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Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Lifestyle or life sentence: Mousey mousey?

By Rachel Wise
Hawkes Bay Today·
29 May, 2012 02:51 AM3 mins to read

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Community newspapers editor and lifestyle block owner Rachel Wise investigates the myths of animal attraction.

I knew I had run out of catfood when Timothy the Maine coon cat forced himself to eat a mouse.

He ate it right in the kitchen while I was making tea. Not that I
noticed as I was alternating between preventing my 9-month-old grandson from biting the dog and trying to cook pork chops and veg around a 9-pound rainbow trout that was proudly draped all over my kitchen bench.

Elder daughter: "Ooh yuk Timmy's eating a mouse I'm going to be sick."

Me: "Don't look then. Timothy finish your mouse. Dave move this giant fish. Jhasper stop biting the dog."

I can't work out why Jhasper keeps on biting the dog. He's already discovered it doesn't taste good but there he is again, tiny teeth locked on Fly-dog's ear. Nor can I work out why the dog lets him do it.

Another thing that puzzles me is what is that bit of innards that's always left over when the cat eats a mouse? It's usually that bean-shaped bit, often with a length of something stringy trailing from it. I wish they'd just eat the whole thing and then lick the floor clean afterwards. I hate having to pick up their leftovers and it's so much worse when they've dried and stuck to the floor.

But worse still? Pre-eaten mouse, regurgitated.

We had one of those in the washing machine last week.

I was taking out a load of washed towels when I saw something small and brownish. Unwisely, I picked it up. Mouse legs. Very clean, freshly-washed mouse legs. Back ones, with the tail still attached.

This gave rise to a serious question. Where was the rest of the mouse?

One by one I picked up the clean, wet towels and shook them: One more mouse leg, a mouse face and some mouse unmentionable inside-bits. All nice and clean. Some horrible feline had puked a mouse into the dirty laundry and it had been subsequently laundered.

The last mouse leg? Inside the washing machine. Clinging to the side of the bowl where you usually find a sock or knickers.

All I could think of, aside from ooh yuk, was thank heavens the nice clean mouse bits hadn't made it as far as the dryer. What would the result have been...cooked mouse portions or dehydrated mouse portions? Feel free to experiment and get back to me with the details.

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