Litti jagt

Sometimes, when Monika and Dieter go out of town, if they are leaving really early in the morning, they ask me to come over the night before so Litti is doesn't get stressed out when he wakes up in the morning and no one is there. I wouldn't want to traumatize the poor cat, and it really makes no difference to me so of I oblige.

First of all, there has been a change in the way Litti goes outside. Recently, there was a letter posted in Monika and Dieter's apartment to all cat owners. It stated that all cats were to remain inside and not in the garden. This does not stop Monika and Dieter. So now, they wait until dark, and only put the cat ladder down from balcony for long enough for Litti to climb down. Then it goes back inside (and the lights can come on again). Then in a half an hour or so, the cat comes back.

The last time I came over the night before, I was watching TV with Monika while we waited for Litti to come back inside for the night. It was getting late; late enough for an 'Erotic Thriller' to come on TV. Erotic Thrill means a scary movie that involves really really graphic sex scenes. This one in particular was from the US, called Killing Me Softly, and it stared the same guy who played Martin Luther in the movie Luther. So that was a little awkward. But anyway, Monika made a joke about how Litti was probably out hunting mice, and that's way he's taking so long. I laughed, and went back to awkwardly watching Martin Luther break some more commandments.

Fast forward to the next evening. Since it was dark, Litti was allowed outside and I was upstairs on the computer gchatting to Miki. I went down to check outside, and found Litti looking up at me, patiently waiting for the ladder to be lowered so he could climb inside. Nothing out of the ordinary here. I returned to the computer room and continued my conversation. Then Litti started meowing. He probably just quickly got something to eat and now wants to go outside. Well it was late, and I was planning to go to bed soon, so I just ignored the noise. But the little bugger was persistent, and I finally went downstairs to play with Litti using one of the many cat toys. He likes that too and will probably be happy with just that. So I go downstairs, and there he is sitting regally, like a lion. I swear, he was smiling proudly and at his feet was a dead mouse. Luckily it was dead because I was in no mood to chase a mouse around the house. So I pet him and said what a good boy he was from bringing me a mouse, and he seemed very content.

Well it was late, and I figured they have soap in their house, so I thought 'what's the harm?' and picked up the dead mouse by the tail to dispose of the poor creature. That is not a smart thing to do in front of the cat that just killed it. I had lifted it maybe two inches off the floor when Litte batted it out of my hand and immediately drew it close to his body, keeping it from me. 'Come on', I tried again to get the mouse. This only prompted him to start chewing on it. I know it's just a mouse, but hearing the crunch of bones while watching something eat is really disgusting.

I went to the kitchen to investigate what could be useful in this situation. I settled on a napkin and a ziplock bag. Upon return to the carnivorous animal, I decided to direct my attention to the cat, and ignore the mouse. I began petting Litti and he soon stopping gnawing and turned slightly away from the now ripped open carcass. I got out a cat toy to get him even farther away, and while he was distracted, I threw the napkin over the mouse. Now it was out of sight from the beast. I wasn't sure how keen of a sense of smell the old cat had, but I took my chances. I ended or play session and stood to go nonchalantly, hoping Litti would do the same. Success! He went to this water dish. So I easily scooped up the napkin-mouse combination with my ziplock bag glove and deposited it in the trash can. Germans separate their trash quite a bit, and I was tempted to put it into the bio container. But I decided on the general Restmüll.

It's a jungle out there.