Every year in the summertime I get an influx of tiny black ants into my kitchen. It's because when I replaced the door sweep I did it wrong and there's a tiny spot where it doesn't seal to the threshold. And it was such a pain to replace that a few ants are not enough to make me fix it.
Pippin, I believe, couldn't even see the ants.
Apricot, on the other hand, can see them quite well. The first I knew the ants were back this summer was when I saw Apricot licking the kitchen floor. Luckily the only cleaner I use on the kitchen floor is water or the vacuum cleaner, so it's safe for him to lick the floor. Obsessively. Finally I got down on the floor with him to see what had captured his attention so completely.
Little tiny black ants. He was trying to eat them. Well, ants are edible. In fact, they're supposed to be edible by humans ... not gonna happen with this human, but at least I know they're okay for Apricot to eat. So I helpfully stopped them running around by squishing them with a finger. He quite appreciated my help in corralling his snack!
(I never know if a cat is going to be grateful for the help or annoyed that I messed with their fun.)
I think, judging by his reaction to ants and that housefly he caught and ate earlier, that how he kept himself alive before the shelter was by eating insects for the most part. He was probably born early last year, in March, and I don't think he had much time with his mother because he doesn't know very well how to hunt. But he does know insects and catching them. His ant technique may be slow but it works, even without my help.
Today he was in the kitchen and some ants ventured out from behind the fridge. He licked at them until they scrambled up over his paw to get away, and then leisurely ate them off his paw, like a kid holding a popsicle.
Of course I don't have pictures. I never have pictures of the interesting stuff!
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