Well, it’s the end of July, and summer has been in full swing for a month or so now. With summer, we welcome a series of miscellaneous critters in our house, namely bugs. Mowgli has been proving his usefulness in this department for weeks.
Mowgli Yawns for the Camera
Because we’re not sure of Mowgli’s past before we adopted him, Chris and I are left to speculate what events transpired to shape his personality. We have reason to believe that he had to scrounge for his food at some point because he is constantly begging for food—cat and human. Likewise, no plate or bowl is safe from his scavenging. Thankfully, he’s not a good jumper, so we haven’t had problems with him jumping on the cabinets. I sometimes think he is part raccoon because of his food-finding abilities.
Mowgli likes to pig out on his kibble and tuna treats, but one of his favorite treats is an empty bowl of cereal or ice cream. He also likes popcorn and will sit mesmerized while we eat it, waiting for us to drop a piece that he can eat. When Ravi gets a hairball and coughs up some food, Mowgli eats that, too, but the most surprising thing Mowgli eats is bugs.
Yes, bugs. On one occasion, Mowgli was playing with a moth, and he managed to pin it under his paw. Not sure what to do with his hostage, Mowgli let it go and caught it in his mouth. He let it go once more before gulping it down midair. The poor moth had no idea what was coming.
Earlier this month, three slugs and a tree frog got in the house. I managed to send the first two slugs packing without any fatalities, but while I was disposing of the first slug, the tree frog got in the house. No, Mowgli didn’t eat the frog, but he did catch it for me before it went under the couch. I soon found the second slug and sent it packing, too. The next morning, I found another slug on the living room floor—dead. I picked it up with a paper towel and noticed a few teeth marks on the creature. Mowgli met me in the kitchen, and yes, he had a little bit of slug hanging out of his mouth. Apparently, he doesn’t eat everything.
P.S. More or less, nothing has changed with Ravi. He sometimes retreats to his travel case and closes the door behind him, and he has adopted a box of books as his throne. I’ll try to take a picture of him reigning over the spare bedroom sometime.
