Meet Our Pets.

We have acquired an adult cat from the SPCA. Acquired by Marcus with the sole purpose of being a mole killer.  Marcus has thankfully given up on his night time vigils with the torch in the front yard, planting moth balls as deterrents and setting mouse traps above their tunnels.  The more he seemed to catch, the more that seemed to arrive.  Each night he would replace all the dirt and grass, stomping it back in place as best he could. Only to find in the morning, brand new tunnels and little piles of dirt. 

I would turn the whole thing into a children's story book if the poor little moles didn't come to such gruesome ends. 

Anyway, the cat is doing the trick. Getting an adult cat was the best decision. He is toilet trained, kid trained, sleeps on our bed at night, cleans himself, turns up for food but other than that we don't see him.  We called him 'Hunter' for obvious reasons and it appears he spends his days doing just that, without feeling the need to leave his kills as trophies on our door step.  He is the perfect pet.

Except for the small fact that he wants to kill Oliver's hamster.

It's hard to blame him really.  Oliver's hamster does look very mole like.

Oliver walked into the scullery one morning where his hamster is kept to find the whole cage on the floor, sawdust, hamster food and bedding everywhere and his hamster just sitting beside the cage in a state of shock.  We can only presume that the cat got such a fright when the cage fell that he took off, which was lucky for the hamster as she was an easy catch without the cage for protection.

We now keep the hamster up high in a cupboard which seems to work well. However the hamster is a changed animal.  Since her near death experience with the cat, she bites anyone who tries to hold her and she bites hard.  Which has resulted in Marcus being the only one brave enough to reach in her cage. Not even Olli wants to play with the hamster anymore. 

Again, it's hard to blame her really. Biting is her only defence.

We did some research and turns out hamsters only live in captivity for 3- 4 years.  Less in the wild obviously with so many predators.  Oliver said very matter of fact "well that works well then huh Mum? We just need to stay in Africa till the hamster dies. Then we can go home." 

Sounds like a good plan son. Back to the land that is hamster, mole and snake free. That sentence needs to be added to the national anthem.