Givers of Gifts

If you've ever had a cat, you know that they like to bring you gifts.  Often - very often - these gifts are not to our liking, however the cat is always extremely proud of its generosity.  The most common gifts that we get in this house from Clawde and Purrkins are of the rodent variety.  While I do appreciate the enthusiasm, I don't always appreciate the manner in which the gift is given.

Nip & Tuck, the ornamental cats. 
It's the glowing demon eyes that will fool you.



My two previous cats, Nip and Tuck, were the ornamental cats.  They were lovely cats, and cat-like in almost every way that they should be, except that they were useless at hunting.  My apartment in Edmonton had hot water heating and the pipes ran through the wall between apartments, so there was a very tiny gap around the heating in the wall between my bedroom and the neighbour's bedroom.  Not enough to notice if you are human, but an invitation to wander if you are a hamster it seems.

Unbeknownst to me, the neighbour's hamster had made it's way into my apartment through my bedroom, past my three cats (I had my parent's cat Fred living with me at the time.  Fred was quite old, so he is forgiven and is not included in this 'outing' of ornamental cats.  He was a great hunter in his day.), across the hall and under the gap into the linen cupboard in my bathroom.  In the very back corner I found a lovely little hamster-sized nest, full of fluff and all things 'nest-y' and a decent stash of dry cat food.  It was quite obvious that, like Rome, this hamster haven was not built in a day.

One morning while still in bed (let's face it, most likely hung over, I was in my early/mid 20's) I happened to look down and see the above-mentioned hamster running like the wind across the golden carpet of my boudoir.  Nip, Tuck and Fred were all having a lazy morning with me, as cats are prone to do, and watched that little fluffball run to it's cozy little nest.  It was definitely a hamster, a fat little black and white hamster. 

I managed to scoop the little guy up and return him to his rightful home.  I didn't know where he lived at the time, but my first hunch was correct.  As I scolded the hamster-mother on the dangers that her hamster had been exposed to, she looked horrified that it had survived the gauntlet of three cats, not just once but over several of these escapades.  I'm not sure why she let her hamster run loose - I'm pretty sure most people don't do that.  That's just weird.

Nip, the giver of toys

While Nip may have been a useless hunter, she still had part of that urge to gift me.  The gift was always the same.  When they were kittens, one of their toys was a stuffed mouse, complete with ears, nose, eyes and tail.  Named Miss Mousy, it became Nip's favourite toy and over the years lost all appendages and most of her stuffing.  It didn't matter what room I was in, Nip would utter the familiar cry of 'I have something for you!' and trot into the room, dropping Miss Mousy at my feet.  So treasured was this gift that I packed it up when I moved to Australia.  It was waiting for her when she got out of quarantine, and she still carried that thing around until the end of her days.  They are still together in that special spot in our backyard.

As I said, my current two cats are abundant gift givers.  As I lay in bed at night, I can often hear the particular meow that a cat makes when it has a particularly lovely present in it's mouth.  I then have to scramble out of bed to shut the cat door (you know, the cat door that they don't like to use, but LOVE to use when they have a treat for me).  Often I sleep through the announcement and wake to it being made very loudly from under my bed.  A quick rub of my eyes and a lunge for the flashlight are all I need to leap out of bed to try and remove the cat and/or gift. 

I can't tell you how many times I have woken up to this scenario, grabbed the cat (still holding on tightly with its jaws to its treasure), thrown the cat outside and triumphantly jumped back in to bed, only to be woken up 5 minutes later because I forgot to shut the cat door, and the cat has triumphantly brought me the gift once again.  Eventually I either remember to close all entrances, or I get hold of the little creature and dispose of it.

Believe me, Clawde has a particular expression of horror and disgust as he watches me flush his sumptuous little mouse down the toilet (it's good for our septic system apparently).  He probably wonders why I put his gift/snack down the hole were I put my wee!  We humans must be pretty gross in their eyes.

At the end of the day, all of these cats, and any future cats, give me the best gift of all.  Thanks Hesiod, Max, Fred, Purrcie, Nip, Tuck, Ginger, Clawde and Purrkins for being all things Cat, you have enriched my life more than you'll ever know.




Clawde and Purrkins taking a break from gift-giving.