Any one who’s had more than one cat knows they tend to bring you “gifts”. We currently have three cats, having downsized from the average five or six we’ve had most of the time since we moved to our home in the country 26 years ago.
Most times the gifts are dead, but every now and then I get a real treat and they bring me a live one. I’ve gotten two gifts in the past 24 hours, one live, one dead.
My first clue to the live one was when I saw a dark streak 
dash from my bathroom into my bedroom and under the bed. Oh joy. Probable gift giver: Tommy, who comes in the bedroom window at night (so I don’t have to truck all the way to the front of the house to open the door.) We don’t have cat doors, because that would invite raccoons, opossums, and who knows what other kinds of wild critters. Occasionally, he makes it in the window without me realizing he’s got a mouse in his mouth.
Not three hours after discovering the live mouse in my bedroom, I heard Cindy playing rambunctiously in the living room. I thought she had latched onto one of the catnip mice that are scattered around on the floor, but she doesn’t usually pay much attention to them. Becoming suspicious, I got up and got a flashlight and chased her down. She was happily throwing something and chasing after it. Sure enough—not a catnip mouse. Fortunately (for me at least) this one was already dead. She lost her toy.
Cat #3, Pepper, is an indoor kitty and never brings us 
any gifts. He has the attitude that the house belongs to him, and he merely tolerates the existence of the rest of us, except for my husband. He’d be very content to be in a one-cat one-human household. He makes his supremacy known to the other two by guarding the hallway and chasing any cat that dares to enter it.
As for the live mouse, we caught him this morning in a live trap and relocated him outside. Hopefully he’ll have sense enough to steer clear of the cats.
Later on, I walked past the untouched catnip mouse on the floor. It reminded me of another gift in the past. One Christmas, I glanced under the Christmas tree and noticed what I assumed was one of the catnip mice. I didn’t think too much of it at first glance, but took a closer look just in case. Guess what—not a catnip mouse at all.
Guess one of the cats had left us a Christmas gift.
