Cats & chipmunks (and other critters)

From what I've heard in the past, cats have a one square
mile "roaming" territory. I would love to put locators on mine
during the day to see just where they all go. I've always looked at
it as if they were going to work. Most of them will have breakfast
in the morning and then they're off, doing their own thing. They
return late in the afternoon or evening, in time for dinner. Of
course, they sometimes bring their "work" home with them.

One cat is notorious for bringing in love offerings. She bops
through the dog door and then spits out a chipmunk or mouse, still
alive. If you watch her do it, it looks like she says "blah" as she
spits the thing out of her mouth and then goes the opposite
direction (usually in the direction of the food dish), leaving the
dogs to chase the little critter.

I have three westies that love nothing better than to chase the
little critters. They are very adept at sniffing, chasing, and
killing. No matter how hard I try to catch/trap the critters and
give them a second chance in the wild, it very rarely happens. A
couple of weeks ago one tough little chipmunk made it's way under my
kitchen cabinets and hid out for two days (I know this because the
dogs kept a 24 hour watch on the cabinet, noses to the baseboard).
I was sure we would have to cut a hole through the floor underneath
to take it's poor, lifeless little body out from under the cabinet.
But it decided to make a run for it and met its demise in the
bathroom. The latest victim led a merry chase through the house,
hiding first under one low to the ground chair and then the leather
couch. The dogs were having such a fit with this one, that I kept
having to lift the chair and couch in order for them to get
underneath. I didn't make it back to the couch soon enough though.
One of the dogs was in such a frenzy that it ripped a two inch
circle of leather off the front of the couch. Life was not pleasant
for a few minutes. (I haven't figured out how I'm going to patch
that one yet.)

And did you know that chipmunk tails shed their skin/fur if pulled
on? Found that one out one day as I was trying to pull a chipmunk
out of a crack between the old floorboards and baseboard. It held
on tight as I tugged carefully, trying not to hurt it. Imagine my
shock when the poor little thing's tail let loose! That particular
chippy bounded back underneath the armoir and then jumped straight
up through the dog cage into the middle of a roll of paper towels
that was sitting on top. An easy save, that one. I felt bad,
though, as it ran away with a bare little white bony tail.

You would think that the chippy population in our woods would
diminish over time, but since the cats roam so far, they have an
indefinite number to hunt and bring into my house. *sigh*

Misty
(In the general vicinity of) Smack dab in the middle of Lower
Michigan ;o)
From:    "mistyhathon" <joelmisty@msn.com> 
Date:  Sat Jul 10, 2004  10:50 pm 
Subject:  Cats & chipmunks (and other critters)

