Tabby on Duty

On the way home from Peru I picked up Kara's cat. Her near 5 years with him was enough and she was ready to be pet free. I was actually loving the fact that we were pet free and we had no intentions on getting a pet until the mice and voles started to infest the yard and window wells due to the rain and spring melt off. In one day my boys killed 26 mice so we knew we needed to do something or they were going to eventually get in the house. I'd rather have a cat than mice. Harrison (the cat) was a great choice. Kara had already taken care of his shots and declawing him as well as training and growing him out of the kitten stage (which I really can't stand). Though he was mostly an inside cat at Kara's, he's mostly an outside cat with us. However, he is in no way lacking in lovin' just because he spends most of his time outside. I think he gets more love than any of our previous cats because he is so easy going and good to let the kids maul him.

Harrison is great at the catching and killing part of his job. However, he doesn't eat the mice. He likes to show that he is earning his keep and leaves them for us on the porch or patio. Now we are finding them dead in the yard, probably because it is too much trouble for him to haul them all to the porch. In one afternoon LeRoy and Nathan hunted down and disposed of 14 mice and then did it again the next day. Our neighbor three houses down commented that she has started to have mice left on her porch and in her yard so evidently he is taking care of the whole neighborhood, not just us.



From these pictures you can see that the 3 youngest boys absolutely love him. He gets plenty of attention around here and is good enough to take all the yanking, spanking and slobbering that Hyrum gives him. You can also see that he isn't the most modest of creatures and we all have a really hard time looking at him without laughing when we find him napping in the hallway. The picture of Harrison and Nathan laying on the floor gives you an idea of his size. He is a big cat!



Harrison's size doesn't stop Nathan from dragging him around (which he is very patient to go along with). Nathan picks him up like this and will walk him upstairs, around the house, where ever he feels like taking him. It is so funny to see the cat walking with Nathan, his little paws just trying to keep up. With all the man handling that Nathan does he also does a great job taking care of the cat by making sure that he has food and water every day. Of course, the cat prefers to drink from the sink in the bathroom so Nathan will push the stopper down, put some water in and let him get a drink. The next time you come to my house you may find paw prints in the bathroom sink.