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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / April 2005Tommy's Generosity
I haven't seen this behavior out of Tommy since Abelard and Eli were very small. He has been bringing little dead mice in all evening and giving them to Billy and Lily. When he first comes in with a mouse, he goes to the center of the living room and stands there with the mouse between his teeth, meowing as loud as he can without opening his mouth, and waits for the kittens to come running, then lets go of the mouse and lays down to watch them play with it. He gets this very relaxed, lion-like look on his face and keeps his eyes open just enough to see them playing. It's easy to tell how proud he is that he feeds his family this way. > He gets this very relaxed, lion-like look on his face and keeps his eyes > open just enough to see them playing. It's easy to tell how proud he is that > he feeds his family this way. Aww, what a very sweet boy!  SignatureMarina, Frank, Nikki, and introducing: Mere! marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki >I haven't seen this behavior out of Tommy since Abelard and Eli were very >small. He has been bringing little dead mice in all evening and giving them [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >open just enough to see them playing. It's easy to tell how proud he is that >he feeds his family this way. He's teaching them about hunting - the early lessons are about what to catch and that prey is food. Usually the mother does this, but sometimes a tom will too. If he keeps this up, you will have three trained hunters ... and few if any mice. SignatureT.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu) SPAM filter: Messages to this address *must* contain "T.E.D." somewhere in the body or they will be automatically rejected. > >I haven't seen this behavior out of Tommy since Abelard and Eli were > >very [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > sometimes a tom will too. If he keeps this up, you will have three > trained hunters ... and few if any mice. I know two ex-tomcats that dote on kittens, Mr. Clark here (who also loves two-legged kittens) and Schiz, the alpha cat of my "honorary daughter". How common is this? I know it varies significantly among the big cats, with some males even attacking the cubs. Mr. Clark did get a martyred expression when the kittens wanted to nurse on him. He tolerated Ding riding on his back, and Ding often following as his shadow. >I know two ex-tomcats that dote on kittens, Mr. Clark here (who also >loves two-legged kittens) and Schiz, the alpha cat of my "honorary >daughter". How common is this? I know it varies significantly among >the big cats, with some males even attacking the cubs. Well, I don't know how common it is. When LB's kittens were still tiny I sometimes took them out to let them play in the grass. At the time Rocky was still pretty wild - at the stage where he no longer ran when he saw me, and would tolerate my touch but not really like it. One day Rokcy came for a visit (probably to visit the food bowl more than me) while we were outside. He seemed to ignore them, walked over and ate a bite, than laid down. All the while I was keeping a close watch, but LB pretty much ignored him. In very short order the kits had discovered him and were climbing all over him. >Mr. Clark did get a martyred expression when the kittens wanted to nurse >on him. He tolerated Ding riding on his back, and Ding often following >as his shadow. SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy and Little Bit stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html >I haven't seen this behavior out of Tommy since Abelard and Eli were very >small. He has been bringing little dead mice in all evening and giving them [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >open just enough to see them playing. It's easy to tell how proud he is that >he feeds his family this way. What a lovely fellow! Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com >I haven't seen this behavior out of Tommy since Abelard and Eli were very > small. He has been bringing little dead mice in all evening and giving [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > that > he feeds his family this way. What a *good* boy! Hugs, CatNipped [[When he first comes in with a mouse, he goes to the center of the living room and stands there with the mouse between his teeth, meowing as loud as he can without opening his mouth, and waits for the kittens to come running, then lets go of the mouse and lays down to watch them play with it.]] I think I've heard that meow before. Melody (RB) used it on me when she was trying to teach me to kill cockroaches. If one came in, she'd catch it in her mouth, carry it to the living room, and stand there yelling, "AaaaaaAAAAOW! AaaaaaaAAAAOW!" without moving her lower jaw. Then after I came over to see what was the matter, she'd let the bug go. Insect-phobe that I am, the first time she did this, I nearly had a heart attack. After that, I quickly learned to recognize that call, and approached the cat with shoe in hand, ready to swat the bug when it started scooting across the floor. THANK GOD that Melody gave up on me as a hopeless student after a few tries. Instead of pouncing and dispatching the bug as a proper cat would do, I kept insisting on screaming my head off at the sight of the bug and whacking at it with a shoe. Melody must have thought that I was lucky I could operate a can opener, because with my pathetic hunting form, I'd surely starve to death otherwise. Donna, and the cats that I hope don't decide I need any hunting lessons, Captain and Stanley In article <b86f38a3692e1a7863797e7de3e6c394@localhost.talkaboutpets.com>, > [[When he first comes in with a mouse, he goes to the center of the living > room and stands there with the mouse between his teeth, meowing as loud [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Donna, and the cats that I hope don't decide I need any hunting lessons, > Captain and Stanley Chatterley (RB) was my first cat. She was an excellent house mouser, and, when she caught her first one after coming to live with us, ran to her food bowl, dropped the mouse on the dry cat food, and looked at us, clearly saying, "THESE are my expectations of meals. Any questions?" Clifford (RB), her arranged spouse for what was to be 12 years of dysfunctional relationship, came to us thinking he was a Brittany Spaniel, without any particular mousing skill. One fine day, however, he proudly walked in front of us, with what appeared to be a mouse in his mouth. He was appropriately praised. 10 minutes later, he was still parading, with an increasingly dismayed look. It became clear he had no idea what to do next. I suggested "Clifford, you are a cat. You are supposed to play with your prey." This seemed to sink in -- such that he dropped the mouse, flopped over on his back next to it, and did upside-downy head with paws waving. The mouse recovered, looked at the strange thing next to him, and ran off. Clifford then recovered and recaptured the mouse. He then went to Chatterley and dropped in front of her. She glared at him and clearly said, "that's YOUR problem, BOY." The mouse ran into the bathroom. I picked up Chatterley and put her in front of the mouse, and she immediately ran away. At that point, I took care of the mouse, and gave it a sort of Viking funeral, wondering if I should have placed it on some burning cardboard as I flushed it away.
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