Scratch 1 Rat

I didn't have a chance to get to the store today and had run out of canned cat food but I kept plenty of dry food in the dish. By night I started feeling sorry for the kitties so I cooked 3 chicken patties, two for me and one I cut up for the gang. Blackie & Hairy loved it just fine. In fact Blackie wanted more. Brownie, however, was not impressed.

I came out later to toss the paper plate on which I had presented the chicken and low & behold there was Brownie sitting in the litter box. Apparently Yesterday's News cat litter has now become today's cat bedding. LOL

Well I'm not sure what to do. I had wanted the cats to start using a litter box so they wouldn't be using the yard. In fact today there was even a dropping left by someone in the carport. Not sure by who. Brownie just looks so happy laying in the Yesterday's News so it looks like time to just give in and to start looking for a new litter that they might use in a different box.

Oh yes, I mentioned the rat. So tonight I came out to check on the kitties and there in the flower bed by the carport, laying among the Wandering Jews, was a good sized lifeless rat, fully intact. I have never seen a rat near my house in all the years since I have had a home here so it was something of a surprise. Maybe it's partly due to all the digging by the county down by the storm ditch down the road. Or perhaps it's from so many homes left abandoned thanks to the housing crisis. Who knows? It's not been that uncommon of late to see a home's entire contents dumped out into the front yard to sit there for some time. Can't help but believe that's not good for rodent abatement.

I dismissed Hairy as my hero due to being declawed. So I thanked Blackie & Brownie and thought how lucky I had been to be free of rodents before the kitties came my way. I should also recap that as I shared several weeks ago Blackie had caught a mouse but did not spare the remains. ;-)

So I'm thinking it is Brownie that I can thank for protecting the homestead today. Just sorry I didn't have any kittie treats on hand as a reward.