The Thunder of Paws

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Our cat is small -much smaller than she ought to be, I think, because she had had 2 litters of kittens by the time she was one and rescued by our vet, from whom we got her. She is also, being of Oriental descent, quite fine boned: an elegant little black cat.

But boy, can she make noise. When the earthquake hit us recently I woke up, hearing loud banging, and my first thought that it was the cat thundering round the bedroom, because she is that loud. Last night, she woke us up twice, crashing into the wardrobe doors, and charging round the bedroom on the elephant feet she likes to use instead of her own for night work. The poor mouse she was chasing escaped (the dog found it this morning). Cat is a mouser and usually catches her prey to eat, but occasionally she feels like having her own brand of sadistic fun. I feel for the poor rodent, but I wish she'd have her fun more quietly.

Over many years of having cats, I have developed a few catching skills of my own. One of our cats used to bring in frogs, which she was convinced we liked, and we developed quite a skill at catching the poor things (with the exception of one which found its way upstairs and gave me a terrible fright when it leaped out at me from behind a radiator). I am also, I like to think, a pretty fair hand at mouse catching. All you need is a piece of cloth, which you drop on the mouse, gather all up underneath it, and remove mouse outside.

Comments

winnie said…
I have two cats, they came to me from the Cats Protection home. They had been in one home already, with a lady who lived in a flat, and she had to give them back to CP because the neighbours downstairs complained about the noise they made. They DO sound like elephants when they are charging about, as if they have hobnailed boots on! It's even worse when the small one starts wailing in her weird way.

I live down the road from a small zoo, and I think the cats are capable of weirder noises than the animals in the zoo.
28 March 2008 at 13:10
Jane Badger said…
Winnie - the noise level your two cats made doesn't surprise me. Talking of weird noises, our labrador thinks she is Chewbacca the Wookiee. I have never heard noises like it.
29 March 2008 at 10:22
Unknown said…
Yes, my cats can make an almight noise when they go thundering down the stairs at full speed.
Diesel's quite a slender cat, with dainty little paws, but she can do a convincing elephant impression too.
29 March 2008 at 15:28
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