this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
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Like a dog peeing on the floor, dropping a mouse on the bed has to happen once so they can figure out it's unwanted. Unfortunately. The impulse is sweet, though - she was sharing food and play with me - so it's just a silly story I share about her, now. She was such a great little hunter. I had her as a kitten in an old house, and she leapt to the challenge of taking care of the slight mouse problem. Or, supplementing the household's food, as perhaps she saw it. When we moved from that house to one with a serious mouse problem, she became the hardest worker there. That memory, once the sheets were clean, became a cherished one. She cared about my well being, and giving me food was a way of showing me I was part of her cat family.
How did you tell her not to do it again?
Tough to remember, but I was loud and nonviolent, based on what i know about myself. If you see a kitten bite another kitten too hard, they yell out. I try to go "OW" when I'm training a young one not to bite, and then move away (fun time is now over). A mama cat will bat a kitten's ears for misbehaving, but I don't do that. I mostly suspect I didn't react how her instincts said I should (i didn't hunt and play with it and then eat it). Combined with the loud noise, it wasn't something worth trying again. Could've just been a coincidence, because it's not like training them out of biting where there's a clear progression to gentler biting and then licking and then a little pause when my hand is where she would normally bite it.