Barn Cats

[Ninurta]

So, from my own experience, a cat needs to be feral and taught how to hunt by it's parents, and stay feral if you want to use them for mice control.

Probably so, but even feral cats can be ruined.

The cat we have just magically appeared in, of all places, the basement. I have no idea how she got into it - the only entrance is inside the house, right in the middle of the house.

Now, we had a feral white cat that used to live under the shed outside, left here I would guess by a previous owner. That one was only seen occasionally, and would never approach us or allow itself to be approached. I recall one bitterly cold winter night when it sat outside my window yowling, so I went to the door to let it in where it could get warm, but no dice - the cat wasn't budging to come indoors, and wasn't about to let itself get caught to be brought in.

A year or so after that cat disappeared, Grace was cooking some salmon one day, and we could hear a cat yowling "outside", but couldn't see anything. A couple weeks after that, she cooked salmon again, same thing. So I got curious and went around the house looking out every window to see if I could find it, but saw nothing. It dawned on me after making the rounds of the house that whatever window I looked out, the cat was ALWAYS BEHIND me... which meant it had to be INSIDE the house. So I started checking that possibility out, and discovered it was behind the door to the basement. No idea how long it had been down there, or how it got into the basement.

I had Grace put some of that salmon on a saucer, and took it and set it in front of the basement door and opened the door. There was the cat, about half grown. She wasn't at all sure about venturing forth amongst these two-legged beings, but eventually the salmon won her over, and when she went to it, I shut the basement door blocking retreat back into the darkness. She ate the salmon, then discovered that there was no retreat back to the basement. Took her about a half hour of exploring to get over that, and she just settled right in like she owned the place. I guess she figured it wasn't going to be as bad a gig as the basement.

She killed a couple mice at first, but then started making pets of them. One night I was sitting here, and a mouse came walking - yes, WALKING - along the living room floor, with the cat walking - yes WALKING - about 3 paces behind it. It was as if she were taking her pet mouse for a walk. She got all put out of sorts when I killed it. How DARE I, a mere human, destroy her pet like that?

That cat is still crazy after salmon, or anything salmon flavored, but she's developed a taste for my beef jerky, too. Oddly, she will not eat any meat sticks, like a Slim Jim. Just turns her nose up and stares at me as if to say "why are your trying to feed me dog snacks, human?"... but when that jerky bag rattles, she comes a runnin' like it was a mating call or something.

She plays at catching stuff, but we all - Grace, I, and the cat - know that she's just playing at it. She may have started life out feral, but she's been thoroughly civilized now.

Probably more civilized than I am.

Ruined for any serious work.

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