In the eyes of the mouse the cat is a lion... Proverb.In this house it is a well know fact I'm a sook; softer & squishier than marshmallow. I always weep at the sad part in the movie ~ & the sentimental part ~ & the happy bits. I coo at babies in prams & talk to stray cats that cross my path. I get all emotional at our athletes winning gold at the Olympics, or our socceroos scoring brilliant goals against the Italians [especially the Italians]. I'm also prone to weep when I'm particularly happy.
Being well educated I understand that other people find this more than a little off~putting so we carefully cover it up with worldly cynicism laced with irony & satire & find ourselves very funny indeed; BUT... my house is not fooled. They know mum's a soft touch & a tear at the right moment, a little wobble in the voice, a lip that trembles ever so slightly & down I go like a house of cards. Even Iss knows it! Sad to say even the cat can manipulate me. Actually I don't feel too bad about that. Cats are masters of manipulation.
You need to know what a woos I am or the mouse just doesn't make sense.
It's not even summer yet & our day temperatures are in the high 30's C [high 80s/90sF] with humidity to spare & the whole house has been flaked out under the fans ~ even the cat. Issi barely moves until after 3 pm when he hightails it outside to sprawl in the coolest breezeway he can find & there he lolls until the house cools down enough that I can bring Iss in for the night & shut the house up.
Iss likes to have company so his people make a point of visiting with him periodically throughout the evening because Iss is a splendid host & greets this attention with delighted purrs & chirruped greetings. Thus I pottered outside last evening to chuck my cat under his chin & tell him what a good & splendid puss he is, which is only what Iss expects if anyone goes outside at all. Imagine my surprise when a quite unexpected squeaking emanated from under Iss's nose.
I rushed to turn on an outside light because we have plenty of ground dwelling birds & Iss is a cat after all. Not a bird.
People, I do not like mice. I don't. They are little & furry & they're vermin & they make my skin crawl but oh! The poor little thing! A little grey field mouse with enormous black eyes, barely out of babyhood & crying in high pitched terror while it tried to snuggle against Issi's warm & furry hide. That was one little mouse that had completely lost the plot.
Cat or no cat, mouse or no mouse I couldn't stand it. I scooped Issi up & brought him inside. At least the mouse could die in peace, which it did, but it made me feel better knowing Iss wasn't outside dabbing it with a curious paw just to hear it squeak till it died.
11 comments:
You are a kind and decent soul. We know what nature is, but we do not have to facilitate it!
Oh, poor thing!! I know what you mean about those mixed feelings.
Oh poor little mouse, but it is in Issi's job description, isn't it? lol
Blessings,
Jillian
I completely know what you mean... mice are horrid little germ laden vermin, and rats are even worse. Still one of my most awful memories is of a poor rat in the throes of a deeply painful death from rat poison. So awful for anything to go through, no matter how odious a creature it may be.
Someone once said in regards to animals, our treatment of them and the ethics and morality of the whole issue, "The question is not; can they reason, nor can they talk? but can they suffer?"
I'm a softie too♥
Sandra: I know how humane you are in your treatment of your animals. Biblically that makes you righteous, did you know? ;P In my book it makes you a decent human being worthy of the air you breath.
Mrs C:I'm glad it's not just me. My children laugh at mean ~ & do exactly the same thing!
Jillian: I tried rewritting Iss' job description but he's not having any of it! :P
Oh, Diane: We really are *bosom buddies*, *secret sisters*, *twin souls*,*kindred spirits*!
Cats are completely heartless when it comes to playing with their prey. I remember my grandparents' three cats running a squirrel to death *all day.* The poor thing.
Persuaded's quote was from Jeremy Bentham, who more or less started off the line of philosphical thought that led to the notion of animal welfare as we know it today.
Whether or not to intervene in natural predator behaviour is one of the more difficult ethical dilemmas in animal welfare, in my rather limited opinion.
Siano
Mrs Mordecai: I keep males because they are less prone to hunt. I adore cats but hunting is one aspect of their behaviour I just can't cope with.
Siano: I have no ethical dilema; intervention every time! lol Sorry that I deprived you of your dinner & all but...nothing ever *wants* to die. We can discuss it at our leisure next time your up this way.')
I am also a huge softie : ) or sook as you put it. Never heard of a sook but I think I am one. I have saved many little mice from cats and actually put them in shoe boxes and tried to nurse them back to health. It never worked. I stopped messing around with them when I brought one in the house in a shoebox and SIenna said, "What is running all over the mouse?" It was infested with fleas! I have never tried to save a mouse again but I have tried to shoo the cats away when I can. I did manage to save a chipmunk from a mean, Siamese cat and he lived happily ever after in a Wilderness petting zoo. : )
Enjoyed catching up on your blog today : ) Thanks for your sweet words of encouragement over at my place. I have been in a bit of a funk so you really cheered me up!
Ashley, you are such a sweetie & I am thrilled beyond words to have you visit ~ especially as I know how busy you are. We are about to become very cosmopolitian. Whether I survive Ditz in the process is debatable! ;)
having said what I said, I go on saving lizards that Missy brings into the house, and liberated a common starling from the cat enclosure the other day. (I don't know how it got in there, or how long it had been there. The cats were terribly interested, but fortunately hadn't worked out what to do with it, as they don't get to be close and personal with much apart from spiders that are silly enough to come into the house and lizards that unwittingly stray across Missy's path... :) )
Siano
Post a Comment