My cat ate his mouse over four days under my bed

This is a little reminder of how close to the wild the domestic cat is. Well, at least my cat is. He’s about as near to the wild as any domestic cat can be.

One night he brought in and consumed four mice. And on another night he brought in a large mouse of which he consumed half that night.

He always eats his mice under my bed. I believe that he regards my bed as his den. When cat mothers raise their young they find a safe place, a den, and bring prey back to it for feeding and training their offspring how to kill.

Well, I am the mother and he brings prey back to the den (my bed). Specially it’s under the bed but it is all part of the same place, the place where my scent is the strongest and which he regards as the centre of his territorial home range.

So he has eaten half a large mouse. The remainder is under my bed. The next night (always during the night) he returns to it and at about 2am I can hear the crunching of bones. These bones are larger than normal and take some chewing.

The next night he ignores the bit that was left. By the way, he always starts at the head so the remaining part is the lower body and tail plus the hind legs.

The fourth night he ate all the rest. There was nothing left not even the bitter gall bladder or bile duct. Just dried, dark blood on the floor.

It surprised me a bit. But the American cougar is famous for burying its prey under leaves to return to it later, perhaps days later. This is no different to a puma’s behavior.

It’s putting the food in the fridge for a later day only this is not a fridge. But he prefers wet cat food which is a day old! Or at least he has no problem eating it. He clearly likes it when it is old. Perhaps that’s another wild cat trait. Wild cats are used to eating killed prey which is no longer fresh.

All in all, this is the behaviour of a wild cat. His ancient wild cat ancestor is inside his brain guiding him. Sometimes I am surprised he likes me and is close to me. I feel quite privileged.

P.S. When my cat eats his mouse in one sitting he eats it in 60 seconds.

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