Last night I heard the most pathetic little mewing from outside the house.  I rushed out to find out what was wrong with my poor Riley-schnoogums.  He came running when I opened the door.  This is also unusual since he usually requires an engraved invitation to come inside.  As he rushed back I noticed that he had a bit of fluff on his chin.  I turned to see what (or who) it was when he stopped in the middle of the rug, opened his mouth, and spit out a mouse.  He then laid down beside it to watch it.  It was twitching.

The house rules state that no prey comes inside.  Prey is not takeout and live rodents are not pets for the cats – therefore they don’t come inside.  He often wants to bring in live birds which he thinks is acceptable because birds live in the house. 

I grabbed the mouse in a towel take it outside to die in peace.  It was the principle.  When I got it out I realized that it was just stunned from being caught, held in a cat’s mouth like Jonah and the Whale, spit out, recaught, and carried upside down (sorry) back outside.  I wished him well and told him to hightail it out of the yard if he didn’t want to get caught again.  Then I went back to continue shouting obscenities at Riley.