Meet Teddy

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I know you're expecting to see a picture of a darling kitten. I really wish I could provide it. Teddy Bear is about 3 to 4 months old and was born of a feral (domestic turned wild) cat. The mother and kittens were all trapped and spayed and neutered and given their shots and re-released where they were trapped. One of my neighbors offered to give one of the kittens a home, and he borrowed a trap to capture one of the kittens. He was very successful and caught a beautiful grey and black striped tabby kitten. He gave me to honor of naming her, and of course she got the name of Teddy bear. I met the neighbor at his cabin where Teddy would be living and working as a mouse trap. In the carrier was a beautiful but frightened little kitten, curled up in the corner. She hadn't made a sound the whole trip up to the cabin, and didn't make any noise while my neighbor brought her in the cabin, and took her down to the basement family room. I went down and set up her litter box and feeder and water and we turned her loose. She looked at us and ran and hid. Of course she would do that, she was a wild domestic cat! I checked on her a few days later and the only sign of her was that the litter box had been used and that she had eaten the food we had put out for her. Oh and of course there were mouse remains...heads and tails. I did the clean up and refilled the water and sat for a few minutes hoping to see Teddy. No luck A couple of days later I checked on her again. No sign of Teddy, but again signs that she was there. She had used the litter box, eaten the food and drank the water and there were more mouse remains...more heads and tails. Again I cleaned up the litter box and the heads and tails and refilled the food and water. Again I waited a few minutes to see if I could see the elusive Teddy, but no such luck. I quietly left for home. Three days passed and I went to check on our Teddy Bear. Boy had she been busy!!! No damages to the furniture or carpeting but there was a rat as big as she was on the floor at the base of the stairs!!! When I first saw it I thought it was the cat. I think I wrote about that previously. I got a baggie and bagged the body and put it in our cart. I went about my duties as kitty maid, cleaning up the litter box, refreshing her water, giving her dry food a refresh, and giving her a can of canned cat food as a treat for a job well done. After all that rat was as big as she was and normally small cats won't fight with rats that big and go in for the kill as rats are nasty fighters. I told the cabin owner about the rat and he was as thrilled as I was about the great job that Teddy was doing. He wanted to bring in an extra special treat for her and wanted to know from me what to bring in. I told him I already took care of it with a special can of cat food. Yesterday I went over to check on Teddy after the neighbor had been in cleaning the cabin and clearing out the mouse and rat poop. He had been there for 5 days cleaning and hadn't seen Teddy during that time, but heard her down stairs. He decided not to go down and disrupt her or frighten her either. He left for home on Sunday. I went down stairs and everything was clean and neat, just as the neighbor had left it. There was no sign of mouse or rat poop. I checked her food and water and it was okay so I didn't have to worry about that. Then I grabbed a baggie and went to clean out the litter box. Boy was I in for a surprise!!! I started cleaning and cleaned out the big clumps of litter, putting them in the baggie. Then I started getting the smaller clumps and was putting them in the bag when I noticed that one of the clumps was rather long and stringy. I looked closer and it was a mouse's tail! That was kind of odd to say the least. Then I scooped some more and one of the clumps was rather oddly shaped...I looked closer at the clump and it had ears? I turned on the light and looked really close and it did have ears!!! It was the mouse's head!!!! Apparently Teddy realized that my neighbor friend had been doing all the cleaning and when she finished eating the mouse she picked up the tail and head and carefully buried them in the litter box so that she didn't make a mess in the house. I stood there in awe. That is one amazing cat!!! I don't know of many cats that would go that far to clean up after themselves after catching a mouse...she knew that my neighbor was cleaning the house of rat and mouse poop and stink....do you think that she got a hint from that????