Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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The mighty huntress, how she shakes the earth.

Lilly caught her first mouse tonight. (This despite being almost four years old. My home-grown mighty huntress really isn't very good at her job.) I went into my room during a commercial break and found her half-under the dresser, chittering gleefully and shifting my portfolio all over the place. I got down on the floor to peer, and hey-presto, field mouse!

The poor thing was terrified, and quite tidily penned in by the collusion of 'closet door' and 'inexplicable old window screen' that lean up against the corner of my dresser. Lilly had herself a field day smacking at it and chittering before I was able to scoop it into a plastic container and dispatch my roommate to put it outdoors.

(I didn't spare the mouse because I have a soft heart. I understand that the whole 'circle of life' gig very much applies to mice stupid enough to enter cat-infested households. That said, Lilly is an indoor-only cat, and I'd really like to restrict her consumption of California's native wildlife to, I don't know, bugs and arachnids. Things that don't have warm blood and are thus less likely to give her interesting diseases. I know, I know, I'm a lousy excuse for a cat owner. I like my cats alive.)

Because Lilly is one of the most good-natured cats I've ever met, she's already completely over the fact that I took her mouse away, and is now devoting the bulk of her attention to loafing atop my open suitcase and giving me suspicious looks. Methinks the young miss has managed to figure out that I've packed a bit more heavily than is entirely essential for an overnight stay at Kate's.

Ah, cats. They remind us of the important things in life. And, when they're cats like Lilly, they remind me why I don't have children.
Tags: animals rock, in the wild, lilly
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  • 51 comments
The Siamese cat here appears to be hunting me. I'm mostly amused, though I would be less amused if I did not so very definitely outweigh her.
Lilly is now a part of my bedroom rug. Totally flat Siamese. It's adorable.
Oh thank gods. I am a huge advocate of indoor kitties, but so many of my friends (even the ones that live smack in the middle of the city) let their cats outside that I can't really express my feelings without upsetting someone.

So I'll just say that it makes me very happy that the wondrous Lilly is indoors and safe. Have a Dean icon in thanks!
There are coyotes in my neighborhood. I adore coyotes, but not to the point of feeding them my cats.

Nyssa likes the outdoors, and will occasionally attempt escapes, although her age means that she no longer goes far (and will usually be found asleep on the porch inside of an hour or two). Lilly is...utterly perplexed by the actuality of outside. 'Kitty cable' is when I open my bedroom window and let her stare through the screen. She'll do that literally for hours before losing interest.

I'm very much anti-letting cats outdoors unless they're spayed/neutered former ferals who can't adjust to an indoor life. (I had one of those cats. Sarah Jane made her choice; she chose a shorter, more exciting, strictly outdoor life, and she was not willing to negotiate on the point. Since she started life in a dumpster, I figure she still got a better deal.)

Re: Indoor kitty!

deire

8 years ago

I have 4 indoor cats, including 2 of Nyssa's kittens, and 1 former feral. He was, however, feral for less than 2 weeks, he was scooped off of the unsuitable perch that mama-cat deposited her kittens on (a ledge about 8 feet off the ground) while we were out setting traps for a trap-neuter-release program when his eyes were barely open.

Re: Indoor kitty!

catnip13

8 years ago

We have pretty much given up the battle and let our cat outdoors during the day, mostly because we have not managed to come up with a way to let the dog in and out, but not the cat. Or rather, we have come up with one way, but it's expensive and time consuming, since it involves swapping out the dog door we currently have for and electronic one which only opens when approached by a collar broadcasting the right frequency. And even with that, we're worried that the cat will learn to slip out whenever the dog goes out and then get stuck outside.

Our compromise is to let her wander around outside during the day, then try our best to keep her inside from early evening to morning. (By getting her and the dog inside and closing the dog door when it begins to get dark, leaving the dog door in while we're up, and then closing her in her bathroom and opening the dog door when we go to bed.) She is not overly pleased with this arrangement (She pretty much objects generally to being confined or held for long periods.) Still, we think it reduces the likelihood of her being eaten by a coyote, minimizes the dog peeing in the house (because she was locked in and couldn't get out) or running away (because she was locked out and couldn't get in), and generally seems like the best compromize we're going to manage.
I'll never forget when one of the kittens, having watched Mom catch things, came in Triumphantly one day, meowing proudly. He came up to me dragging this thing between his legs (I was horrified about how sickly whatever it was could be caught by a 6 mo old cat). He then dropped the handkerchief at my feet, proudly showing off his catch. Needless to say, we all Died of Laughter.
His mother was an escape artist, although she mostly stayed indoors and all her children were the same. At that time we lived on a quiet street, and so allowed her and the kittens to escape to the side yard when they could get away with it, calling them in for dinner and lock down.
BEHOLD! For I have CAPTURED THE HANDKERCHIEF!

Cats are awesome.
I had a cat once who was over 10 when she caught her first mouse. And she did get to go outside.

When we found the mouse, she was mauled to death near the cat's food dishes. It was clear what had happened: mouse was hungry, mouse figured to snack on some cat food, cat disapproved and taught mouse the error of its ways.
So cat didn't really want the mouse; cat just didn't want to share her food.

black13

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

black13

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

black13

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

black13

8 years ago

theodosia

October 23 2008, 11:05:37 UTC 8 years ago Edited:  October 23 2008, 11:06:00 UTC

Lilly, today you are a CAT!
Yesterday, she was a ruthless despot.
LMAO! :D
Lilly is awesome.
they remind me why I don't have children.

Exactly. Because when kids kill animals, the kids grow up to kill people too.

Have a lovely day! :-)
That, and if the cat causes me this much trouble, imagine if she had language...
Way to go, Lilly! You're only 27 behind my "Little Miss Death To Mice" Sato [icon] now, but she's got 5 years and mad phat ex-feral kitten skillz on ya.

(If the mouse is still alive when I find it, I will try to save it; I figure it's earned its freedom at that point. However, our cats don't really seem to eat the mice they kill -- or if they are, I'm not finding stray body parts! :) So it seems to be a purely recreational instinct on their part. Now if a *chicken* wandered into the house...)
Awwwwwwwwwwww, kitty is awesome.

Deleted comment

That's...

That's...

That's both horrible and AWESOME.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

I'll never forget the first time our cat brough an animal into the house when I was little...she managed to carry in a baby rabbit, still alive, and promptly deliver it to my my mother's bedroom. Mom, upon seeing the small creature skitter across the floor when Kitty dropped it, leapt onto the bed and cried, in incoherent dismay, "Oh, it's got fur!" We've never let her forget that. The bunny, incidentally, was taken outside by my dad, but Kitty caught it twice more over the next two days and finally finished it off.
Rabbits have fur. That is awesome.
Two of my cats, already so weighed down with bells they have neck problems, bring in rabbits. Live rabbits. Live wild rabbits.

They then release these in the living room.

Also: birds, bats, mice and more lizards than I know what to do with.

To be fair, you can't walk out my front door without stepping on wildlife of some description. However the bigger cat has also tried to bring in a fully grown live male fox and a fully grown kangaroo.
...what kind of kangaroo?

talithakalago

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

talithakalago

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

talithakalago

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago

talithakalago

8 years ago

seanan_mcguire

8 years ago