Iggi came in and crashed out. Sleeping in a chair nearby he suddenly sat up, gave two heaves & on the third, projectile (2 feet) vomits a rat and some kibbles. He wanders back outside. Ugh! I get the toilet tissue and sponge out to clean up. Yuk.

Next night: Well, another day, another rodent. Moments ago Iggi scrambled in the cat window with a fresh squealer in his mouth. Through the living room he bolts to his current Corner of Death. Lots of squeaking got Scrappy in a tizzy; it took a while for Scrap to realize where the action is. Iggi caught and released the rat a couple times, but got distracted as Scrap entered the Corner.

The rat took this moment to duck and hide- I think under the edge of my pillow pile. Bob appears, looming large, saying, "I hate this, I hate this" while staring toward the Corner of Death. "Good grief! Why are you watching, honey??" Bob goes to the kitchen, back to his vegetable soup project.

"Boy! is this ever going to be an interesting night!" crosses my mind. Scrappy and Iggi have this amazing dual species "tag team" approach to hunting the rodents Iggi releases in the house.

Scrappy's role is finding and flushing the rat out of hiding. He'll patiently watch, sniff, dig through my pillows, pull CD's & books off the shelves- you name it. Iggi's thing is the kill. That final pounce. Oh he eats them head first, leaving nothing behind.

The most amazing part of their relationship hunting is that Iggi shares the prey with Scrappy. Once the rat is dead, he lets Scrappy pick it up and shake it wildly! After Scrap gets his chance at being the mighty hunter, Iggi takes it back and munches down. You'd swear someone was eating a bag of crunchy potato chips- that's how it sounds. For days afterward Scrappy goes to the very same place Iggi and he last had the rat, then with great pleasure, pomp and circumstance, rolls around the rug on his back!

Scrappy was just digging in the pillows looking for the rat. Iggi sits watching for it to bolt by, decided to go back outside, leaving Scrappy on his own with the prey for now but gets a bit distracted because Bob is cooking- and usually Scrap wants to be where the food is happening. He's trotting back and forth from kitchen to where he thinks the rat is. He's sitting on top of my pillow, next to me, all senses on high alert watching listening sniffing the air for the rat. He's ALIVE with predator seeking prey pleasure. He LOVES this action.

I hope Iggi doesn't bring another in before the current rat is dealt with. Sometimes I catch them for re-release outside- but not until I know where it is, and the critter frenzy abates. Scrap is doing another sweep snout-wise of the area- then breaks to do "border patrol" in the kitchen. I've never seen cooking and a released rat happen in the house at the same time.

When Scrappy and Iggi were hunting a rat a couple years back, as I sat on my pillow typing, the rat, just flushed from hiding by Scrap, ran across my shoulders! It dove under a plant stand to avoid Iggi who was ready to pounce. If it gets too hectic I'll take a shower and go to bed and leave the critters to do their thing.

Well the tag team didn't find this rat. Juliette has taken the matter in her paws. ALL DAY she's been sitting in the kitchen, staring at the stove. Later that night I hear sounds of multi species interaction. A squeal- about 30 minutes later the cats and Scrap come to snuggle with me. I'm not sure what transpired- but the kitchen isn't the interesting place to be anymore...

Oh, next day, Iggi and yet another rat! This time there's no play. He eats it right then. Bob said it sounds like he's eating a pickle.

I guess the rats have moved on. All Iggi did last night was sleep and go to the kitchen to the top of the fridge to eat. Kibble. Yay!