Killer Cat

[RSKY]

As per my post on the neighborhood problem with squirrels we are being overrun by the pesky critters.

Not too many years ago we didn't have that problem because of my daughter's 'killer cat'.

We started out with two kittens, one for each daughter. Due to a mixup attaching the flea collers the tom ended up being called Pinky, and the female Bluey. The tom was a very large cat and apparently was a fierce fighter. Very few dogs ventured through our yard. He would lay out in the front yard and when a dog would approach the fur would stand up on his back, the end of his tail would start twitching, and a rough rumble would come from his throat. As long as there were not more than two mid sized dogs the cat would stand his ground. Many a dog left our yard with his tail between his legs. I believe the cat enjoyed the fights.

The guy a couple doors down had a three quarters grown German Shepard that decided to take him on one day and spent the rest of his life with one eye and one ear mostly gone. About a week later the cat died. I still believe he was poisened by the neighbor. As onery as that cat was I can still remember the youngest daughter dragging him around the yard by the tail and he never scratched or bit her. Guess he knew where his Cat Chow came from.

This story isn't about him though.

The other cat wouldn't fight like that. If a dog walked up she would head up the nearest tree and stay there for an hour or so. But, she killed EVERYTHING else smaller than her that walked through her territory. For the years she lived we always had a dead squirrel, mouse, rat, snake, bird, or even moles on the front porch. If we moved her offering away a new one would be there the next morning. Had to quit putting out bird feeders cause the cat would sit under them and kill the birds. We never had squirrels in the trees or moles digging in the yard. That cat was a killer.

One day, for some reason, I shot a squirrel. Picked it up and showed it to my then eight year old youngest daughter. The cat came up and sniffed of it. Seemed satisfied that it was dead and went back to doing whatever cats do. I had my daughter catch the cat and take it into the garage. Then I got out my fishing rod and tied the string around the squirrel under it's front legs, threw it over a tree limb and hollered for the daughter to bring the cat out. As soon as the cat hit the ground I started reeling the squirrel up the tree. Cat went beserk. She attacked the already dead squirrel with a ferocity that was amazing. Actually climbing the tree with her hind legs while tearing fur out of the squirrel with her front claws. Got it by the neck and held on as I reeled over the limb and they both fell to the ground. Daughter thought this was the funniest thing. The cat got off the squirrel, sniffed of it a little and walked away knowing it was dead. I started reeling and the squirrel started 'running' across the ground and the cat attacked again.

I finally got tired of mistreating the dead squirrel and started to untie it but J.J. asked if I would just cut the line about fifteen - twenty feet from Mr. Squirrel. Didn't have an idea what she intended until later when I heard her laughing as she rode by on her bicycle with the squirrel being dragged behind and the stupid cat hanging on tearing fur out for all she was worth. As she rode around the yard the squirrel and cat would roll over and over with first one, then the other on top. I guess the cat thought the squirrel had nine lives or something.

Daughters grew up and got married, moved out of the house but the cat stayed. Coons started getting into her food tray in the garage and she got sick. Vet said she probably had a disease that the coons carried and a young vet gave her the shot that put her down. Gotta admit I shed a small tear as I held her and the life went out of the small grey body.

I would never have thought of the story but when we went to vote this morning we saw and talked to the vet that gave her the shot. Like two thirds of the under forty population in our county my wife had him and his wife as students.

And that is the story of the killer cat and the squirrel that wouldn't die.

 

[KretZ]

That is a good story. We have a couple cats that just last year we started allowing outside a little bit. The older bigger male cat seemed more interested in hunting for birds and other small creatures outside than our little 1 year old fat female cat. But as time went on, the little one turned out to be the better hunter. She employs the stand still and wait technique. She isn't real proficient with finishing the kill though. On a couple different occasions she has wounded a shrew and brought it in the house, left it bleeding, screaming, and s***ing on the kitchen floor. I have had to finish a few in the back yard with a shovel. Although last month I took one of her wounded catches in the backyard to put out of its misery, then tossed it over the back fence into the field behind our house. A few minutes later her big brother (the bigger male cat) came proudly trotting up to the back porch with a distinctly flattened mouse in his jaws and dropped it on the step trying to pass it off as his own kill haha.

 

[texasjohn]

In my experience, female cats are more consistent/aggressive hunters than males. I like the stories.

 

[dmccarty]

...
I finally got tired of mistreating the dead squirrel and started to untie it but J.J. asked if I would just cut the line about fifteen - twenty feet from Mr. Squirrel. Didn't have an idea what she intended until later when I heard her laughing as she rode by on her bicycle with the squirrel being dragged behind and the stupid cat hanging on tearing fur out for all she was worth. As she rode around the yard the squirrel and cat would roll over and over with first one, then the other on top. I guess the cat thought the squirrel had nine lives or something.
...

Is J. J. married? If so did you tell the fiance what sweat little J.J. did with a dead tree rat?

If J. J. is NOT married, I do think it would be right and correct to tell any serious boy friend this story. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Warn the poor guy that the girl might tie a line around his neck and drag him around the yard.

Great story. :thumbsup:

Later,
Dan

 

[RSKY]

She is married and my second grandchild (her first) is on the way. I don't think he would be surprised at the story.

 

[retiredmgn]

Good story. I've always wondered when cats bring back their catch to the porch if it is to share or to show off. Either way, after a while, they come back and eat it.
Had a cat bring back a partridge once. Still warm. I said thank you and took it.

 

[dodge man]

Like others have said, female cats are usually the hunter and the tomcats are the fighters. If you get a male cat fixed, they also tend to be pretty good hunters.

My father-in-law had a lot of barn cats around. They had one cat that was named Snook-ems, that was a male that was fairly tame, but a heck of a fighter. As a rule, it looked like Snook-ems had gotten in a fight with a string trimmer and the string trimmer won, but I always figured in reality somewhere was a dead tom cat.

 

[SPIKER]

when we were kids we had female calico cat "ginger" if I remember right was a heck of a hunter and enjoyed being tossed off the 2nd story roof. She would even jump off all by herself and if there was a dog around she could clear 20+ feet onto the dog. remember her landing on a neighborhood German Shepard's head; clawing, biting and ripping the poor dogs face as it high tailed howling like the cat landed on it of fire from 20,000 feet! ahahah. the dog hit our yards boundary and she hopped off all hunched up like a Halloween cat. the dog never slowed down as it ran out of sight still howling like the cat was still on it. She must have done a pretty good number on it as she trotted back over with a LOT of blood on both paws and face on both sides.

she ended up down into a concrete wash basin (I think one of the neighbors killed her or she was hit) w a lot of flys already eating on her face as it took a while to find her...

some 10 yrs later on oct 31st I found a miserable orange kitten sick and nearly dead. It was out by the tracks outside of town & later I think had been mixed with something other than house cat. Had ear tufts like a lynx & had a 1/2 length tail. He made it to 26 lbs had a head on him that I could barely rub both ears with a hand over his head. he loved to clime in back of my dodge dart and would lay on the package tray with front paws on one side and back paws on other side pushing the headlines flat to the steel... He almost ate my sisters chihuahua one day, stalked & chased him back to her where the cat continued to stalk him & chased her (carrying the dog) back into her car hehehe. He stood up looking at them in car thru the door window licking his chops while she was screaming for help! it was the funniest dang thing with a quick leap he was on the roof of the car looking over the side (upside down) into the crack of her window licking his chops. The passenger side window was open & he bought got in I called him and he came running to me. He used to go hunting with me as he tracked squirrels & rabbits right along side of the dogs. after a few hours he would want up onto my neck being hauled back like he was a kill. He draped legs on each side of my neck and hung on for the mile+ worth of walking back home. He ended up in road & got wacked when he was only 6 or 7 yrs old. Paws on him were huge as well bigger than our doberman/coon hound mix.

Mark

 

[DKCDKC]

Got a calico tom that has free reign of the house and surrounding forest. He brings in the occasional mouse or shrew, and knocks off some songbirds from time to time. We removed the feeders for a time, but he still continued to bring in birds, so we put them back. He lives with our three dogs, but ignores them. Other dogs send him up a tree with great rapidity... Something that has probably saved his life in our coyote-infested woods. He's now about 11 years old, wiry and tough - and good for another 11 years. His closest brush with death was from me - after he jumped up on a high bookshelf and knocked off an antique glass candle shade worth $300, and smashed it. Almost killed him, but let him go on appeal from a higher authority - the wife.