My cats have always brought live mice into the house. The theory is, that the kitties adopt us as their family and since we humans suck at catching mice they're bringing some for us to practice our hunting skills :-) It's pure love what they do, even though they look at us as their slightly dumber and larger siblings!

Your cat sounds awesome. I wish my kitty would catch things but he only kills bugs that appear once in a blue moon.

Your cat sounds awesome and all but I really was surprised by the way you are interactive with your autistic brother. I used to work with autistic adults and I loved it people look at them as more of a burden instead of a person and I really appreciate that you are in his life and not just there to take care of him. I know from personal experience it's a lot of work and I really just want to thank you for being in his life as a brother and not a care taker.

Thank you thatoneninjadude. My mom and I are using the Son-Rise program with him. It's a play therapy that focuses on joining their world because they cannot easily join ours. By following their lead, and creating a relationship with them, we can slowly bring them out of autism. Their website is autismtreatmentcenter dot org, and they've helped, and cured, countless autistic people over the past decades. It started when the Kaufmans were were told their three year old son, Ron, was severely autistic, and would never look at them or learn to speak, much less function independently in the world. They said he had a 30 IQ. Instead of institutionalizing him as they were advised, they decided to join his world because he couldn't join their world. For two years, every day from the time Ron got up, to the time he went to bed, one of them would sit with him and do whatever he was doing. If he'd flap his fingers, they'd flap their fingers. If he'd spin plates, they'd spin plates. For weeks there was no change. Finally, he started to look at them. Then he started interacting with them. After two years, they had a completely normal son who could go to kindergarten. He has since graduated an Ivy League University in Bio-Medical Ethics, and has a near genius IQ. Now he runs the program. You go for a week long training course where you learn the principles of the program, and how to get volunteers because most people can't put in the hours the Kaufmans did by themselves. They say the parents are the experts because they know their child. They give you the principles, and you apply it to your child. They advise against putting autistic people in school. They say you can educate an autistic person, and have an educated autistic person. Or you can cure the autism, and then educate a normal person. While you will have to put in a lot of hours, you can either put those hours in now, or over the span of your whole life. It truly is a remarkable program. Unfortunately, we live in a small town, and haven't been able to keep a full time program running. But he has made leaps and bounds with what we have been able to to do. We're currently looking for more people, and he is an energetic, highly verbal, very interactive eighteen year old who loves meeting new people and playing with friends. He's just recently gotten interested in academics, and has managed to memorize, word perfect, the entirety of the 63 page book Hop on Pop. Because of his incredible memory we've had to switch to flash cards to teach reading. Ultimately, we're the ones who are lucky to have him in our lives. He's an amazing person. It's an honor to have him as a brother. And I want to thank you for being there for the autistic people who's families either aren't aware of, or don't choose to use the Son-Rise program. It's nice to meet other people out there who care. Sorry for the long post. Again.

LOL

good! declawing is really horrible. thankfully it is illegal in my country :D

And that's the way it should be! :) I have a cat that loves to bring us gifts and treasures... If you're lucky you can pick her and what ever she brought into the house, and deposit both outside. Having said that though, the count is one snake, two baby bunnies, a mouse, a few birds and lots of lizards. Best part... We don't have a litter box. She goes out the doggie door, and craps in the neighbors yard.

If you find bringing the animals inside a problem, getting him declawed would be my suggestion. My step moms cat would find animals and kill them while having his front claws but without them it it harder for him to trap the animals. I don't know if you're against it or not but we had to get my cat declawed because he would rip up the carpet and he was just on medicine and I little loopy haha. He has actually mellowed down since getting his front claws removed. It's your choice because it's your cat but it might solve the critter issue.

But they can't defend themselves as well against predators without all their claws. I had a cat that had had the front claws removed before I got him from the shelter and he still caught a bird once.

It all depends on the cat. I had 3 cats all declawed. My oldest went out all the time and had no problem hunting. He took on a coyote and won, escaping with a tiny little scar on his left hind leg. Just because he doesn't have his front claws doesn't mean he can't use his back claws and teeth.

True but depends on the predator too. My cat had his tail paralyzed by a raccoon. He recovered eventually though.

Declawing is inhumane. It's like cutting off the first joint in our fingers. All that pain, and for what? to spare the carpet? people that declaw their poor cats are probably better off not having one.

@156 I was to forced to get my cat declawed. We've had her for 9 years, and she had always clawed people - but last year she attacked my dog and sliced its eye. At that point, We had two choices; let the dog go to animal control, or declaw the cat. It was a hard decision, but after having the dog for 5 years, it was going to be too hard to let it go to animal services. Everyone in my family hated it. Even now I feel awful when I try to watch her knead. Yes, it's awful, but in this case - what other choice did we have? Put down the cat? Let them take the dog? I think you should ask people why they declawed instead of immediately targeting them as a horrible person. Yeah, the people who do it to save furniture or whatever should probably think twice before doing it, but there are legitimate reasons as to why a cat has to be declawed.

#149 my cat is declawed and she still manages to catch shrews and gophers and once a dove. She's also the cat from satan, but my family loves her. (We found her on a tree by the way)

declawing is one of the cruelest things you can do to a cat how would you like all your nails permanently removed and see how you like it

You ever hear of claw caps? Instead of cutting off an animals fingers, you put caps over their claws instead. You get no sympathy from me. ANYONE who considers declawing their pets deserves to get them taken away so they can be sent to a better home. End of story.

Well yeah I mean it should be illegal in every country. Unless you where talking abut the cat in which case we have nothing INTERESTING to talk about.

Our old vet would always pressure us to get our cat declawed and we got fed up with the constant pressure so we went to a different vet. Declawing your pet is wrong and it leaves them completely defenseless. Our cat is a hunter and he catches full grown rabbits sometimes, as well as various rodents, and he is the sweetest cat we have ever had and we wouldn't change him for the world.

@158 - While I am against declawing cats, I understand that you were in a really tough situation in which there was no good solution. So I understand why you made the choice you made and am glad to know that ultimately, you are against declawing. And I agree with you when you say that one should look at the situation before saying that you are a horrible person for declawing your cat. In my opinion, declawing should only be done as a last resort. And any vet that advocates for automatic declawing should lose their lisence to practice. For those that don't know, when you declawing a cat, you essentially AMPUTATE a cats fingers. You are not just removing the nail, you remove all that nail is attached to.