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Ah don’t you just love the neighbours?
Jun. 3rd, 2008 02:14 amA drama that is retreating these past few weeks, but it seems I have been inexcusably giving my ever-so-delicate neighbour the vapours and fainting fits.
Because Mia, annoying visiting cat, is catching baby birds. yes, ‘twas that time of years when birds throw themselves out of their nest to fly or plummet. And if they plummeted, Mia was waiting. Bad Mia. No cookie.
The neighbour complained to me on multiple occasions. Bitterly, at length and sometimes tearfully. To which I sympathise, it isn’t nice to see the kitty pounce on the helpless baby bird. I wish it didn’t happen.
But being pounced on by a predator does tend to be the fate mother nature has chosen for the helpless baby birds who fall from their nests. And exactly what am I expected to do about it anyway? Convince Mia of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet? Eloquently persuade her the many merits of pacifism? Maybe get her a saffron robe and see if Buddhism is the path for her? She’s a CAT. Killing helpless baby birds is what cats DO.
Now, bowing to pressure, I have got her a collar with a bell on it. I hate these things and the minute the birds start flying away I’m taking it off her. My last cat had a collar and a bald ring round his neck where the collar had been all his life. And for an active cat climbing and sneaking and putting her head in everywhere, a collar that can get caught must be dangerous. Add to this the constant ringing is annoying ME, so what it must be doing to her super-sensitive hearing, I have no idea.
Of course, it didn’t help. Helpless baby birds that have fallen from their nests while learning how to fly are not especially able to run away from a cat no matter how much jingling said cat does.
So what to do - I want to take the collar off now the baby birds have either died or learned how to fly. The neighbour is still not happy. So, how do I stop Mia hunting short of locking her inside all day and should I just tell the neighbour to deal with it and stop being ridiculous?
Because Mia, annoying visiting cat, is catching baby birds. yes, ‘twas that time of years when birds throw themselves out of their nest to fly or plummet. And if they plummeted, Mia was waiting. Bad Mia. No cookie.
The neighbour complained to me on multiple occasions. Bitterly, at length and sometimes tearfully. To which I sympathise, it isn’t nice to see the kitty pounce on the helpless baby bird. I wish it didn’t happen.
But being pounced on by a predator does tend to be the fate mother nature has chosen for the helpless baby birds who fall from their nests. And exactly what am I expected to do about it anyway? Convince Mia of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet? Eloquently persuade her the many merits of pacifism? Maybe get her a saffron robe and see if Buddhism is the path for her? She’s a CAT. Killing helpless baby birds is what cats DO.
Now, bowing to pressure, I have got her a collar with a bell on it. I hate these things and the minute the birds start flying away I’m taking it off her. My last cat had a collar and a bald ring round his neck where the collar had been all his life. And for an active cat climbing and sneaking and putting her head in everywhere, a collar that can get caught must be dangerous. Add to this the constant ringing is annoying ME, so what it must be doing to her super-sensitive hearing, I have no idea.
Of course, it didn’t help. Helpless baby birds that have fallen from their nests while learning how to fly are not especially able to run away from a cat no matter how much jingling said cat does.
So what to do - I want to take the collar off now the baby birds have either died or learned how to fly. The neighbour is still not happy. So, how do I stop Mia hunting short of locking her inside all day and should I just tell the neighbour to deal with it and stop being ridiculous?