As you know, we are besieged by voles and mice, though Ray's persistence seems to have eradicated the ones in the house. We had put the word out that we are looking for a mouser. Bear had already killed the resident cat who lived here when we arrived and he killed a second one who wandered in and tried to set up residence. We knew we would have to carefully introduce him to the idea that the cat would be a valuable part of the family.
Well, our mother and daughter neighbours up the road called on Thursday and said that a friend of theirs was looking for a home for a cat. Apparently a very good mouser who doesn't mind mostly living in the barn and not being a pet. We said sure. I went to Tekoa and bought cat food. We set up a kitty litter station and figured we would keep the cat in our back porch for a few days until Bear got used to the idea of co-existing with a cat (the way he figured out that chickens were off-limits for his hunting instincts).
I was expecting a scraggly, half-wild cat, but Mia is a very pretty tabby who smells nice and lets people pet her. She seemed to like the place immediately and explored all the corners and got a whiff of mice hiding in the cracks.. I picked her up and took her for a walk around the property so she would know where she was. When we got close to Bear, she stiffened and dug her claws into my (thick) jacket and hissed at him. Bear was unfazed, just his usual friendly self. I thought everything went well.
This morning (Saturday), I heard the phone ringing at 7:00 a.m. I was awake but lounging around in bed. I wondered what crisis was prompting someone to call that early on Saturday morning! It was my neighbour being very apologetic. She said that the cat's owner had neglected to tell her children that Mia was going to a new home. Apparently they were inconsolable and would we mind terribly if they came and got the cat back, the sooner the better. So by 8:00 a.m. our cat was gone, after being here only 16 hours. I'm actually quite sad because she was a delightful cat and I understand why the children were upset.
So it wasn't Bear after all. I guess we'll have to try again later, as there is plenty of food for a good mouser.
