My Cat is a Pusher
I’ve been a cat person for years, although growing up in Houghton Lake, Michigan, I had an average-size dog as a pet. Rocky was her name. As an adult, cats seemed to best fit into my lifestyle. Even when I lived on a sailboat for a year, our cat Jenny came along. Chris and I have had FOUR cats while living here in the mountains, and we only have Bartie left now. We lost Banshee to our nearby busy road at night, and Loki and LeStat to wild creatures (bobcat, coyotes). I figure the only reason Bart has made it so far is that he’s a wild hunter-boy, super athletic and naturally cautious.
Banshee was always the first one there for dinner, and her night-time wanderings took her over a busy road in her search for food. After that, we locked the cats up at night.
Loki was so mellow, he wasn’t afraid of anything, and despite surviving a grave injury, he was killed by a bobcat in a nearby field one late afternoon. I think LeStat got caught by a wondering pack of coyotes. He was not a very fast runner.
Bart, on the other hand, is super athletic, jumping up 6 feet in one leap. Typically, he’ll bring home at least a gopher a week, and for a while there this spring he brought home one every day. He loves to show off his kill, and there is a specific routine that we have to follow. Avoid that routine, and he just brings the gopher to wherever you are in the house and lets it go.
The routine is:
- Pick gopher up by tail so Bart can bat it and prove his prowess. Administer praise.
- Put gopher onto patio on side of house where Bart goes after it. Administer much verbal praise while he swats it around a few more times, just in case you didn’t get the idea in step 1 above.
Close slider door to keep Bart from re-entering the house, BUT continue watching until Bart starts to “tuck in,” when he will consume the gopher in about 5 minutes flat. If the gopher is on the larger size, he leaves the stomach behind as a gift; otherwise, nothing left.
But then I got a dog
I love my cats, but really wanted something more … well, dog-like. What better thing than a dog for that? You can read all about Buck in other posts, but did you know that cats and dogs CAN get along? Of course it really helps if your dog weighs half what the cat does! Anyhow, Buck and Bart after a couple months adjustment are now fast friends, chasing each other around the house regularly, each learning the other’s strange play lingo and finding common ground in the chase.
The other part where they found common ground, it turns out, is in the hunt. Buck was with us only a week before Bart brought in a mouse, and Clay suggested we let Buckly sniff it. I mean, here is this newly-clipped toy poodle, looking like anything other than a killer and WHAM! He nails the gopher and grabs it hard in his mouth! I’m laughing until Clayton points out that Buck doesn’t have all his shots yet.
Ok, so life continues with these little adventures between Buck and Bart. One morning, Bart brings in a gopher while I was getting ready for work, and the house grows alarmingly quiet. I go out to the front room to see Bart sitting back patiently watching while Bucky just mangles the gopher he brought in. “Wow,” I think, watching Bart’s satisfaction, “my cat’s a pusher.”
And it’s getting worse: Buck–who normally hangs out with me in the garden–suddenly disappeared yesterday, not coming when I called. I wander all over the property looking for him and spot him right next to Bart on the way to the lower orchard, standing shoulder to shoulder with Bart, both fixated on a flock of chattering birds near a young redwood stand. I can see I’ll need an electric containment fence for Buck, that’s for sure!