Kitty Torino's Rabbit Challenge

I love my human, but she isn't the only lady in my life. By that I don’t mean having another female human. I am the neighborhood ladies man. The furry version of course. Right as my human lets me outside, I lay under the mating bush I have chosen, picking flowers with my mouth as a present for the next lady kitty that walks by. A new lady cat has come by the bush to stare at me as I lick my fur, deciding if they would like to get closer. The neighborhood black cat runs around trying to find food while spotting me under my bush. "Hello sir, have you seen any little rabbits around I can sink my teeth into?" she asks me. I wonder if she just stopped to ask in order to find a reason to talk to me.

"Ah yes, there is some always lurking in what I call the food bush," I meow at her, "Follow me. If we don’t catch a kill though, my human can feed you. She loves all cats."

"I am wary of humans sir…." She trailed off, waiting for me to fill in her blank.

"Torino," I informed her, handing her the flower sitting next to me.

"My name is Catie,” she took the flower into her mouth “I've heard of you. You are quite the talk of the neighborhood," she snuffed negativity.

“In what way have you heard of me?” I asked her as she put the flower on the table of my human’s porch.

“Every girl kitten around here is obsessed with you, saying that your fur is that of a lion, and your meow is smooth and calming,” she tilted her head.

“Guess I am the man of the neighborhood, getting luckier than Casper across the street over there,” I nodded towards the white short-haired neighbor cat that only still sported half of his fur and had a cone placed around his head.

“I think he is cute,” she smirked at me.

“If you are just trying to make me upset, then you would be wrong to believe so because you are just mad at how much attention that I get around here. I bet you think that I am extremely handsome,” I continued to walk her toward the food bush.

“I can’t hurt your ego then?” She asked me as we waited hiding under the bush.

“Not likely,” I informed her and spotted a small bunny. I chased after it at full speed and grabbed my claws into it. I brought it over to her and her whiskers twitched in delight, “Do you think that Casper could grab a bunny like that for you?”

“Maybe he could even chase down one of the bigger bunnies and not just one of the small ones,” she muffled through a mouthful of bunny meat.

“I doubt it,” I shook my head. Casper was a lovely guy, but definitely didn’t seem like the hunting type, “He looks like he would only eat the food given to him by humans and would only pounce after a dumb red laser light.”

“Let’s have a contest then. We will invite all of the lady cats over and they will watch you two compete to grab an adult bunny,” she finished her meal and we headed over to Casper’s turf.

“What do you want, you big headed ball of fur,” he hissed at me when we got across the road.

“I don’t have a big head, it is just all the extra fur I have, unlike you looking like you had your fur ripped right off of you. Accept my challenge of hunting an adult bunny,” I puffed my chest out at him.

“What is this one of those stupid game shows the humans like to watch each other do something stupid for attention? I don’t think so,” he turned away and laid down lazily in the grass.

“Coward,” I turned from him and saw many of the lady cats gathering around us.

“Accept the challenge, Casper!” Cuddles, an orange female kitten, encouraged him.

“Or what?” He asked her.

“Well, if you at least even try the challenge, you will get plenty of kitty kisses from me,” she swayed side to side making little “mrr” noises.

“Fine, I am in,” Casper popped up, trying hard to hide the excitement on his face.

“First one to catch an adult rabbit wins!” Catie yelled and both of us as we ran off to hide in the shrubbery. I waited for a few minutes when a big rabbit hopped by the bush. I honed in on it and tried to think of what would be the correct timing to launch forward for the grab. The rabbit came extremely close to me and I leap at it but missed. It went running off faster than I could chase it. I then had the bright idea to keep watch in a tree and pounce down when I saw one. I climbed up the nearest tree and waited.

“How are you going to aim correctly flying off of there like that?” Cuddles asked, laughing at me.

“If you would stay away and be quiet, you would see exactly what I mean,” I shooed her off, and she backed away. I finally spotted a fluff and flew down at it. I hit it for the kill. I started picking up the matted fur for my victory, when I soon realized that I had really just attacked and killed an overgrown mole. I spit it out in frustration while Cuddles laughed at me.

“Wow, can’t even see what you are jumping to from up there,” she continuously giggled.

“Got more of a catch than Casper probably has right now,” I munched on the mole for more energy to catch the rabbit.

“Oh yeah let me have some of that,” Cuddles came forward to eat on the mole while another rabbit came into the corner of my eye. Cuddles and I both froze in place. The rabbit stayed extremely still and I readied myself for the pounce. The rabbit probably thought we were too busy with our current meal to pay attention to what it was up to. I finally pounced and grabbed it by the leg, scrapping its foot as it ran away. Cuddles then started laughing some more.

“A foot scrape has got to count for something,” I shook my bloody paw and we both walked over to see what Casper was up to. Casper was panting hard from exhaustion when we found him.

“I quit, I am so tired. I can’t do this anymore,” he confessed.

“A forfeit! I win and even caught a mole back there,” I chuckled at him.

“All I care about is getting Cuddles kisses,” he turned his head to her.

“You get your gift that I promised then,” she walked towards him, and I went to go tell my “grabbing the rabbit foot” story to the rest of the ladies.

“Bet you really will catch a whole rabbit next time,” one of the little kittens swooned, and the rest joined in all around me.

“No cat can catch a big rabbit, there is probably no possible way,” Casper walked over to us with Cuddles by his side.

“We will see about that, in time I could get it done!” I hissed at him.

“You are arrogant if you think so,” he hissed back.

“I am just saying nothing is impossible, you negative minded furball,” I shook my head at him and hissed louder.

“Quit being a show off all the time,” Casper slapped a paw at me.

“I am just out here living out my cat years like the rest of us, don’t be so envious,” I slapped him back a bit, but not so hard as to knock him over.

“Torino, be nice to Casper,” my human picked me up and I rubbed my head against her neck as to say that I understood what she was saying. She then put me down and scattered crunchy food all over the sidewalk. All the kitties meowed in appreciation and munched away. “You have quite the number of friends,” my human smiled down at all the munching kittens. “Remember you have to be back inside in a little bit, so say your goodnights to all the kitties,” she pet each kitten and walked back into the house.

“I love human’s snacks,” Catie looked satisfied with her mouthful of goodies.

“Yeah, she has the best snacks,” I laughed at everyone munching away, “Well we will continue our quest for rabbits tomorrow there Casper.”

“I am good with never trying to hunt a rabbit down ever again, but you can try to get one all you want. I will be entertained by your ambition,” he smiled at me and headed back to his own home. I mewed a goodbye to all of the ladies and headed back to the house for night snacks and love from my human. She held up the flower that was sitting on the porch at me.

“Was this for all the ladies out there?” she asked me. I murped at her to let her know she was right and she laughed. I fell asleep in my human’s lap dreaming of becoming victorious in my hunting efforts. I would have to keep practicing on moles in order for my skills to improve and I could impress the whole neighborhood of kittens. I would be a kitten legend and the talk of all the local neighborhoods. Torino the only kitty that can catch an adult rabbit!