Our cat, Olive, tends to be a little, shall we say, quirky! She’s the kind of cat who will come up, rub around your leg and then turn and take a chunk out of that leg.
She’s at least 8 years old now, maybe older, and has always stood her ground against the new puppies. She seems to have a curious relationship with them: either she stalks them or they stalk her.
She’s also a good hunter. The other day I looked up to see the two dogs on the deck, carefully observing Olive, who was eating a small dead rodent right under their noses.
I wasn’t at all clear why Olive was doing this, but today I think I can explain it. You see, a short time ago I looked up to see yet another small dead rodent on the deck. Olive was sitting calmly a couple of metres away, while Oshi investigated the rodent.
At that point I realised: the other day Olive was teaching the youngsters what to do with a dead rodent. Today she had provided. It was up to the young ‘uns to accept this gift and eat. It’s a matriarch thing.
Unfortunately for Olive this wasn’t on my list of approved activities for dogs, so the dead rodent soon disappeared to the rubbish bin. Oshi will just have to amuse himself chewing on the rather large bone on the back lawn.
