Ugh ... What a Disgusting Start to My Morning

[dc1346]

Bob woke me up at 4 AM for breakfast. That's not the disgusting part of this story ... or maybe it is, since I actually got up to feed him. 

What's disgusting is that when I got up to feed him, I felt something underfoot. I thought at first that it might be a sock. Scraps regretfully has a sock fetish. I have learned over the years that I cannot leave laundry baskets unattended - particularly when they're filled with laundry that I've just taken out of the dryer. In addition to the warmth, Scraps really likes socks. It's not enough that he lies on top of them. Given sufficient time, the socks will disappear one by one to some hidden cache. This wouldn't bother me so much if he took PAIRS but NOOOOOOO ... Scraps will take one sock from one pair and another sock from another pair. In one instance,  he left me with 8 single socks, none of which matched!

IMG_0824.JPG

• dc1346
• Mar 23, 2016

Here is Scraps with some socks he pilfered. Lord knows what has happened to the socks I haven't managed to recover. Would you believe that I keep a drawer of single socks ... hoping against hope that one day I will discover his cache? This hope has diminished over the years because we've moved between 3 different states and 6 homes since Scraps first came to live with us some 10 years ago. 

Cat Calls.page.41.jpg

• dc1346
• Mar 23, 2016

So ... when I felt something under my foot, I thought it was a sock that Scraps had somehow pilfered.

It was not a sock. 

It was a MOUSE ... a DEAD MOUSE that Bob probably left for me because Bob is an excellent mouser. Scraps is sadly the least aggressive cat I have ever met. I have seen him looking at a live mouse nose to nose. The mouse ran off before I could take a picture.

I have seen a much aggrieved Scraps tolerate Princess Tabitha pouncing on him when she was just a kitten.

Cat Calls.page.22.png

• dc1346
• Mar 20, 2016

I have NEVER seen Scraps harm another living creature. If he wasn't an obligate carnivore, I wonder if he would be a vegetarian? As it is, he doesn't really care for the moist canned food that is served for breakfast and dinner. He much prefers to dine on the dry crunchy food that is left out at all hours. 

In contrast, Bob is a consummate mouser. 

I can't tell you how many mice he's killed over the years.  As with many cats, Bob usually leaves his trophies for me to find ... just not usually IN MY BEDROOM SLIPPER.

So here I was at 4 in the o'dark morning having been awaken from a sound sleep by the Lord and Master of the house. ALL HAIL BOBBY CAT!

Since I have problems with insomnia, I couldn't go back to sleep, so I rubbed my eyes, muttered a disrespectful comment about how I should have gotten dogs instead of cats, and after sitting up, I slipped my feet into my bedroom slippers and stood up.

Having felt a lump under my left heel, I looked down to find that I had squashed a dead mouse. I will not show a picture here because it was disgusting. The rodent's stomach and intestines were squirted out the side of his body and were smeared across the bottom of my foot.

My only comment was, "Ewwww." I bent down and picked up the slipper with the dead mouse and sort of skip hopped my way to the bathroom to avoid getting mouse blood all over the carpet. 

The mouse went into the toilet and I sat on the edge of the tub to rinse off the slipper and my foot. After getting the blood stains out, I disinfected the slipper with an application of bleach and water. 

Bob of course had to come into the bathroom to natter at me for fussing over a dead mouse when I was supposed to be feeding him his breakfast. He was joined by Princess Tabitha and Scraps who also wanted their breakfast ... or perhaps they were laughing at  me having to clean mouse guts off my foot. Who knows what passes for a sense of humor among our furry feline companions? (SIGH)

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

Lock your socks. That's funny. LOL  Is Bob in one of those pics or are they all Scraps and Princess Tabitha. That is gross, but great instinct's on Bob's behalf.  Have fun!

 

[dc1346]

 
Lock your socks. That's funny. LOL  Is Bob in one of those pics or are they all Scraps and Princess Tabitha. That is gross, but great instinct's on Bob's behalf.  Have fun!

Thanks for asking about Bob. No, I didn't include him in any of the pictures. I've actually never thought of taking a picture of him with a dead mouse usually because when I see him with a mouse in his mouth, the rodent isn't dead. 

I have also learned never to distract Bob when he's mousing because Bob is a very talkative cat. I was told that he's a Manx mix and I wonder sometimes if he has a recessive trait for Siamese because those cats are also quite chatty. 

If Bob gets distracted, he'll do something like say, "Hi Dave! Look what I've got!" and of course when he opens his mouth, the mouse will drop to the floor and will try to scurry away and Bob will have to hunt it down. I've noticed that Tabitha has taken an interest in hunting mice while Scraps will regard all of this as a spectator sport. Now if the mouse was a SOCK, Scraps would be all over it. I wish I knew what his problem was. He isn't interested in napkins (paper or cloth) and a face cloth will bore him to tears. He also ignores DIRTY socks ... I mean who wouldn't especially if you have a nose as sensitive as that of a cat ... but if you leave out a clean sock, he'll positively drool over it and if you don't closely supervise him, that sock will disappear never again to see the light of day.

One of the things I forgot to mention is that Scraps has forced me to change my spending habits. For the last 4-5 years, most of the work socks I've worn have been from the same brand ... same pattern ... same color ... so if I lose one, I no longer have a lone remaining sock. I now have about 4 dozen IDENTICAL socks! 

 

[mazie]

You should be comprising a book, better yet, an animated movie or children's book

 

[margd]

    I love this story, although I'm glad it was your experience and not mine.  

  My favorite part is Bob scolding you for not feeding him fast enough while you're busy cleaning mouse guts off your feet.  Cats!  No sense of shame whatsoever!  The photos are terrific - I especially love the long-suffering look on Scraps's face while Princess Tabitha stands on him.  It's absolutely priceless.  

While reading your first post, I was thinking that you really need to start buying all identical socks and aha!  It turns out that's just what Scraps has driven you to do.  They do have a way of shaping our lives!  

 

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

LOL, I actually didn't mean Bob with the mouse, just a pic in general. haha, that would be gross.  I did however, find your other thread and saw the whole family.  They are all so cute.  I love the different personalities.  Cats are very therapeutic.  Unless its 4am feeding time.  Bob sounds like my gal Chessy when she's hungry it's time to get up. LOL. - I agree with Margd, by identical socks. LOL

Good luck.

 

[dc1346]

 

    I love this story, although I'm glad it was your experience and not mine.  

  My favorite part is Bob scolding you for not feeding him fast enough while you're busy cleaning mouse guts off your feet.  Cats!  No sense of shame whatsoever!  

i don't know about the rest of you ... but do you talk to your cats? And do they answer?

I have conversations with my cats all the time ... so this is how the story ended.

I was sitting on edge of the bathtub washing off my feet when Bob and Scraps entered the bathroom.

"For pity's sake!" grumbled Bob. "Do you think I woke you up just so you could wash your feet? And why are you immersing it in water? That's disgusting! Do you not have any cat sense at all? If you have to clean your foot, why don't you lick it with your tongue like any sensible cat! And why are you cleaning your foot anyway?"

I looked at Bob. "What do you mean, why am I washing it?"

Scraps chuckled. "Hah! That's a good one. He wants to know why he shouldn't be washing his foot!"

"Well tell him!" glowered Bob.

Scraps blinked. "Tell him what?"

"Tell him why he shouldn't be washing his foot!"

The gray cat's face drooped. "Um ... he shouldn't be washing his foot because ... it's Wednesday and we don't wash our feet on Wednesday?"

Bob stared at Scraps's blank face, convinced that he could almost hear a solitary thought rattling around in the bigger cat's otherwise empty mind.

"He shouldn't be washing his foot because that will get rid of the rodent's blood and guts!"

Scraps nodded. "Right. And this is a bad thing because ..."

"It's bad because I'm trying to help him become more attractive to women."

My ears perked up at that last comment. "Um .... women?"

Bob sat down and peered up at me. "You know you're exceptionally ugly, right?"

"Well um ..."

"I mean look at you ... no fur except on top of your head ... no claws ... you're slower than molasses ... you can't jump or climb worth beans and you're overweight!"

"Well but ..."

Bob got up and started pacing. "So think about it. What do women want? Do you think they care about whether you have a decent job or a nice house or a fancy car or a bank account?"

"Um ... yes?"

The bob-tailed alpha cat glared at me. "Aside from the fact that you just made a highly sexist comment, the answer is no! Women don't care about material things. They care about whether or not you can be a good provider ... and showing a woman that you're a skilled hunter by way having some mouse blood and guts on your foot is ...."

"Disgusting?" 

He glared at me. "I was going to say HELPFUL. And speaking of HELPFUL ... WHERE is MY BREAKFAST?"

(sigh)