I was surprised one day, when my friend called me to say that Bud had consented and let her get two kittens. Two OUTDOOR kittens, of course. A male and a female--brother and sister. They lived on a little piece of property out in the country and Bud had decided it might be a good idea to have the cats to keep the critters at bay. After about 6 months, I spoke with Bud and Lisa about the cats. They were down to only one cat, Lisa sadly reported to me. The female was a valuable hunter. The male had been lazy and hunted nothing. Bud had kept the female, but the male had been sent somewhere else to live. He had not "proven his worth," and had suffered the consequences.
That was a long time ago. I still think about that. A cat was only valuable to Bud if it killed things. Otherwise, it was worthless. No, Bud still isn't a cat lover. He never came around. This is not a story of his transformation.
I used to think about his view of a valuable cat when I had my cat, Billy Bob. Billy Bob would come across our backyard from the woods, sometimes twice a day carrying a little mole in his mouth. The neighbor would be out in her backyard gardening and see Billy Bob and comment on what a good hunter he was. I would tell Billy Bob he was "proving his worth." We have had many cats over the years whom I have loved. Some hunted. Some did not. I loved them all. One day, Billy Bob was getting up in years and he had an abcessed tooth. I had to take him to the vet to get it removed. He never hunted again. He spent his last 3 years mostly indoors, but I would tell him all the time that it was ok. He had "proven his worth," and now he could rest. Billy Bob passed away in December 2015.
Now we have three cats. We have Goldie, who is 8. She used to hunt some, but now she is very fat and stays close to the house. We have Alice, who is a princess and is afraid of mice. And we have Nibby. I have written about Nibby before. He brought us 9 snakes last year. The snakes were still alive, but he kills other things ALL THE TIME. On Christmas Eve this past year, when it was an astonishing 75 degrees in East Tennesse, he laid a mouse on the windowsill for me. Merry Christmas.
Yesterday, I walked outside and counted four little brown creatures littered across the driveway. Mouse or mole carcasses. Oh, yeah, there was one bird, too. I got a shovel and proceeded to pick them up and remove them. Nibby followed me meowing his head off. I guess I wasn't supposed to move them. I put them back down in one neat pile far from the house. Nibby doesn't just leave these surprises for me. He occasionally litters the next door neighbor's yard with his kills, too.
I apologize if this story is too graphic for some. I am only trying to show that if a cat's worth is measured by his/her ability to kill, then Nibby is worth his weight in gold. Actually, he is worth more than his weight in gold. And yes, I tell him so. I tell him often that he has proven his worth.
(This was written by my daughter, Karen)
