Caregiver's cats behaving badly.

Now imagining a giant chicken towering over the landscape.

I was surprised to learn how many of the dinosaurs were feathered, even some of the big guys. Now everything the museums and Hollywood has taught me is wrong, and I don't know how to feel.

I had to look up raptors just now to see what they were. Haha. I have one of those raptors, a hawk, perch on the trees in my backyard sometimes, eyeing the chickens. But the chickens are smart enough to hide themselves among the cacti so the hawk could never get to them. Unfortunately, they weren't strong enough or fast enough for the raccoons. One chicken got her head bitten off, another was carried away. And those two were young and younger hens. But nothing happened to the slow and aging 8 year old hen which doesn't lay eggs anymore. We don't have the heart to butcher the old girl as long as she is not sick. She just eats and hangs around with the flock.

smeshque - you're funny.  : ) I bet the early pioneers ate all kinds of games including raccoons.

Same etymology - from the Latin rapio, rapere, rapui, raptus "to seize."

Lots of dinosaurs were raptors. And as for T Rex's closest living relatives, my son was thoughtfully watching our head chicken DeeDee and her underlings crossing our lawn on their morning expedition and remarked...

"Oh my God. Raptors!"

Yup. Beneath those cute plump feathery exteriors lurk souls of icy steel.

You know what? I always thought a raptor was a type of dinosaur until I just looked it up and realized I'm thinking of velicorapators!!! Derp!

It did seem odd to me that a dinosaur would be out squirrel-hunting in 2018....

Our dogs use to bring us gifts of rabbits and squirrels from the woods. Once they had killed a raccoon in the woods. It was about a 40 lb raccoon or bigger, it was so heavy. My DH and I carried it back from the woods and DH skinned it, we roasted it for the dogs, over an open fire outdoors and the dogs had a wonderful treat. We figured if they killed it, we shouldn't let it go to waste and so they had a meal of it. Funny thing, the raccoon meat roasting smelled really good. So if I was starving, maybe.....

err...sorry about that...I see mally is right.It's Raptor,not Rapture...woops!
And Send,Your'e right,a total of 2 squirrels lost themselves,but at different times.

Mally, that must be it.

My JackRussell "Rascal" brought me squirrels,
a rat and a bunny. Such lovely gifts, he was such a generous dog. His sister "Ruckus" was a lap dog. I'm glad my cats don't go out. Got my Chewy order this afternoon. New litter boxes,
litter and lots of cat food....7 boxes in all.
I told the cats the Chewy boxes were new toys.
So far two paws up for speedy delivery.

Raptor?

So there were two squirrels taken by a rapture.

No Send,A Rapture Bird Predator,like the one that chases away all my birds in my "Bird tree".
I thought it might be a Rapture because one other time,there was half an eaten squirrel in the back yard and I put a Frisbee over it and went to get a sack and this giant bird swooped down and took the part squirrel and flew off with it from under the Frisbee and my dH told me it was a Rapture.

lol.

Hands lifted high?

Lu,
Are you saying that the squirrel hands were raptured?

And I'll take a squirrel's hand anyday over a Bunny Butt~

I kinda thought that maybe a Rapture was watching and he came in and stole it,because it was gone so fast,but who brought it,I don't know.Maybe it was the Father of my kittens or like Send thinks,a possum.

Our ferals used to leave "bunny butts" in the garage. I chose to think they were thank you gifts for taking care of them!

Luckylu,
So that is nature behaving badly.
I feel really bad for the squirrel that belonged to those hands.
Guess I will be stopping feeding the squirrel now, because if that
happened to Ratatouille, I would be devastated.
CWillie was right, that I am overly sensitive. Letting nature happen,
but not on my watch.

She has a better chance out there in nature, not eating on my porch, imo.
I would never be able to choose between a cat, a squirrel, or a bird.

Thanks for the warning about how nature works with squirrels.
However, I choose to believe it was more likely a possum.


.

I don't know if it was a cat behaving badly or if it was being nice,bringing me a "Present",but when I went down the ramp this morning in the garage,there at the bottom of it was a squirrel's hand.....just the hand,so I went to get my dH to show him and when we got out there,it was gone!

Gershun, I could just picture your cats "nice try" look. I had yellow lab brothers, the one was 😲😲😲throw the ball😲😲😲throw the ball😲😲😲 and his brother would give you the look that said "you threw it, you go get it". My mom thought we just didn't engage with him, so she was going to show us how to treat him. She was honored by plug to hold his chew rope while he chewed something else, that was his way of showing acceptance, so she throws the rope - go get it boy. He huffs and ever sooo slowly walks out, looking at her the entire time. Over the shoulder stare as he "retrieves" his toy. Then ever sooo slowly walks back, still staring at her. He intentionally walks around her and goes put his toy in his bed. Looking at her the entire time. He goes and gets the chew he had to leave because she threw his rope out in the yard, he picks it up, kinda huffs again and turns his back on her. We still laugh, he was sooo annoyed and it was communicated sooo well, no one wondered what he was thinking. He also never let her touch his toys again. How dare her, what she thinks I'm a dog or something!

Now that we are receiving so much home support (2-3x per day, every day), and getting so many new workers in, young Bruce has decided his role is that of official greeter and helper cat!

He meets each one at the door after I buzz them into the building.  If they pay attention to him, or if he knows them already, he follows them everywhere and winds himself all around the room while they're helping mom. Then he waits by the door so they will say good-bye before they leave.

If they don't pay attention to him or just aren't animal people, he will just sit and watch while they help mom.  And doesn't even wait for a good-bye!

On respite days, mom is asleep most of the time, so if they are animal people, he will hang out with them and nap within a foot or two of wherever they end up sitting.  Even the total strangers.

He even has his favourites! Of course, those are the workers who "ooh and ahh" over his great beauty, AND play with him, AND give him a proper cuddle....

Zelda - are we neighbours? Lol! I have a neighbour who takes her cat out in a stroller from time to time! 

Ali
Did your new cats 🐱 pick you yet?

I used to take a cat or two for a walk around the neighborhood. I have a cat stroller for them.
Seemed to enjoy it. Don't have a lot of time
right now, but now that spring is here maybe
we 'll get out again. Going to turn our three season porch into a dedicated space for the cats.
Shopping for a large cat tree. My son is coming to help move the couch and chairs out. Also need to explore litter box options. They are so
spoiled!! 😺 😼 😸 😽

Send - I spoke too soon. It's all chilly and clouded over this morning!

Mally,
They are such good company! 

Dorienne,
Happy that you have some spring weather!  As I am writing, it is pouring down rain in So. California.  Yay Bruce!

Young Bruce got his first "real" taste of the outdoors today. While mom was at dialysis, I put him in his harness and took him over to meet one of my dear friends. It was (finally!) a nice enough day that we could sit in the backyard for a bit. Friend found a skinny rope in her truck and tied it to his harness, so he could explore some of the yard.

He didn't go to far from me. But he did manage to wind himself quite intricately around the legs of several folding camp chairs! And got to eat some grass for the first time....

Funny how grass-eating is instinctual in cats!

Send, my cats are trained to do several things - mostly stuff that makes things easier for me. When I say "eat" they hop to their feed dishes, "Go see Squeaky" means down to the basement rec room to spend time with the one who can't come up; alternately he gets the dog for company. If someone harasses another; either I say "Stop that!" and they do, or, if the dog's upstairs, she goes and breaks it up, then they quit. One gets in the cabinet now and then; I say "Stop it Charlie!" and he walks away; lots of stuff they know and DO.... much as any dog, I believe.

It is only a matter of time until another cat, or the same one that visited shows up at my door, so I am waiting.....already bought some food and treats. But cats are free-roaming, the animal control officer said. So, maybe I could not keep it inside, maybe it belongs to someone. We'll see.

Gershun, the dog whisperer would recommend taking your cat on the treadmill at the gym. Or, have a smaller treadmill at home? I guess you would have to train it. I don't know if one can train cats, I thought they trained their owners.

Ordering online would be a great idea for Luckylu! Setting up an automatic, regular delivery might work, because she has several pets. I hope she reads the post about CHEWY, ff.

My two cats are brothers. They are pretty bonded. We had a bit of a health scare with one of them and I hated to think of how the other would have reacted if something bad had happened.

Ali, one of them is a real roly poly. Gigantic actually. We've been told that it's not if he gets diabetes but when if we don't get him to lose some weight. So although chubby is cute it's not healthy. He is sooo lazy too. All he wants to do is eat and cuddle. Male neutered inside cats generally get chubby. I think they need to start opening gyms for cats with personal trainers, the whole bit, cause when I drag a string around for him he just gives me this pitying look like he's thinking "nice try"