Semi-realistic stuffed "mice" are a favorite toy of both Huck and Rannie Wu. For Huck, they're always prey, and get batted about, flipped up into the air, hurled and chased down with great verge.
Rannie, though, can't make up her mind; sometimes she chases tem. Sometimes she carries them around ih her mouth, making mournful-sounding cries that actually indicate she's having a fine time -- and sometimes, she collects several of them on the bed or a couch and curls up with them! There's no reading her mind but it certainly looks as if she's playing dolls with them.
And even bumptious Huck waits until she's left them to leap in, grab one, and slap it across the room. We occasionally encounter Rannie looking at one or another of them on the floor, appearing perplexed. How did that mouse-baby get clear over there after she put it on the bed?
Rannie kept bringing them to me when I was home sick. I thought that was nice of her. Both cats spent a lot of time keeping me company, even as I sneezed and coughed.
Dawww...
ReplyDeleteBoth the kitten and the B.A.C. (big ass cat) play with them, as do the chi-hooa-hooas!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, an all specie, all purpose toy!
See, they LOVE you! :-)
gfa
ReplyDeleteYup, they know when you're sick.
First year when I had 'The Amazing Fire-Dancing Cat', I had a flu bout, and she would periodically hop up and sniff around my nose-mouth area, probably just checking to see if I was dead, and if she needed to find someone else to fill her food bowl.
As for play-toys, when one of the local indigenous anole-lizards finds their way inside, she insures the become tail-less anole lizards...
I love the little fellas, they eat cockroaches. Since Florida has lots of roaches, we've got lots of lizards. Cute little guys, and quiet, unlike those Cuban tree frogs...
http://www.the-lizard-lounge.com/content/gallery/lizard-pictures/brown-anole-pictures-1.asp
probably just checking to see if I was dead, and if she needed to find someone else to fill her food bowl.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and if you were dead she'd wait for the food bowl to be filled before eating. Just go with that, you'll probably sleep better. ;-)
ReplyDeleteCats, dogs, most any critter is an equal-opportunity owner-eaters if the kibble bowl goes empty and a 100 kg chunk of dead meat is there just begging to be eaten...
Some friends gifted me with a toy mouse that squeaks when it's bumped a little, to the continuing delight of young Mr Gibbs. I've seen this item cross the hallway, from one doorway through the opposite one, on a rising trajectory.
ReplyDeleteThe evening that I got my cat up to speed on mice, she did something with a mouse that I thought was a bit odd. She had gone through about a dozen mice while learning how to catch them, and was getting tired. After chasing and playing with this mouse on the rear patio, and not doing it any real damage, she lay down with it between her paws. She then rolled on her side, leaving one paw draped across the mouse, and fell asleep.
ReplyDeleteAfter a few minutes, the mouse tried to escape, but each attempt to slither out from under her paw caused her to flex it, and push down lightly atop the mouse, which cause the mouse to freeze. I think her snooze lasted about 20 minutes, and she still had the mouse when she awoke.
BTW, starting on a 20'x20' patio, surrounded by grass and bushes and trees, she lost perhaps 25% of the mice in the process of playing with them, which started with me tossing a mouse near the center.
Prior to this endevour, the house was overrun with mice, with as many as 4 caught in the kitchen on the same two sticky traps in just 15 minutes. Mice became quite rare inside, and I stopped her several times attempting to carry one into the house. I was not sure if they were intended as gifts, or she just wanted to play in a different area. I suspect play, as they were still alive. After this "training", she lived to hunt. If it moved, she was on it. Well, except adult Raccoons and Possums. She wasn't stupid. She was, however, officially named D.C., which was short for Dumb Cat, but answered to Babe. (I hadn't originally intended to keep her when she showed up on the front door step, so I was reluctant to name her. Abandoned on the corner as a juvenile, possibly due to her being a talker. She was starving when she announced herself.)