If you own a cat, you’ll know that while you might love her dearly, you really don’t appreciate the “gifts” of smaller animals, dead or alive, that she brings into your home.
This is often seen as an act of cruelty by determined cat haters, but actually, it’s completely instinctive, and shows how well-adapted cats are to their carnivorous lifestyle.
Cats have natural hunting instincts, even though those that have been domesticated don’t technically need their prey catching abilities to survive. So when your cat shows up with a dead mouse or bird, know that she’s looking to you, her owner, for positive recognition of her find.
That’s not to say that dealing with your cat’s catches is particularly pleasant, especially when the animal is alive. One person who knows this all too well is the man behind the YouTube channel Doogie Labs, who usually posts content related to cars, computers and electronics.
But, with this man also being a cat owner, his cat does occasionally pop up on his videos – including the time that she caught a live rabbit and brought it into his home.
In the video, which has been viewed more than 3.5 million times, the man’s ginger cat, named Daytona, is gazing up at him with complete innocence as he questions her about what’s in the bathroom.
The man continues,
“What did you bring in the house with you?”
And he heads over to the bathroom door. Daytona follows immediately, putting her paws up on the door and miaowing hopefully. She then crouches down and sniffs under the door, trying to get a whiff of her catch.
Daytona’s owner does the wise thing and picks her up off the floor (she lets out a disgruntled squeak), locking her in another bathroom so that he can deal with the rabbit.
In the bathroom containing the trapped rabbit, the man switches on the light and points the camera behind the toilet, where a dark mound slowly reveals itself as a tiny baby rabbit, looking a bit shell-shocked but otherwise okay.
With a gloved hand, the man gently reaches out and nudges the little rabbit in the side. He hops out of view, attempting escape. Being a wild rabbit, this is probably the first time he has ever had an experience with a human before, so he’s most likely terrified of the big man with the gloves looming above him.
The man says,
“Come here, little buddy.”
He reaches out again – and the rabbit begins to hop frantically away, making the most adorable squeaking noise.
The camera goes black for a second, and all we can hear is a persistent squeaking from the rabbit. Seconds later, the camera is back, filming the rabbit in the man’s hand as he informs everyone that he’s not hurt, just in shock.
Just to be sure, the man holds the rabbit at angles while he examines him. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of injury from the outside, at least. In this case, it’s kinder to set the rabbit free as quickly as possible.
Unlocking his front door, the man walks several paces onto his front yard and releases the rabbit.
If you were concerned that he’d left the little guy too close to his feline predator, the speed at which the little rabbit hops off into the distance should definitely reassure you. There’s no messing about – he takes off like the wind, and a second later, he has vanished from sight.
This rabbit had a very lucky escape from death. Being a wild animal, he will have to stay on alert for the likes of foxes, eagles, snakes, owls, and even wolves, coyotes and and raccoons. But he’s probably never had a domestic cat after him before!
Take a look at the super cute video of the rabbit rescue below.
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