Zip was waiting for me on the back porch table this morning, our regular meeting site. I went to close the barn door, and he came with me. He surprised me by turning quickly, pouncing on a mound of snow, and coming up with something in his mouth that he started tossing up in the air and catching.
When I got closer, I saw it was a mouse. Zip had great fun with it, flipping it up in the air, catching it, dropping it, pouncing again, and slipping it again. Zip was having a blast; I think he was performing for me. I wouldn’t say I like seeing even rodents tortured, so I moved toward Zip to try to take it away. Not a chance.
Zip sensed what I was doing and wasn’t buying it. He picked up the mouse, squeezed himself under the barn door, and disappeared into the barn. When I opened the door and went in, there was no sign of the mouse. Zip has a new hiding place for her kills, I think.
Zip is a barn cat but also a snowcat.
Then he came out and was ready for me. We did our cuddling, stroking and scratching thing. I can only guess the mouse is dead now, probably of a heart attack or shock. Getting tossed up in the air and pounded on cannot be fun.
I had always thought only cats were into playing with their prey until I had a Golden Retriever who tortured mice and rabbits. She attempted to eat a mouse just once. Spat it out looking disgusted – never ate one again. Left them for the hawks. Rabbits she loved & would carry them home to eat at leisure on the front lawn. Good thing we lived in a rural community- people walking by would just comment that Rosie was having takeaways for breakfast again. Just for clarification – I live in NZ – rabbits are a terrible pest here. I can’t hve a cat atm – first time in my adult life I’ve lived without a feline to rule over me. I enjoy hearing about Zip. He’s such a real ‘Cat!’ (does that make sense?) thank you for sharing him with us.
I have had cats all my life and agree with your assessment of Zip…he’s definitely a ‘real’ cat. 😻
Makes sense, to me.
On one small farm I had , there was a colony of feral cats that we’d had neutered, vaccinated, chipped, and brought back home to live out their lives. One has lived in the house for years; one was very flirtatious and would roll around and greet me when I came home from work; the rest lived their lives privately. I named the flirty one Binks after the character in Hocus Pocus . Although Binks never let me touch him, he’d keep me company outside and was always leaving presents at the front door . One day I came home to find, perfectly lined up, a big mouse, a robin, and a mole. I couldn’t tell if he felt especially generous that day, or if he’d done something he hoped I wouldn’t find out about. I loved that cat , and he returned it, you could tell by what he would project with his eyes .