Sometimes Even Seeing Is not Believing

by Tiffany Joslin
(England, AR)

Cat playing with toy mouse

Hello there. I am a huge cat lover. I've had them all of my life, and I currently have 11! When our 2nd oldest came to live with us, she was supposed to be 6 weeks old, but it became suddenly clear that she was more like 3-4 weeks old. So, I immediately went into "Mommy Mode."

Lil' Bit, as she's become known, spent ALL of her time on my shoulder, suckling my earlobe and "paw-padding" either side of my neck. That, along with a milk supplement, did the trick as far as keeping her feeling happy and safe.

When she was about 6 months old, she did something that I have a hard time believing to this day, even though I saw it with my own eyes!
We came home from the store after purchasing a few items, a new package of catnip mice among them. The moment we came through the door, Lil' Bit was right there. She went straight to the bag that had the mice and started digging.

So, I got the mice out of the bag and began opening the package. I barely got a hold of one of the tails when she jumped up, grabbed it from me and ran.

Well, the package had quite a few mice in it. So, after giving a couple more to Lil' Bit and a few to her sister, I put the rest of them in a plastic zip bag and put them in a drawer in the kitchen.

Over the course of the next few days, my husband and I began to notice that there were more and more mice lying around. I went to the drawer to see how many were still in the plastic bag, but the bag was gone.

We assumed that one of us must have left the drawer open, or even dropped the bag out of the drawer by mistake.

So, next trip to the store, we bought a new package of catnip mice. After going through basically the same reception we had gotten previously with mice in tote, I again put the remainder in a bag in the kitchen drawer.

The next day, my husband came up to me and said, "Be very quiet and follow me." He led me into the hallway, right outside the kitchen door. Without going into the kitchen, we peeped around the corner to look in.

There was Lil' Bit. Here's what that little stinker was doing.
#1 - She opened the cabinet underneath the drawer with her paw.
#2 - She climbed into the cabinet in order to get up under the drawer.
#3 - She pushed against the underside of the drawer with both paws, until the drawer came open.
#4 - She climbed out of the cabinet and up onto the counter top above the drawer.
#5 - She reached down into the drawer with her paw, in a sort-of swatting motion, until the bag of mice popped up and fell out onto the floor.
From here, you obviously need no further explanation.

Like I said, I did see it, and I still can barely believe it! By the way, she is now about 3 1/2 years old, and she still suckles my earlobes at bedtime. I hope she never stops!