>> Rick, I love your stories about your cat .
Thanks Lyn!
>> I have seen him stalking deer.
I lived for two years in a part of NJ that was so hilly it was not very densely populated. In fact, there was a small private game preserve a few blocks away, and we got visitors - deer and wild turkeys.
Toby was fascinated by the turkey hens - they were so sedate and calm that he wasn't frightened. Soon he discovered that he could get fairly close without their harassing him - in fact, since the lawn was big and they were few, they would drift away from him as he approached.
That really excited him: these half-dozen BIG alien critters would move to avoid HIM, so he must be a big, tough cat after all. So it turned into a dance where would creep towards the cluster of hens, and when they noticed him, they would drift away.
Toby was in Cat Heaven, andyou could see him swagger from his mastery of the situation.
Eventually the tom turkey decided he didn't like anyone but HIM pushing his hens around, so he came wading out from behind the trees and bushes and headed towards Toby. Not hurrying BUT not lookin' friendly, either.
Toby got that message tout suite, but wanted to preserve his new-found dignity and Tough Guy image. So he tied to casually saunter away from Tom Turkey. Just casually, like he had nothing better to do than be somewhere else. I think Tom wanted to say a few words to Mr. Toby, or make a point, because he speeded up.
Toby speeded up.
Pretty soon Toby was "sauntering" about as fast as he could go towards the safety of his cat door, still projecting an image of "I'm not running AWAY ... I'm just running. For exercise, maybe. yeah, that's it."
Tom was satisfied and loafed back into cover, and the hens kept ignoring both of the males, collecting their crunchy bugs and juicy worms and probably chuckling to each other about how impressed with themselves the men were.
