Wild Kingdom!

[whatagem]

1st of all...where are the stickies? Last time I was here there a hilarious sticky with various funnies in it. Did I overlook?


Tonight on Wild Kingdom....
Husband on-call maintainence this week; laundrymat flooded. He left. I forgot to close back door after feeding his stupid cat. I was sitting here at the computer, typing out an email, minding my own business--SCREEEEEECH

What the---? In the corner was the cat, pouncing on a half grown robin! Out of instinct I slapped the cat's rear. HA HA!! All I saw was one creature harming another & acted out of pure instinct.

The cat scurries under the desk; this poor bird is flopping around in the corner. Our 2 small dogs are VERY curious, I shoo them away and grab a box to scoop up this bird in. It's quite lively as I chase it around the room with a box for several minuets, but something is obviously broken--a wing perhaps. It keeps flopping onto its left side, screeching and bouncing around the whole time.

I have always thought an animal should be put down beofre allowed to suffer but I just can't do it! As a kid, I raised mockingbirds that fell from their nests. I collected crickets, squashed them into oatmeal & fed the babies with an eye dropper. I couldn't do it!!!!!

I decided to let nature run its course and set the bird outside before one of the dogs got to it and handed me a giant vet bill in return! I felt bad for the little guy but I can't just brake its neck. I've never even hit a squirell with my car for crying out loud!

The cat is pretty freaked out! HA HA--won't even come near me!!

Couple days ago, she left guts & blood just inside the door. I wouldn't know what it was if it hadn't been for the feathers and a leg. I hate that stupid cat. That's HIS cat--not mine. He brought it home that day...NOT ME!

I give her food and water and all she ever does is attack my bare feet and leave dead, gutted lizards in the (carpeted!) hallway for me to clean up. I've named her Evil The Cat. And she is. Oh, she is! My husband named her a dirty word because every time you try to pet her she attacks you and you say this very dirty word. We bottle fed this meance at 2 weeks old and she's VICIOUS!


I've always been more of a dog person.

 

[SudokuGal]

Oh, she was just doing her job...and wanted you to be proud of her!

 

[Mary Kay]

Those "Gifts" were just that Gifts! She was shareing her kill with her pride. But yeah I know..yuck! Mine have a thing for mole crickets and mice. I have learned to check them for "gifts" before I open the sliding glass doors!
As for petting, some cats are just not social with people. The attacts on the feet are because she is playing with you and doesn't have "people " skills. Try her on a soft fuffy something on a string and let her attack it all she wants. After a while she will grow out of the attact mode..she may not even realize that the feet are attached to YOU.
I have had the meanest cats in the world..one we called Satan, all black with a white dot on his head. But after a while he learned to just sit quietly by my chair and be a nice cat (most of the time). Most of these mean cats found us and were wild. Who knows what happened to them in the past. Our raised cats have been sweet, most were very well socialized, some more stand offish. All left presents.

 

[whatagem]

This cat is 2 yr old---I don't think she growing out of it any time soon! She IS just playing but she doesn't play fair

She's really weird too. She sleeps like a dead thing--I used to worry she was dead, now I just step over her. I made a very short slide show of her sleeping positions on youtube, here:
YouTube - Coma Cat (featuring The Dogs)

This link should direct you to my Coma Cat vid. I've NEVER had a cat or a dog that sleeps like this

 

[whatagem]

Oh look! there it is---ha ha I didn't know the box would pop up like that

 

[Crankyfuzz]

my dog killed a mouse a few weeks ago and brought it to me....me being the good mommy I am told him what a great job he did then distracted him with a treat while i disposed of my gift..

 

[whatagem]

Oh and PS--when husband got home I was telling the story and got to the part about how I couldn't kill the bird. He marches outside, big man and all, declaring, "Where is the box?" I said, "I let it loose by the side of the house."

"So the cat can kill it later..." he said. Well duh! I didn't want her to gut it on the carpet. Point being that husband thought he was going to be the brave one and put this bird out of its misery. This is the same guy who felt so sorry for this abandoned kitten shivering in the cold, brought it home at the end of the day when no one else picked it up. "Don't be mad!" he said sheepishly to me as he clutched a small box in his arms.

Sigh.

BTW he is the one who made the cat so mean by "toughing it up" and playing roughly as a kitten so it would be a "good mouser".
I haven't seen a single rodent since we got that mean-as-hell-cat!!!!

Wait--once. A tiny mouse scurried across the floor and the cat pounced on it. Then she let it go. Then she caught it again. Then she let it go. I chased them both outside and the cat spent an HOUR tossing it ten feet into the air and batting it around. The poor things was alive for 30 minuets. Nature is cruel and hard to watch.

And that cat is freaking mean!

 

[Moonflame]

We had a cat of the same type that used to sleep like that. We called it "Tessa being a dead cat." We had a roommate at the time that was in a wheelchair and Tessa wouldn't even move when he was nudging her with the chair trying to get by. Any other cat would move out of the way, but she'd just look at him with this "I know you won't roll over me" look. She was very sweet though, just stubborn. I think because she had so much fur she slept on her back to stay cool.

 

[Mary Kay]

Loved the show! That cat is a happy secure cat! They won't sleep like that if they are afraid. Now the poor dogs on the other hand...if I was that small next to a mini tiger I would sleep with Dad too!

 

[SudokuGal]

Cute video! MK is right...they only show their bellies (a very vulnerable spot) when they feel secure and unafraid.

 

[Mary Kay]

Sorry, I forgot to say, The joke thread is still there! It's called "A Smile for You". We started chatting on it, but feel free to add some jokes!

 

[whatagem]

Oh good! I wanted to print that Things To Do At Wal-Mart for my mom--she'd get a hoot out of it!


I've never had a cat that showed it's belly, slept so hard that you couldn't wake it up, or took up so much space when sleeping! The first few times we couldn't wake her up, we were panicing! The cat is dead! Oh no, the cat is DEAD! What happ--Oh, wait. She's just semi-comatose.

The only reason we got this cat is because our old outside cat totally disapeared one day. Really sweet thing too and NEVER wanted to come inside. Once she went missing we started getting mice. The house next door hasn't been lived in--in oh, 10 years at least, and the backyard is a complete amazon. We get raccoons, possums, rats, all sorts of critters from that yard and the dumpster for several homes is planted right behind our fence. (we got a decent price on the house--see why?)

Our cat disapeared and we got mice and 1 or 2 rats (yes!) one of which got itsef stuck in the laundry room--husband killed it with a 2x4. "Did you get the dogs rabies shots?!" he's hollering.

That was last straw for me because I'm sort of a clean-nut (and paranoid of being bitten in my sleep). I had a plan to collect neighborhood cats and that's when husband brings home a starving kitten claiming, "You said you wanted a mouser!"

"That thing is barely bigger than a mouse!" I said. And the rest is history. And so are the rodents. Although we recently had a raccoon the size of a horse give birth in our roof.

Double sigh.

I always thought when I moved into the city I'd see less critters. I see more now than when I lived with my parents! I mean, they get mice too, living in a virtual field, but they get ducks and rabbits too--not rats the size of volvos.

 

[Mary Kay]

I had a chicken coop..well it was really a two horse stable at some point in it's 25 year history. It was getting pretty run down and too much $ to fix for someone who doesn't want horses! Anyway we fenced the front in and covered the open area with chicken wire to keep hawks out. Rats and snakes found ways in though. At night there was a regular parade of the huge critters...until..Super dog!
My mom had a little Boston Terrier named Doodlebug and she liked to come up and visit us. That dog caught mice better then a cat and terrorized the rats! (of course she had the chickens scared too!) Our problem was solved while she stayed with us. But when she went home the rats returned. Then one day I noticed that there were no rats, no snakes, no mice anywhere! I was very puzzled until one day while mowing on the riding lawn mower I saw a black hose. We have green. I reached down to move it when it started moving away from me on it's own! It was a black snake at least 10 feet long8-o. I am not scared of snakes as long as they don't rattle have pointy heads or come in red and yellow. But I left this big fella alone.
Of course Mike didn't believe me, until my neighbor who is afraid of snakes killed it. Poor thing. (the snake not the neighbor)
Our chickens are gone with the wind as well as the old stable (hurricanes). So the rat and mice problems have gone too. That also might be due to having two good mousers now.
This picture is not very good, I have to look for a better one of her. As you can see she has one white eye, her parents were champion show dogs and she was the only one one in the litter to have this "defect'. She lived to be nearly 14 and was a beloved companion to Mom.


Mom with our KiKi (akita) and Doodlebug

 

[Dolphin]

Mary Kay, your Kiki looks like our Sasta (Galic for happy) who is part akita. And what wonderful dogs they are! He has turned out to be an 80 pound lap dog

 

[whatagem]

MaryKay that little dog is adorable! I want one now!

When I lived with my parents, mice didn't bother me so much as the snakes. They have a stock tank near the house so water moccasins would come up to the front door and just hang out. Rattle snakes tended to stay in the pasture but rarely came out if horses were running around. Our neighbors would come by often with shotguns when Dad was at work! (mom hates guns--won't use one period and I was too young & impetuous)

About a month ago, I was on phone with Mom when she begins to shriek. The phone dropped & all I could hear grunting, pounding and all sorts of scary noises. Mom has had asthma all her life & emphysema for over 10 years and regularly goes to the hospital by ambulance with severe chest pains (and she works full time!) so here I am, thirty miles away screaming into the phone, MOM! MOM! MOM PICK UP THE PHONE!!!!!

After five minuets of me in panic, she finally picks up the phone. "Whew," she says nonchalantly. "I just killed a moccasin with a hoe. Phew. Right here at the back door! I even--wah-ahhhhh!"

"MOM! What's wrong?!" I holler.

"Ah, I just knocked my soda over."
"Mom, you CANNOT do that!!!! I'm over here, helpless, not knowing what is happening--you can't do that to me!!"


I suppose this is subconsciously her way of getting back at me for my teenage years. HA HA (not funny!) I really gotta show her how to use a gun. Lot less work when killing a snake!

 

[Mary Kay]

Doodlebug is a Boston Terrier. She was very cute but her breed is hyper! They tend to jump up and down trying to greet you..they do have nails and that's a problem with a bouncing dog. They have very short snouts called push noses and can drown themselves in a bowl of water! They are NOT water dogs at all.
Once they reach two or so they are good companion dogs and do calm down somewhat.

Kiki was a Japanese Akita, the last time he was weighed he was 140 lbs. Sweet and smart..but very territorial. And almost as hardheaded as a teenage girl!

 

[whatagem]

kinda like a scooby-doo dog Big & forgetting how big....i always forget what they're called. I always wanted one till I met one in person and was nearly drowned in his drool

 

[Mary Kay]

Great Dane? I wanted a white with black spots for years! I saw the Ugly Dachshund. ( Disney, Suzanne Pleshette and Dean Jones 1966) and just drooled over the beautiful dog at the end of the movie.

 

[whatagem]

Yes, Great Dane! My husband thinks it's absurd because I'm very short & could never handle a dog that weighs as much as me. Of course we live in the city and our back yard is much too tiny for such a dog. Our yard is so small it would be cruel ha ha!

But I always wanted one and after watching a show about Great Danes on TV it was fueled. A few years ago I was working the drive thru window at a dry cleaners and one of our regulars came thru with his dog inthe car.

The Great Dane was SO friendly and showered me with his saliva--made me think twice about that sort of dog.
Oh well. Chihuahua-Somethings are great for the city & ours have so much personality they think they're people. Plus, a $30 bag of decent dog food goes a loooooong way. (the little one beats up the mean cat so she's often my fave)

My husband wants a Mastiff. Yeah, right! And he's concerned I couln't handle a Great Dane Yeesh

 

[Mary Kay]

Great Dane - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dane is a mastiff/greyhound. It has had most of the agressive/hunt breeded out of it and is a very gentle dog. It can be protective though. They need to be trained as young dogs and socialied with children if any are going to be around. They are not big eaters and are kind of lazy..they tend to like couches and beds to sleep on! But they do need a good run daily but NOT after eating. They have many health problems and tend to die between 7 and 10.
If I had a choice I would take a Dane (which is a German not Danish Dog) over a mastiff, because they are a more gentle dog.