carrier, where he spent the night in a spare bedroom, until I released him the next morning.
For birds, I now have a large butterfly net that helps.
My cats only go out with supervision now, but that doesn't stop their hunting instincts. If I go in the house for a minute and Ginger comes running in the door, I always flash to her mouth to make sure it's empty.

 

[Ozzy Pawzbourne]

Wish we had some cool stories like that for our kitties- especially them running around and chasing critters. But we live in the middle of a big city and kitties are both in doors only. They do chirp at the birdies when sitting in the windows. In my next life- I want to own a farm in the country and have a gazillion animals!

 

[HWright]

Ozzy's mom and Dyana,
Even though Indoors for kitties definitely safer it can be not so interesting and there's plenty of nature everywhere even in big cities!

Cats in our household were all indoor outdoor until 7-8 years ago when coyotes were sighted in our area.
We're semi rural village with plenty of nightlife (and I don't mean discos!)

Dyana, your recollection of wildlife visiting or being brought in to your home reminded me of the indoor/outdoor era and the baby voles, garter snakes, mice and birds that Azalea and some of the others brought in with glee. Some 'presents' were alive and I could release them back outdoors. The others, alas, were prayers for forgiveness and gentle burial.

GA Hoppy somehow and with his gimpy leg, had a knack for bringing in butterflies. He never hurt them, just loved to watch them and paw dance with them. I used to sit and watch their dance, then open the screen door so that the butterflies could waft their way back outdoors.

In those days I had a cat door opening in the porch screen door. But on the nights when I left it unlatched until everyone came on for the night, we sometimes had summer night visitors through that opening. One night three baby raccoons got into the kitchen and of all things took an interest in a box of oatmeal. I heard a racket and came downstairs to what looked like snow everywhere and three little pairs of eyes peering out from the cupboard under the sink.
Remembering the saying, "they will go out the same way they came in," I stood aside and quietly waited them out. Eventually they scurried out, one little bundle of mischief after another, through the opening they had entered.
Another night that summer was a visiting baby opossum, another night a baby bat. Each I was able to get safely back outdoors. Each time adjusting to the unique demands of the moment, much as you had to improvise with your peanut buttered mouse!

Adapting our cats to indoor only life was a bit of a challenge.....some, like Sootie and her sisters, took to it better than others. Azalea pawed through screens, and even two layers of screens in the little upstairs porch to leap outside, one time I suspect landing on the wood bulkhead door to break the fall. I'd left for work in the morning with all indoors, came home to find azalea outdoors more than ready to come in. Amazingly visit to vet confirmed no broken bones, etc.

surprise surprise she never tussled to go outside again! But her spirit of determination still sustains her, even now at 18 yo and after enucleation surgery!

 

[Dyana]

Awe. I love opossums and bats, and the image of Hoppy bringing in his butterflies and doing the pawing dance with them makes me smile.
I'm so glad Azalea was okay. I came home once to find a neighbor's cat halfway climbing through an opening in an upstairs bedroom screen. I kept knocking on their door and ringing their doorbell, to no avail. Apparently she never jumped. I'm glad Azalea was waiting there for you to come home and to come inside, and no broken bones, and is happy to be inside now

 

[HWright]

For a couple years had a nature cam set up in back yard but I never could get the settings quite right. And I didn't change the card often enough. But was interesting....to see the rhythms of backyard nocturnal life.

Yes, I love opossums and bats too.
When I was able to swaddle the baby bat in a bath towel to release him outdoors, was able to get a close look at his face....really interesting. And his vocalizations....he definitely was calling for his mama....I tried to assure him not be scared. To see him alighting in the night air was a wonderful sight and feeling.