maybe i'm a cruel, bad person

[2eclipse]

i just served my cats two live mice.

i actually really LIKE mice. i have a soft heart and had a hard time doing this. but doing this seemed the fastest way to A) a mouse is pretty much the perfect nutritional package for a cat. B)get my deathly ill cat interested in the nutrition he needs C)getting them eating the nutrition they need fast considering i don't know yet how to make raw cat food or if our meat grinder will handle bone.
it is very important for cats to eat bone if they are on a raw meat diet. bones of the wrong type of animals for them to be eating will splinter and sometimes hurt them, but mouse bones and the bones in chicken necks are perfectly safe. most other kinds have to be ground.
how it went:
luther hid be hind the couch when i got home. madeleine was interested and immediately went to the bathroom. i plugged the drain in the tub and put in one mouse. to my shock. madeleine, fearless warrior, who wants to play stalk-and-pounce ALL DAY LONG...has no clue what to do when confronted with an honest to god mouse.  i also feel this shock because she did GREAT with the cicadas that came home attached to dad's clothing. she sniffed the mouse a lot. and touched it with her paddy paw. and sniffed it some more.

at this point i brought in luther, who has dealt with mice before. he was hiding behind the couch, but i told him i had brought him something he would consider worth it and took him into the bathroom. he was. it took him a while to remember. i also brought in the other mouse in the box they came in. i put both in the bathtub too. the other mouse still hasn't come out. it took luther about 5 minutes to kill his mouse. he has already eaten one of them and is contemplating the other one. madeleine is watching. which is probably very good education for her. i myself had to leave the room for most of it. too damn sensitive.
MAN am i glad i set this up in the bathtub. there are no mouse remains left, but a good amount of mouse blood, which i would otherwise be cleaning off the floor.
the very good news is that i think this is the most luther has eaten in one sitting since his last bone marrow biopsy.

EDIT: *DIES laughing* the other mouse is still alive and is hiding in the box. unable to successfully remove mouse from box, luther has stuck his entire HEAD in the box with the mouse and got the box stuck on his head! SO funny. poor mouse. 2nd EDIT: luther is now eating the other mouse. i guess that ends my need to supervise. i will go run the rest of my errands.

Comments

[silvertongue1.livejournal.com]

Your cats are mighty warriors!
~Amanda

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

at least luther is (and he's the sick one so i'm incredibly relieved that he is eating what he needs). madeleine is fascinated and confused. she doesn't seem to get the whole first-you-kill-it-then-you-eat-it thing. and i thought she would.

[mirage897.livejournal.com]

I am so glad Luther ate one.

You gotta do what you gotta do to take care of your babies. I think I would do the same but I would ask someone like Geovanny to do it. He had chickens when he lived in El Salvador, sort of like pets, but in the end the family killed and ate them. So I think he would have no problem sending a mouse in.

As a weird sidebar, he acts very hot and cold towards Aristotle. He never speaks to him, ever. He can be very loving and gentle and sleep with him for hours but never talks to him. As a consequence, when he wants him out of the way he pushes him, rather hard, rather than a gentle tap and "get down" command.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

2 now! yeah, a lot of this is about how much i love my cats and want to see them healthy. and having done this today lets me know i CAN do it. i would do this the rest of his life if it would keep him with me.
what you say about giovanny reminds me of my dad. he could be very affectionate with my dog (i had dogs growing up), but he was always harsher than he needed to be with discipline and wasn't consistant enough to be a good animal trainer. it was clear to me and mom that animals were animals to him, never part of the family. i think some people are just like that. they grow up with a certain mindset about animals and have a hard time changing it.
i miss talking to you. do you have my number?

[mirage897.livejournal.com]

I don't actually and I would love to have it.

Mine is 202-589-1314.

[zankoku-zen.livejournal.com]

i'm glad luther is eating.

i bet this was interesting to watch.

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

interesting and funny and gross and appalling.
if you have a sick sense of fascination with things you won't be able to look away.
luther is not overly cruel though. he doesn't play with his food much, although he does take a bit of time catching it. first he bites the legs off and then eats the body. it's weird to see him crunching with part of a tail sticking out of his mouth.
at the same time, i'm sure it makes him very happy. this is honestly what he was BUILT to eat.

[zankoku-zen.livejournal.com]

agreed.

and when i say things are interesting, i find a lot of things interesting... and not necessarily for good reasons.

it's hunter vs. hunted after all.

for example, i find this interesting and funny: http://chibi.nekrozin.com/index.php?strip_id=94

it's called death piglet.

Cirque

[sunmother.livejournal.com]

OOOOOO...I am jealous. Have a wonderful time!

mice

[sunmother.livejournal.com]

Luther the ferocious and mighty bathtub hunter! I wish you had a pic. of him with the box on his head. His destiny. Actually, I think it is a great idea. Knowing you as I do, I know how motivated toward cat health you had to be before deciding to purchase sacrificial mice. I am sure you delighted Luther with this opportunity to do what cats do. What a treat. (your description of the whole event too.)

[eltanin.livejournal.com]

When Bassy's killed critters, I'm always filled with a mixture of "proud mama" and "about to puke."

SO happy to hear Luther's eating his mousies!!! :)

[2eclipse.livejournal.com]

that's exactly it.