Dear Cat,

Recently, you have begun to bring mice into the house. It seems to me that perhaps, when we first praised you for this activity, we didn’t make it perfectly clear that the praise was due, in the most part, to the fact that the mouse in question was actually dead. Bringing live prey into the house, only to drop them and chase them half-assedly around the lounge, while we, The Humans, shut doors, move furniture and floor-things, and even pick you up and put you in the same corner as the mouse while you stare fixedly at the place the mouse was, like, five minutes ago – that’s not good.

In future, either:
a) bring dead prey (rodent, not bird) into the garage, only, and place on doormat
b) refrain from bringing any other form of prey into the house or garage
c) if a prey-creature “suddenly comes alive again” (whatever!) when you are bringing it inside, pay attention to where it is, and rectify the situation as rapidly as possible.

Regards,

Rosie

(found over at Slightly Bewildered)