Pretty much every day, when I come from work, I'm greeted with some sort of cat-initiated disaster.  Papers on the floor.  Broken cups.  Footprints on the counter.  Half-eaten people food.  A few days before Christmas, Wendy and I stumbled upon quite possibly the best one yet, hereafter referred to as "The Marshmallow Incident". 

We were getting ready to travel to Virginia to visit my family for Christmas, and Wendy packed a bag of food that would eventually be dipped in chocolate and eaten (by humans).  In that outer bag (pink) was an inner bag (white) with several food items:  Pretzels, cookies, and of course, marshmallows. 



Recently, our boy cat, Dilbert, has been getting into (and eating) more and more food that you wouldn't think cats would like.  He gobbles up all kinds of vegetables.  He ate an entire package of cheese crackers.  He ripped open a plastic bag and ate part of a wheat roll.  So I guess it shouldn't be surprising when he eats any other people food.  But marshmallows?  In their original, unopened packaging?  In a bag within another bag?  Apparently, yes.  So this is the sight we came home to: 



Allow me to elaborate.  The picture shows 3 largely uneaten marshmallows (the one on the left has some teeth marks), 1 partially eaten marshmallow, 1 Oreo cookie Christmas ornament (unrelated to this incident), and quite a few small white bits of chewed-up marshmallow.  And by quite a few, I mean somewhere around 10,000.  What the picture doesn't show is the area due north, which had another 10 or so marshmallows and another 30,000 little white bits of chewed-up marshmallow.  What the picture also doesn't show is how much time and floor cleaner it took to remove 40,000 little white bits of chewed-up marshmallow.  It was ridiculous. 

Also of interest in this incident was the ferocity of our little gray and white cat.  He's been known to be a little mean with strangers, and his bite is much worse than his growl (actually, he never growls).  The picture below shows the marshmallows in their original packaging, complete with several teeth marks and large ripped wholes. 



The following picture is a closeup of a thoroughly gnawed marshmallow.  Notice the puncture wounds and cat hairs.  Dilbert obviously wasn't just seeing if he liked it.  He was either (a) attempting to kill it, or (b) trying to eat it piece by piece.  Judging from a few of the other marshmallows, I would say he was going to town on the stickiest meal he ever found.  Note to pet owners:  Sticky going in, sticky coming out. 

#nature