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Original poster

Help Needed (bloomin' cat!)

70 replies

judegarland2512 · 09/12/2004 16:24

Last Thursday the cat bought in a live mouse (it was injured and had been playing dead) so the cat dropped it and couldn't be bothered to pick it up. By the time i tried to get it it scampered into the front room. I couldn't find it anywhere and i shut said cat (after a severe lecture) in the room in the hopes it would find it. No luck. Left the door shut all day and that evening DH and i moved all the furniture and searched everywhere - no luck. We left a trap down. No mouse.
Today i have started to notice a strange smell in the room - almost like rotting vegetables (ewww i hear you cry!). But i can't figure out where the smell is coming from. How am i going to find this mouse (if it is the mouse causing the smell!).

All help much appreciated!

OP posts:
xmascaroltygirl · 09/12/2004 22:19

We've got a pheasant, ("Patty" Grin ), who was a regular visitor to our garden last Spring. He now seems to have married and raised a family of seven - they fledged a few months ago and are now causing a traffic hazard a mile or so down the road from us.

All very bucolic. My question is: if your cat kills a pheasant, can you legally keep it and eat it? Grin

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 09/12/2004 22:20

Excellent!!! Grin lol

LAMBda · 09/12/2004 22:21

XCG - not too sure about the legalities of eating his kills - I've never fancied mouse/vole/shrew or thrush/bluetit/blackbird Smile

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 09/12/2004 22:24

the cat killed a pheasant??!! Are these all big farm cats you have?!! lol Dp is mega impressed with all these stories lol he's very into cats and birds of prey lol

xmascaroltygirl · 09/12/2004 22:24

Not even baked in a pie, LAMBda? Grin

xmascaroltygirl · 09/12/2004 22:26

Naah, OZPDOX, she hasn't killed it - just laid her ears flat and stalked alongside him as he strutted up and down our yard. It was all most menacing and impressive - now, all we have to do is train her to do it on the OUTSIDE of the living room window!

LAMBda · 09/12/2004 22:28

mine is a big fat cross Bengal, or should that be Bengal cross, so I think he's got a lot of wild blood in him. He's very loving and good with teh kids though

LAMBda · 09/12/2004 22:29

and no - I don't fancy mouse pie Grin

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 09/12/2004 22:46

zmascaroltygirl thats soooo sweet!!! Thats how all cats should be lol

LAMBda do you have a pic of your bengal? dp desperately wants one!!!!

Original poster
judegarland2512 · 10/12/2004 08:19

OK next question - just how do i get rid of the smell? The covers are in the washing machine as we speak. The cushion is outside, the window is open and yet the smell still lingers (and had a major febreeze last night!).
Said cat is now camped out under the chair - now he notices the smell! couldn't he have warned me a week ago?
He was neutered when we got him as an abandoned approximately 1 yr old. At first frogs were his game, and boy do they squeal. He has since moved on and as we now live next to a railway he gets plenty of opportunity. One day we arrived home to total carnage (2 birds, 3 mice) and he nearly got locked out! He's been known to have stand-offs with foxes, and on one occasion "went for" a pheasant, but it was a very half hearted attempt and he came running straight back in to tell me all about it! In the last year he has taken to decapitating mice too - what is that all about? Is it a delicacy do we think? Nice and crunchie. [shudder emoticon].
Ah well! Any ideas on the smell removal much appreciated!

OP posts:
LAMBda · 10/12/2004 14:41

Zephyr - my feline is a Bengal coss (with a silver tabby I think). His mum is a proper Bengal and he is the nephew of 2 lovely Bengals that I used to have. They were absolutely superb cats, but because of their wild streak, tended to wander off and go hunting. One of them disappeared and the other got himself killed on a dual carrigeway about half a mile from our house. Sad

My current cat was also one of a pair and his brother also managed to get himself run over like his uncle.
We tried keeping them in at night but they were very unhappy and spent ages trying to batter down the cat-flap - they would move obstcles put in front of it like the rubbish bin.

All 4 cats have been amazing characters, and very loving, but I am so sad that 3 of them are no longer with us and would hesitate to get another one for that reason.
We live next to a field and a lake so we have masses of open space around us, but obviously not enough to satisfy their wanderlust.
Sad

LAMBda · 10/12/2004 14:48

feast your eyes on these Bengals - mine is related to them and looks like Llandar Jetstream, but more grey \link{http://www.llandar.co.uk/studs.htm\here}

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 10/12/2004 15:37

they're absolutely gorgeous. We could never have one where we are now, but one day when we have our huge house!!! (i wish!!) One of ours has already been hit but survived after an op, but is now scared to go near the road. The other one we just cross our fingers she stays away from it

littledonkeyrach · 10/12/2004 16:14

do your cats eat the whole animal? Our cat eats all of the mouse/vole except the innards which he neatly leaves where you will tyread on it!! Even the fur!!!

When we had 2 cats, they brought in a bat.
And once I found juust a beak and legs on the mat.
And there was the time they brought in a live mouse and I left for the day...

To change subject slightly, said cat has started pooing in the utility room at night, insttead of outside. Any ideas?

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 10/12/2004 16:17

With my mums cat we used to find mouse heads looking up at us when we opened the back door lol the more i read this thread the more I'm going off my cats!!

With your cat pooing - it could be that there is a bigger cat hanging around that is making it feel threatened - or could be another cat coming into the house at night which is scaring it. That's what happened with our cats - i just used to yell at them then one night i came down for a drink and there was someone else's cat in the front room!!

LAMBda · 10/12/2004 16:26

my cats very rarely eat the whole animal - they usually leave most of it - I think the thrill is in the chase.
Agree with Zephyr that your cat might be marking his territory. My cat sometimes wees on my dyson (why?)if I leave it under the stairs. Also caught him weeing on a case of wine in the hallway, that had just been delivered.

Have to say that these are fairly rare occurences or he might be taking up residence in the garage Smile

PamiNativity · 10/12/2004 16:32

Just wanted to ask fellow feline lovers this question - why, when a cat is outside and obviously feeling sick, does it come inside, spurn tiled or wooden floors and head straight for the carpet to heave up over? Mine do it all the time

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 10/12/2004 16:35

lol mine do that as well Pami - one in particular comes to sit on me knee then starts making that horrid rasping sound so she very quickly gets taken through the house at arms legnth and thrown out the door!!!

littledonkeyrach · 10/12/2004 16:36

That does make sense, we moved here in the sommer, and he has been chased by a nasty big cat soo many times. He was even bitten by it once. I do wonder if he even goes out at night now, we leave a window open in the utility room for him.

Yes, they always try and puke on carpets, luckily ours is very vocal so try and throw him out when I hear the warning!!

pantomimEDAMe · 10/12/2004 16:47

Mine goes outside, eats the ornamental grass by the pond and then comes inside to throw up. WHY? If the grass upsets her, why eat it? Will never understand (don't know what kind of grass it is, previous owner put it in).
She's not a great hunter, thank heavens. We used to live in rough South London, where the squirrels were so hard, they used to chase the cats. Must be a blow to a cat's ego, being chased by a large rodent. Grin

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 10/12/2004 16:48

There is a reason why cats and dogs eat grass and be sick - my mum told me it once when our dog used to do it but i cant remember what it was!!! I'm off to find out......!

littledonkeyrach · 10/12/2004 16:50

I believe they eat the grass when they are feeling poorly, so then they will be sick.

OnZephyrstdayofXmas · 10/12/2004 16:53

yes - thats what i thought it was.
Says on a website 'It has been reported, but not scientifically proved, that cats and dogs will eat grass if they have a digestive system problem such as gastritis or nausea'

No idea why they have to throw up on the carpets though!!!

littledonkeyrach · 10/12/2004 17:16

obviously because we don't have enough to do!!
what with the eldest moaning, the baby crying and the cat wailing....

littledonkeyrach · 10/12/2004 17:16

oops!!

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