Spring Means Critters

This is Catch (aka Poo Kitty, Poopin', or Pooper). In fact, we rarely call him "Catch" unless we're talking to someone outside the "realm of knowledge" of his early poop issues. Or to someone who would think we're crazy.


This is Freckles (aka Freekle Baby or "OMG, cat, you stink!"). She likes to sit on this tree and camouflage herself. She does a pretty good job; her fur color blends her pretty seamlessly. She is also, by far, the least graceful cat I've ever seen. She doesn't quite know how to retract her claws so she trips a lot and she doesn't run very fast (probably b/c she's so fat).


These are my hunters.

We have dog doors in our house; one goes from the house to the garage, the other from the garage to the back yard. This is super convenient dog wise, but we didn't foresee what would happen with the cats.

Of course, we assumed they'd eventually figure it out. But we didn't realize that we were about to become like a wildlife show on the Discovery Channel.

It all started with a bird. The first thing I noticed were feathers. Feathers everywhere! I thought the dogs had ripped open a feather pillow. Then I saw it, the little bird carcass. Poor guy. At the time this was such a shock to me that I called Jake to come home from work to perform bird removal services. Unfortunately, my cries that the bird might contain some terrible disease did nothing to convince him and I eventually scooped the deceased up in a dust pan and tossed him over our back fence.

Birds continued to come in on a semi-regular basis, usually at the "hands" of Catch but occasionally Freckles would bring one in as well. As fat and uncoordinated as she is, I can't imagine the brain function of the birds she catches. They must be s-l-o-w.

Last spring, when Jack was a bitty baby, Freckles brought in something and dropped it on the rug. I could tell that it was reptilian, but not what it was exactly. I was nursing Jack on the couch and guessed that it was a frog. Then I noticed whatever it was kind of uncurl and show its tail. So I thought it was a lizard. Once Jack was asleep, I laid him on the couch and snuck over to see exactly what it was and if it was alive.

It was a snake.

Needless to say, I flipped out. I don't know a lot about snakes and couldn't identify it. What if it was poisonous? I called Jake, who had taken Spencer to eat, and he quickly came home, got the grill tongs, and tossed it outside.

We looked the snake up on the internet and it turns out it is a garter snake, which is harmless. But having them in your house is still creepy (and embarrassing when they slither out from behind your furniture while you have company).

The summer was pretty mild, so the cats continued to bring them in. Sometimes they'd bring 3 or 4 in a day. And, of course, the birds continued to come in as well.

Later in the summer, Spencer was watching PBS while I was in the laundry room. Suddenly he runs to me yelling "Poo Kitty has a bunny!"

"Surely not," I thought to myself, but Spencer was right. It wasn't all that small and he didn't even injure it. Jake came home and found it cowering in a cup that somehow got kicked under our bed. He took it outside and it hopped away.

He brought in another one later, except we didn't know this one had come in. In the middle of dinner, we suddenly hear a terrible noise coming from the back of the house. I thought it was a mouse, but Jake came out of our bedroom holding a bunny by the scruff of the neck. It had been screaming b/c Catch was sitting on it.

All this to say it is obviously spring. Last week, Freckles tried to bring in one snake (I was outside and caught her with it before she got in the dog door) and successfully brought one it. And yesterday, Catch rounded the corner with a bunny, headed right to the dog door with it. I was lucky to be outside with the boys to prevent him from bringing that one in. When he was done playing with it, he let it go and it hopped away.

As for the birds? Well, they are a year round staple.