Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Mouseinator!

As I have mentioned in previous entries, the newest addition to our family, Riley the Cat, is quite the excellent mouse-catcher. Despite the fact that Riley lacks his front claws (again, "de-clawing as cat is a barbaric practice that I don't approve of, but it was done before we adopted  Riley), he has no trouble hunting down and killing the mice that inhabit our home.

The problem is, in our pre-Riley days, we were ignorant of the fact that we had a mouse problem in our house. Some research on my part has found that ALL houses host mice families (even YOURS!). They are so discreet, though, that most homeowners are unaware that they are hosting extra lodgers.
A veterinarian told me that in my area, every home has mice, and they are the lucky ones- Most homes are infested with mice, squirrels, and who knows what else!

News like this makes me glad we adopted Riley. The thought of vermin creeping beneath our floorboards makes me cringe. I have enough trouble getting a good night's sleep without worrying about unseen critters creeping around, inches away from me. Having Riley managing the vermin populace puts my mind at ease. At least a bit.

I would prefer, though, that he "finish the job" and completely dispose of the mice he catches. Unfortunately, he prefers to leave bits and pieces of his "catches" out and about for us to discover. I presume that this is his way of showing off: "Look what I caught!", he must feel. Our enthusiasm for having one less mouse in the house is tempered, at these times, by our having stepped onto a grisly mouse carcass first thing in the morning. Riley seems disappointed we are not as enthused about his latest catch as he is. The look on his face as you wipe dead mouse remains off your foot, while shrieking like a schoolgirl, speaks volumes.

Still, thank you  Riley for keeping our house vermin-free!

If only it was as fun as it looks in Tom & Jerry cartoons... 

Labels: , ,

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

i disagree with your feelings on de-clawing. if it's okay to neuter an animal so that they fit into domestic living, then de-clawing should also be okay.

strange that people have no problem with the former, but cringe at the latter. which would you rather have removed?

btw, rip bill keane.

eeteed

though i never cared for his work, without him there never would have been a glen keane.

also, bill was born in philadelphia... further support for my belief that a disproportionately large number of cartoonists are born in pennsylvania.

November 9, 2011 at 5:05 PM  
Blogger Mykal Banta said...

Bill: They will absolutely show off with their catches. I recall once in the aftermath of a hurricane here in Florida (when living with an ex-girlfriend) a particularly good mouser named Squidget ( a marmalade colored female) lined up the mangled corpses of 9 (yes 9!) mice in a neat row out on the patio - and stood beside the row puffing her chest until she was noticed! ex-girlfriend and I gave her quite the cuddling as a congratulations!

My congrats to Riley for doing it clawless! And I agree with you, de-clawing is a nearly needless torture. My current cat sharing my pad, Bad Jerome, has a full set!

November 9, 2011 at 7:09 PM  
Blogger Bill White said...

Excellent point, eeTeed!

Thanks for the BK news, too. I think you might be right about that cartoonist-Pennsylvania link!

Mykal- Cats are always disappointed when they present their "fresh kills" to us, since we never give them the reaction they want. They want hearty congratulations, not high-pitched screams...

It sounds like it might be a good idea to keep Bad Jerome (Great name, BTW) away from your comic book collection.

November 10, 2011 at 3:47 PM  
Blogger David said...

I've had the pleasure of our cats bringing them into bed...alive. You've never seen a fat guy move so fast.

November 11, 2011 at 8:21 AM  
Blogger Bill White said...

David- I would pay money to see that.

November 11, 2011 at 8:28 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Free Shipping On Purchases Over $25 - Limited Time Find your movie at MoviesUnlimited.com. Apple iTunes