Business Survival taught by Cats

On my week end farm, I have two yellow tabby barn cats, Bruce and Willard. These cats have had an irregular feeding schedule most of their lives and many time had to forage for food since they were born 5 years ago. Plus, they've had to learn to NOT become food for the coyotes and bob cats traveling through the area. Sometimes a friend would stop by and put out a little food for Bruce and Willard when I was not coming to the farm for the week end.

(Their irregular feedings sorta resembles the sales cycle of a growth business!)

Bruce and Willard have lived their lives mostly untouched by human hands, but will rub and stroke each other and eat out of the same cat food can and bowl with never a growl or hiss at each other. Compatible chaps.

Since I'm spending more time at the farm I decided to take my white city cat, Pearl, with me for company in the house. For a week I've kept Pearl indoors with the blinds closed on the back of the house so Pearl and the barn cats could not see each other. After a week of this treatment, Pearl had cabin fear and really wanted to explore the great outdoors to watch birds, climb trees and check out the new country smells.

Of course I feared that my barn cats would attack and hurt my precious Pearl. When my bow hunter cousin, Tom, came for a visit I asked him to help me set the live trap so I could capture Bruce and Willard to take them on a final trip to the Humane Society. BTW, when they were younger, we trapped B &W for a trip to the vet for neutering and shots. So no big deal I thought, they would go willingly into the trap again, especially with the right food.

We set the trap using canned pink salmon as food to lure them to walk into the trap. When you've been a feast or famine cat all you life, pink salmon is your caviar. Bruce was the first to go into the live trap, and he gingerly stepped over the trigger plate that releases the spring to snap the door shut and ate several bites of the salmon. Then Willard, the more suspicious of the two cats, entered as Bruce backed out of the trap and Willard are a few bites, but he did not step on the trigger plate either. Before you knew it, both cats were squeezed side by side in the trap, each one carefully stepping over the trigger plate to eat more salmon.

Cousin Tom and I watched from inside the house for more than 15 minutes as Bruce and Willard went in and out of the trap eating the salmon, never once tripping the trap door that would capture them. When finished they washed their faces and licked their chops as only cats will do after a satisfying meal.

After their near death experience yesterday, today Bruce and Willard are curled up in the concrete bird bath taking a major sun nap, bellies full from more salmon given them last night and two meals today. (I was suffering from major guilt having tried to end their peacful existence.)

It is obvious to me that Bruce and Willard have not lived up their 9 lives yet, and deserve to continue to live at the farm. Pearl will just have to learn to co-exist with these country cats. I hope we only have hissing and growling, no major fur fights in our future.

MORAL: Go for the "salmon" but watch your step remembering to always use your business intincts and past experience to survive.