Here’s one of those things we haven’t had to worry about since our cats transitioned to indoor-only status a decade ago.

March 19, 2005 – Saturday

I don’t like playing this “Find the Rat” game, especially when the rat is not an active participant because it is deceased. No, I’m not talking about an investigation of any former official. I’m sitting in the semi-darkness on a cold Kaaawa morning, flashlight in hand, attempting to use wind velocity, air currents, and rudimentary particle physics to locate the origin of that certain faint but unmistakable odor here in the living room. As to causation, well, Ms. Kili is my prime suspect after being caught in the act delivering small rodents through the cat door and into the house where she promptly releases them for the pleasure of the lazy males. They normally don’t expend the energy to hunt, but they’ll get right into the act if prey is miraculously delivered to them. Romeo has been the latest beneficiary of Kili’s largess. All that aside, it’s less than an ideal way to start a weekend morning.

Kiko and Bessie still display their hunting instinct every afternoon when they stand watch at one of the windows looking out to the front yard and prepare to launch themselves at their prey. Every once in a while, a bird will flutter right up to the window, causing one of the cats to launch and crash directly into the closed window, quite a blow to their feline pride! Except for the occasional stray roach, that’s the only indication we have that the desire to hunt is still alive and well in our small cat colony.

Enough of that. On to the cats!