Re: RE: mousers was: holiday decorating

Fabulous story. I've always been amazed that Sugar is so brilliant
considering her rough beginnings. I had to teach her what a water dish
was, she had no clue. She still prefers to drink out of buckets and seed
flats on the porch. She was barely 7 pounds when I had her fixed at 6
months, and the vet told me she'd probably never get much bigger
considering her deprived 'childhood'. Wish she was better in the car,
I'd love for him to see her now - all 16 pounds of her. She was small
until she was three or so, then she started to grow. We went through
every size litter box, to a restaurant bus pan, and now we use a large
sweater box, like you put under the bed w/out a lid for a litter box
because she is so long. So it just goes to show what some TLC will do.


---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Jesse Bell" <jesserenebell@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: gardenchat@hort.net
Date:  Thu, 16 Oct 2003 14:31:39 -0500

>Wow, what a sweet story.  I think animals know more than most people give 
>them credit for.  I love to hear stories like that.
>
>
>
>>From: kmrsy@comcast.net
>>Reply-To: gardenchat@hort.net
>>To: gardenchat@hort.net
>>Subject: Re: RE: [CHAT]mousers was:  holiday decorating
>>Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 18:14:00 +0000
>>
>>Re hunters in training....
>>Years ago I had Spot the Cat (male) who was a good mouser. He didn't
>>like other cats much but took an liking to a skinny little stray, so we
>>took him in. Orangecat was nearly a year old, but no more than 4 pounds.
>>He'd had a rough time of it. He gained weight, but never seemed to
>>believe the food would always be there, so he got bigger than he should
>>have and eventually outweighed Spot by 5 pounds.
>>
>>
>>Orangecat was pretty slow at catching on to things and did not hunt. I
>>belive it had to do with his background, including some of the things
>>Marge mentioned. But also, I beleive the lack of vital nutrients during
>>a young kitten's development can have retarding effects. Some things he
>>just didn't quite get.
>>
>>
>>But just like having a slow learning child, you love them just as much,
>>and maybe more. And other animals seem to understand these things, too.
>>The most tender moment I recall was watching Spot trying to teach
>>Orangecat how to catch a mouse. OC was about 4 yrs old by then. Spot
>>brought him a mouse and dropped it in front of OC, who would blink and
>>seem to say "What?" Mouse would scurry, Spot would bring it back and
>>keep trying. A few tries later OC would lunge at it, of course missing.
>>This went on and on. OC got a little better, but never caught the mouse.
>>
>>
>>This dear sweet cat didn't need to be a mouser, he was worth his 
>>(substantial) weight in gold as a friend.
>>
>>Kitty
>> > I've developed the theory that good mousers have to be either wild
>> > born, barn cats or have had a mother who was as their mothers teach
>> > them to hunt.  Most human raised cats are not really good hunters.
>> > They will chase and often kill something, but that's just instinct
>> > and not "hunting".  My current mighty hunter was (I am sure) either
>> > born wild or a barn cat baby.  She is fixated on hunting; so is
>> > campused as she cannot distinguish between a bird and a rodento.
>> > Being in the woods, we always had an influx of mice in autumn...can't
>> > blame them; I'd rather live in heated quarters in winter, too.  I
>> > think field mice are cute, but do not like them in my kitchen and
>> > they can make such a mess.  Anyway, any mouse who is dumb enough to
>> > show a whisker around here now has a very shortened life span.    My
>> > mighty hunter eats what she kills  - unfortunately, she also often
>> > barfs it right back up...gag.
>> >
>> > Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
>> > mtalt@hort.net
>> > Editor:  Gardening in Shade
>> > -----------------------------------------------
>> > Current Article: Variegation on the Green Theme - Part One
>> > http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/shade_gardening
>> > ------------------------------------------------
>> > Complete Index of Articles by Category and Date
>> > http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html
>> > ------------------------------------------------
>> > All Suite101.com garden topics :
>> > http://www.suite101.com/topics.cfm/635
>> >
>> > ----------
>> > > From: Daryl <pulis@mindspring.com>
>> > >
>> > > Pam,
>> > >
>> > > One of my friends does cat rescue. She says that a lot of shelter
>> > cats are
>> > > just owner give-ups and are poor mousers.
>> > >
>> > >  I'll have her keep an eye open for me, though. It would also need
>> > to be a
>> > > cat that could get along with our elderly dog, who tore his
>> > cruciate
>> > > ligament a few weeks ago. The poor old guy tries to hunt, but is
>> > severely
>> > > hampered. I was going to find him a rescue pup/dog, since he hadn't
>> > ever
>> > > been an only dog until December, but I think the new activity would
>> > probably
>> > > make his leg worse.
>> > >
>> > > Daryl
>> >
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--
Pam Evans
Kemp TX/zone 8A



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