paying-attention

I'm not really an animal person but since I live with three other people, a dog and a cat don't provide too much additional aggravation. The cat stays pretty well within his assigned parameters, doesn't require a litter box and keeps the garage free of mice.
The dog used to be a good watchdog -- sometimes overly ferocious acting although he always disliked most of the same people I did -- but he's gotten old, deaf and ineffective lately. Pets are a responsibility. The dog smells bad, has trouble getting around and has increasingly bad manners, but he's not near death or anything, so we just have to be nice to him.
The last cat we had lived to be about 22 years old (that's in people years) but didn't really like coming in the house. We were delighted to associate with her when she was in the mood. She didn't like the kids or the dog and she tended to drive the mouse population into the house, but she wasn't very demanding. In her youth she had been affectionate in the style of a dog. She was raised by a mother dog and growled at other cats until learning rather late in life to hiss like a cat. When we lived in a second story apartment she would lean out the window and make chirping noises at the birds.
After she died, the mouse problem got worse in the house, the yard and the garage. The dog was good at keeping salespeople from the front door but in some ways he seemed to be in league with the mice. One of his favorite habits was to steal pizza crust, bread slices and stale tortillas from the trash and hide them under furniture in the bedrooms.
This current cat, Henry, is affectionate but noisy and presumptious. We got him as an adolescent a couple of years ago from a woman who lived in an apartment and got tired of his loud meowing, following her around and knocking things over. At our house he found his true calling as an efficient killer of mice and birds. He is usually afraid of other cats.
Just lately, we've seen the little cat from next door following him around and imitating him. It appears that Henry has a student. The other cat will wait in the front yard until he comes out and then they will stare at each other for a while before heading down into the gangway and across the back yards. At different times one or the other of them will come running back across the front yard with a mouse in his mouth.
I know a couple of people who disapprove of the cat's (not just my cat, I think, but probably cats in general) predatory habits. Having lived with mice in my house, I am inclined not only to tolerate but to approve of the cat's activities. I do think it's a funny contrast to see furry, purring cat lying on the couch or in someone's lap while being aware of how deadly the cat is to creatures smaller than itself.