apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

thats really sad.

It is not sad, it is natural.

I woke up this morning to find our cats standing over the dried-out body of an earthworm. I don't know where it came from, since we have no earth in the apartment. Perhaps it came in on somebody's shoe.

This leaves me with unanswered questions, such as, "Was the earthwork alive when they found it?" and "How long does something have to be dead before it loses moisture like that?" I had had similar questions a few months ago when I awoke to find them batting around a dried-out dead waterbug.

And the thing is, when you go "Ew!" and take the corpse away in a paper towel, the cats get resentful. "Hey! That was ours! Boy, that's the last time we make you a gift."

Sad or not, it does happen, and I think that cat's face is hilarious.

Lovely, elegant kitty! I agree that a home is much warmer and loving when we share it with our beloved furbabies.

No offense to all the cat owners out there...but where are all the dog photos? I love my dog and I know there are tons of dog people who live in apartments and I want to see their photos too! But I can understand that keeping a dog, even a very small one, in a 3rd floor or higher apartment can be a pain. I guess cats are just more apartment friendly since they don't have to go outside for walkies. Viva las furbabies!

mendoza has an out-of-print book that's worth seeking out. great pics of ernie but other stuff (including a college loan letter) that's hilarious.

I remember when I was 12 years old, I was doing homework at my desk, and saw my dad on the way to the bathroom. He then stopped, looked down, and picked up a dried salamander that we had "lost". I'll never forget his face as he peered at it while holding it by the tail, as if he were trying to determine if it was real or one of my toys.

Cam, there's nothing natural about a domestic cat eating the local indigineous wildlife. Were this a pic of an ecosystem functioning, then it would be natural.

I vote for sad.

Thankyou Josie!! I work at a wildlife rehab center and about 90% of the wildlife brought in were injured by people's pet cats. Trust me, its sad.

Ernie - What have you been up to all these years? Nice to see Medoza's photography again. The book is definitely worth seeking out and even has a couple of dog photos for Monica.

Reminds me of the cat I had when I was in highschool. She went after baby birds and rabbits. Liked leave them on the porch rather than bring them in the house thankfully.

title.
'spaghetti face'

What a face of satisfaction!
I remember my moms cat chatter jawed, foaming at the mouth, sitting on the dining room table staring at the bird feeder. There was the knowledge that she knew that that there was glass separating her from her intended prey, until instinct to over and she leapt head first into the window. Hysterical. (Only thing injured was Pookie’s pride)

We had a cat who did the same thing, and I had never seen him look embarrassed before--this was an unmistakable expression on his face.

I realize we've got an Ernie book somewhere, too.

it's a present for ernie's 'keeper'. my cat did it all the time, only she left the kills under my mum's bed. ernie looks proud.

Um, since when are humans (and their pets) NOT part of the ecosystem? Mankind is as natural as a redwood or a blue whale. The distinction that places man on one side and nature on the other is what is artifical and unnatural.

Mankind is just an organism and the planet is her habitat.

I think her point is that a dometic cat is not part of the ecosystem, given that it's provided with food and is taken out of its place in nature. It does not have to kill to survive (although they obviously kill anyway)

Yeah, I really wish someone would explain to the kitties that they're not part of the ecosystem and should not be chasing birdies.

Only problem I have with this photograph is the dead bird. It takes away my whole focus of looking at the feline in the photo.

My point was that they are not a part of the natural ecosystem. There are natural US predators that eat birds without destroying entire populations of native songbirds, but sadly the cat is not one of them.

If we could implant them with a chip that would only let them eat house sparrows and starlings that would be great, but housecats are a major force in the destruction of American songbirds, who are not evolved to deal with them.

Continents have their own prey/predator relationships and you can't move them about without destroying delicate eco-systems. Australia, anyone? Or Hawaii? Just because its natural for an ecosystem to have a carnivore does not make every carnivore appropriate.