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| A cricket on the back of my shoe |
It's the time of the year that we seem to see and hear crickets everywhere. They're outside, they're at work, and they are certainly in our house. Quite a few of them as a matter of fact, especially in the basement. And that's where the fun begins.
A cricket hops, and the cats alert. Their ears go up and the tails start twitching. Annie, the lead hunter, moves closer to her prey and watches carefully for its next move. The cricket hops and she deftly swats it in mid air. They play that game for a little while. It hops, she swats. It hops, she swats. Then she lets it crawl behind a piece of furniture. Leo sees this as an opportunity, and moves in to be a part of the game. He waits as Annie pulls the cricket out with her mouth and drops it on the floor. Leo pokes the cricket to get it to hop again. With Leo and Annie watching, the cricket crawls into a floor grate to rest. Lucky now joins the game as they all wait for the cricket to emerge. The cricket finally comes out and somehow manages to crawl around the room, with three cats hunting it, and escapes under the door.
All the while, Ward and I are watching and marveling at the interaction among the cats and the interaction between the cricket and the cats. Entertainment for One and All and maybe even the cricket that got away.
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| Annie, Leo, and Lucky waiting for the cricket to emerge. |
I would have enjoyed sharing this with you. I love watching pets and nature interact. I have two stories that come to mind and always make me smile. Our dog (a beagle) used to eat any spider he found, except daddy long legs. He would play with them gently, lay down with them and try to keep them with him. Our lab, who never grew up, would protect any mouse that got in our house. He would act like it was his baby, mothering it by keeping it safely in his sight (usually cornered) and push us away if we tried to get near. Any time either dog did found one of these, everyone in the family would be alerted by whom ever spotted it first so we could all watch.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Who knows why your dogs were protecting the spider and the mice. The only time a mouse survives around here is if Ward catches it before the cats do. Overall though, we just let the cats follow their natural instincts. Since they are indoor cats, we consider anything that makes in from outside, enrichment activity for them. I never worry about getting rid of the creepy-crawlies for this reason. Although I will have to admit that I've never been much bothered by bugs. If I were, I think I might be a bit more aggressive in getting rid of them.
DeleteI had a cat who used to catch grasshoppers during the day, and pile them up under a chair in my room. At night I could hear her munching away. Grasshoppers are quite crunchy!
ReplyDeleteI wonder why she saved them up until night to eat. My cats eat the bugs as they get them. However, I did have a cat who piled up socks and made a "nest" with them. The first time I discovered them, she had already amassed probably a couple of dozen. This time it wasn't the dryer to blame for our missing socks.
DeleteLook at this cute cats :) I remember growing up we would always get crickets in our house at this time, and they just freaked out our dog. It took him a few years to get used to it!
ReplyDeleteOur cats get freaked out by strangers.
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