At Least They're Cute

We have 11 cats (count 'em .....11) enjoying a rather fine standard of living here in the Garver house. We feed them expensive cat food, take them to the vet when they are sick, occasionally even get them fixed (ok, in that area we have been a bit remiss). They have been allowed to remain here even after we catch them red-handed doing their business somewhere other than the litter box. Almost weekly I threaten several of them with being carted off to the pound but I almost never follow thru....honest.

For the last few weeks a rather pesky and voracious little mouse has taken up residence in one of our pantry cupboards. The kids are often startled while searching for a snack when the little creature darts off in an effort to escape. Last week, after having to tell my husband why he couldn't find the craisens (I'm sure the mouse found them quite tasty) I removed everything I thought was edible except food in jars and cans (mice eat candles...did you know that?).

I find it a bit odd that in a house with so many cats, one small mouse can manage to avoid detection and death. Yesterday, I got an inkling of why that is so. Wilson had opened the door to the pantry and yelled at me that the mouse was up there again....then he quickly grabbed Mr. Woods (our male tiger cat) and set him on the shelf. Being the amiable cat that he is, Tiger settled in to his new surroundings without a blink and looked to be about to take a nap, ala Garfield. I pushed him aside and began rummaging around the back of the shelf (it's a 24" deep cupboard) and after moving a small box in the corner, the mouse jumped out and ran past Mr. Woods, who basically watched as the free meal leapt to the floor and scurried under the desk. At this point Mr. Woods sister kitty, Chicle, ran under the desk after mighty mouse. This desk has a clearance of less than 3inches so just getting under there was no mean feat and Wils and I were giggling as she tried frantically to capture the mouse...her hind legs remaining out from under cover.... spread eagled and violently twitching. Tho she did come away empty handed, she will hereafter be granted immunity for accidents involving missed litter boxes.....and tomorrow, I'm buying a mouse trap.