Stormy is our finicky, lazy, 19-pound, indoor-only kitty-- most of the time. Lately he has begun frantically glaring out the front door and windows around 10:30 p.m. every night, so we shut and lock them a bit earlier. We learned our lesson about this kind of mischievous behavior last fall.
Benson was watching The Daily Show in the living room near the front door and I was in the studio checking email, when suddenly Stormy head-butted the screen door and was out like a shot...Benson hollered Stormy's name and was out the door right after him, then witnessed our sweet cat attacking an opossum like something out of Wild Kingdom! (Yes, an opossum half a mile from the Pacific Ocean, go figure).
Stormy had the advantage in the fight; Benson was about to reach into the fray and grab Stormy when he saw the opossum teeth and claws flashing and considered there might be a safer way to separate them-- water hose, broom, etc. I ran through the living room and stood in the doorway with the screen door wide open, and I yelled Stormy's name, too. We are guessing that having both his parents standing over him hollering his name snapped Stormy out of his instinctive attack mode, as his next move was to release the animal and then streak in the front door and under the kitchen table.
The opossum disappeared nimbly over the fence. After much fawning and checking Stormy for injury, plus two calls to 24-hour vets and a firm locking of the door, we settled in for the night. Stormy has been calm, cool and collected since then, aside from frenetic surveillance on occasion. Just this week Benson came home late and thought a neighborhood cat was sauntering down the walkway, but then he spied a rat like tail. Our guess is that it was either our friendly neighborhood Beach Opossum...or a Snipe? :)
She's such a wild animal! Where has that been hiding?
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