The Dust Bunny predator

Murrmurr

Murrmurr

SF VIP
Location
Sacramento, California
The kitten formerly known as Scribbles hunts dust-bunnies during the night. She finds them, drags them out of their hides, then tortures them for several minutes and leaves them lifeless all over the floor. I probly find 4 or 5 dust-bunny remains here and there every single morning.

Who knew we had a dust-bunny infestation? We didn't even suspect it until the dust-bunny predator came into our lives. Now, it's obvious there were literally hundreds of them here, right under our noses! And they obviously multiply....fittingly, like rabbits, because there seems to be no end of them. Yeee....makes me shudder. ;)


My g-daughter named the kitten formerly known as Scribbles *Penny*.

Here's her reasoning:

"You know how when you find a penny just laying in the gutter, or whatever...you know, on the ground somewhere, and it's all dirty and crusty and yucky, but there's still some copper shining through the blackened areas? That's what she makes me think of. I mean, that's how she looks, and you did find her...like finding a lost penny."

Penny. Perfect!
 

Penny is the craziest, most intriguing cat I've ever known. She's like a hyperkinetic, hyperphonic, small-brained genius-savant with severe autism. If I'd left her outside, she'd be the queen, provider, and mentor of all homeless cats fortunate enough to be taken under her ...arm. She'd probly live a hundred years. Human years.

Lucky for me, she has a solid routine - eat, zoom, hunt, zoom, sleep, zoom, repeat - but I'm sure she'll surprise me at some point.

And she has such an intense gaze it's borderline spooky. She's got a small, very angular head and large, slanted, gold eyes, like brilliant gold topaz. I think she's descended from Egyptian cats from before the time of the pyramids. I think she designed the pyramids.

😛

Penny is a pretty cool cat. Thank you, Cat Distribution System. (look it up; it's a thing)
 
Love your kitten. I'm a cat person- I've had cats most of my life. At one time, thanks to the wonderful world of pregnancy, I had 13. Now, I make sure my furry pals, don't act like rabbits.
That said, ain't no way in hell am I going through another kitten stage. If I get one, it'll be at least 2 years old.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Love your kitten. I'm a cat person- I've had cats most of my life. At one time, thanks to the wonderful world of pregnancy, I had 13. Now, I make sure my furry pals, don't act like rabbits.
That said, ain't no way in hell am I going through another kitten stage. If I get one, it'll be at least 2 years old.
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Me and my kids had several cats over the years, and 2 dogs. The first cat I ever took home was one I picked from a cardboard box full of kittens that a little kid had out in front of our neighborhood grocery store up in the foothills. A female who had 5 or 6 litters over the years. We managed to find homes for all of them because we took them to farmers. They would take 3 or 4 at at a time, and this one lady farmer took a whole litter of 9.

The kids were eerily quiet on the drive home from her farm, until my older son asked, "Dad? Do you think she's going to eat them?"

I said, "Well, there's no meat to speak of on a kitten, son," and the younger son whispered to him, "So, not until she fattens 'em up first."

But yeah, I'm a little ashamed looking back that I didn't bother to get our cats spayed or neutered. And it was free back then. Every Calif city with a population over 5,000 had a clinic where local vets did free spay & neuter procedures at least once a week, so my only excuse is I didn't care.

Not until the kids were all in their teens and I was in a years-long relationship with a very nice lady who insisted I take our cats to the local S&N clinic. We had 3 cats at the time, 2 males and their mother. Sarah got me in the habit of getting all our subsequent pets sterilized. Also, I don't let my cats outside anymore. That's a def no-no.

" ...no way in hell am I going through another kitten stage. "

Yeah, the dust bunny predator came into my life basically uninvited. And she's a handful, that's for sure.

I highly recommend giving a home to an older cat (for anyone who's inclined).
 
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I second adopting an older cat, albeit it's cost us quite a few thousands of $$$$$ fixing all the problems the previous owner ignored. OTOH, they trained this cat like a dog (probably had dogs as well, in fact). I've owned cats for six decades but this one actually obeys the word "NO" the way a dog will. Surprised the heck out of me - that's very rare in cats!

I've had cats that played fetch, this guy doesn't. But he's loving, not destructive, and loves people. Somebody obviously abandoned him; he had a collar but was very hungry and getting a bit thin when he came up to our door. I'm really surprised he was abandoned, he's an Egyptian Mau and that's a very rare breed. He's not show quality - cauliflower ear and one too many white spots - but in all other respects he conforms to the breed.

The Mau's hind legs are a bit longer than their front legs, so they look like they're 'prancing' when they walk. They are called "spotted tabbies" sometimes, but the Mau have differences in their conformation from the traditional Tabby.

Sadly, El Gato is more likely to create dust bunnies that hide, rather than find and attack them! Maus have no undercoat, so their fur feels super-soft to the touch. However, it also means he sheds like crazy (as you can see from our rug, which has to be vacuumed 2x week!).

20240811_191650-LR.jpg
 
Lethe200 said:
I second adopting an older cat, albeit it's cost us quite a few thousands of $$$$$ fixing all the problems the previous owner ignored. OTOH, they trained this cat like a dog (probably had dogs as well, in fact). I've owned cats for six decades but this one actually obeys the word "NO" the way a dog will. Surprised the heck out of me - that's very rare in cats!

I've had cats that played fetch, this guy doesn't. But he's loving, not destructive, and loves people. Somebody obviously abandoned him; he had a collar but was very hungry and getting a bit thin when he came up to our door. I'm really surprised he was abandoned, he's an Egyptian Mau and that's a very rare breed. He's not show quality - cauliflower ear and one too many white spots - but in all other respects he conforms to the breed.

The Mau's hind legs are a bit longer than their front legs, so they look like they're 'prancing' when they walk. They are called "spotted tabbies" sometimes, but the Mau have differences in their conformation from the traditional Tabby.

Sadly, El Gato is more likely to create dust bunnies that hide, rather than find and attack them! Maus have no undercoat, so their fur feels super-soft to the touch. However, it also means he sheds like crazy (as you can see from our rug, which has to be vacuumed 2x week!).

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Years ago, I took in a kitten that turned out to be a specialty breed called Ragdoll. Not very rare, but they fetch breeders a good price. Someone had obviously abandoned him. He lived with me for several years and got extremely attached to my other cat, who was pretty old. He became depressed when the old cat died. He wouldn't come out of my closet, he didn't want to play, and he hardly ate.

A friend of mine asked if she could take him. She had a small farm with a pig, a donkey, some goats and chickens, and a few barn cats. He lived out his days happily there.
 
The cat I had years ago knew the difference between wild rodents (kill'em) and "members of the family" (the gerbils....tolerate 'em).

The gerbils were escape artists and we'd send him to find them. They were no match for El Mighty Hunter and he'd bring them back to us, very gently held in his mouth.

Once we didn't even know one had escaped and he strolled into the living room, toting an errant gerbil.

Of course, he always got a special treat for his search-and-rescue efforts.
 

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