THE CRIME My Abby cat is a murderer and I am an accessory to the crime. I buried the victim. Yesterday morning Abby killed a bird. I knew there was a strong possibility this could happen but I was not prepared for it. It took just seconds for her to sneak past me as I opened the back door. When I went to grab a jacket so that I could round her up, she was evidently already doing the deed. I came back outside to find her with a little bird clamped tightly in her mouth and two other birds dive bombing her. THE PERPETUATOR From the day I first brought Abby home I knew she was a born hunter. Some of the cats I have had over the years couldn’t care less about hunting but Abby is obsessed with it. She stalks the fat black bumble bees in my back yard like a lion pursues a gazelle, and then gobbles them down in one chomp. She digs through the scattered piles of leaves for the mini salamanders that live in yard debris and then sucks them up as if she was eating spaghetti. I am sure she would have made lunch out of the poor little bird too so I am glad I managed to get her to drop it before she could rip it to shreds, and then I quickly brought her back indoors. WHAT A TRIAL FOR ME I realize that she probably dropped the bird in front of me expecting to be praised for being a great hunter but I am devastated and traumatized. I don’t mind when she carefully places her mouse toy next to her food bowl but a dead bird is more than I can handle. I had to step away for a while and then build up the courage to find a final resting place for the poor creature. I buried it near the fence, where the other birds hang out. I hope I never have to do that again. Now what? I have spent so much energy trying to make a cat proof yard to keep her safe, I forgot to factor in the safety of other animals. When I was a little girl I remember watching the birds flock to the feeder outside the kitchen window at my grandparents house. Even though I loved the idea of a bird feeder, I purposely avoided putting one in my own yard because I knew it would just end up being a cat feeder instead. Unfortunately there is no way I can protect the birds and squirrels that show up in my yard, other than to keep Abby from going outside. Even supervised in a supposedly cat proof yard, Abby is a killer who will stop at nothing to get her prey. THE SENTENCE Although I have never been a parent, I feel like my fur baby is an out of control juvenile delinquent intent on criminal behavior. She can be so sweet and cuddly but her natural instincts are deadly. This morning, when I woke up, she was all curled up on one of my bed pillows looking so adorable and innocent as if nothing happened, which for her is true. I am the one who is traumatized. I don’t have any easy answers so for now I am going try and keep her inside, where she doesn’t have access to anything I might have to end up burying.
1 Comment
JOAN L LINDBERG
5/21/2023 05:12:17 am
Reminds me of my "civilized" collies when I moved into my house in the woods 21 years ago. I heard this commotion on the front patio and opened the door to see two of my collies (I had at least four by then) literally tearing apart a dead rabbit between them. It haunted me for months as I felt collies were MUCH more civilized than that. I told the story to Ken Newman, my pharmacist in Duluth's friendly West End. Ken raised and trained golden retrievers. His response was, "Well, Joni, it's not like we have a shortage of rabbits around here."
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Leslie Masona woman in search of her post-retirement future Guess what! By subscribing, you get notices about the latest Little Old Lady with Cats posts sent to your mailbox!
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