Saturday, 30 May 2026

Crash!

 

Crash!


This morning there was a metallic crash, followed by the unmistakable whistle indicating that the fridge door was open. In the kitchen, I found the carving dish on the floor, with the chicken carcase a little way from it. Four animals were taking it in turns to sample the flesh.

It’s amazing how much meat they can strip from a cooked chicken in a couple of minutes. They were so disappointed when I took their unexpected treat away from them. Fortunately, they had not had long enough to reach the bones. Cooked bones splinter very easily and can cause fatal damage to a dog or cat’s innards. Foxes suffer from eating splintered bones, too, though I suppose they are at more immediate danger from traffic.

We normally have enough meat for three meals from one chicken, and then it is cooked in the pressure cooker for about three hours, until the bones are soft enough to be mashed. All the goodness from the meat and bone marrow creates a delicious broth. This time, we’ve had one meal and the dogs have probably got the equivalent of two, with much of the ‘jelly’ lasting for several more days to treat the cats.

We have a lock on the fridge door so how did the chicken end up on the floor?  Who was responsible? And why? And how?

This is where I hang my head in shame and admit that I forgot to lock the door. 😳 Jellicoe’s insulin is kept in the fridge and I must have been distracted after I replaced it. Jellicoe is keenly aware of the contents of the fridge and is extremely fond of cooked chicken. He hooks his paw into the gap between door and inner and pulls, and hey presto! Chicken for one, or in this case, four.

It is a shame, but never a waste. It just means that this week the dogs will have a larger than usual share of the chicken. They won’t protest and neither will I, as I’m not very keen on chicken. Barry? He never complains. 😣

I suggested carving off the chewed parts – he wouldn’t have noticed, if I’d done it without asking, I’m sure. I could have made a chicken curry! He declined my offer.

We will have to find something different to accompany the salad tonight. We won’t starve.

67 comments:

  1. Sometimes the critters give us some big surprises. Critters are much smarter than we think.

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  2. It's a wonder one dog didn't grab the carcass and run away with it. It's nice that they share, just not with you.

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    Replies
    1. They were still at the 'surprised' stage.

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  3. Echoing Andrew here, they all shared which is a bit unusual, but you do have very polite dogs.

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  4. Jellicoe must be their hero.

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  5. If I were an animator, this is the story I would tell, ha.

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  6. Kay of Musings: Wow! That’s amazing! I didn’t know a dog could actually open a fridge door. I didn’t know you could put a lock on a fridge door either.

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    1. Nothing will deter a determined dog or cat.

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  7. Oh....my. Our fridges here have a vacuum type seal when they close properly so no critter - feline, canine...or otherwise. But what a clever fellow that Jellicoe.

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    1. I think our vacuum seals cannot be as strong as yours. We've always had to put locks on our fridges and freezers.

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  8. Jellicoe is very clever to be able to do that!!

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  9. So thoughtful of Jellicoe to treat his friends to a chicken snack.

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  10. Oooops - but I am sure they enjoyed the feast! xx

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  11. Pois é, os animais não têm problemas em infringir regras e fazer tudo a contento.
    Bom fim de semana.
    Abraço de amizade.
    Juvenal Nunes

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  12. Your not on your own, on Thursday I locked the cat flap whilst we had men in the garden. Last night Lilly slept the whole night with us, which is very unusual, this morning she was sat at on the bottom step of the stairs. I had my light bulb moment and unlocked the cat-flap, it was set for her to come in but not out, bad human. The back door has been open both days until 10pm, so she did not need the cat-flap.

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    1. Sometimes things just distract us, don't they? Lucky Lilly!

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  13. Perhaps I have been living under a stone, but I had no idea there are fridge locks. Is it because we have no pets? If I did, and they purloined my poultry, their tenure might be subject to review!

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    1. We've lived with animals all our lives, so our habits are probably very different to yours. I don't suppose you have upside down door handles, either. 😉

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    2. We had them when we had our boxer dog.

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  14. That was certainly a meal for the royal family. Hard to believe that a cat is strong enough to open a refrigerator door against the magnet that holds it. Thankfully I don't have to worry about that here. Unless it's the hubby that opens the refrigerator and grabs food that he shouldn't, lol.

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    1. There's not much you can do about the male of the species, unfortunately! 😃

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  15. It was certainly generous of Jellicoe to share the chicken. Or perhaps his partners in crime were standing by to encourage him so they could reap the rewards.

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    1. They certainly work together when it's to their benefit.

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  16. Sly, hungry, pets working as a team!!

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  17. I don't know how they have the nerve to pretend they're hungry!

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  18. Wow, Jellicoe is one clever cat .
    Alison in Devon x

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  19. So unfortunate what happened

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  20. That crash would have given me a near heart attack! Good job it was only Jellicoe‘s heroic deed, feeding himself and his fourlegged family.

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    1. 'Help yourself' doesn't usually extend to the animals. 😉

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  21. Reminds me of a Doberman I had years ago. Left an apple pie on the kitchen counter. I didn't hear the pie plate drop (wasn't home at the time), but I arrived home to find it on the kitchen floor--carefully removed from the countertop so that it landed right side up. At first it looked as though it had not been touched (only had one sliced eaten previously), but then I realized that the top and bottom crusts were quite flat. The lovely girl had simply used her tongue to sweep out the entire apple filling. Evidently she didn't care for the pastry. Such a critic!

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  22. She was watching her figure!

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  23. My Labrador Kim from long ago, once scoffed a large part of my first wedding cake out of the cupboard. I honestly thought that he would die of over-eating, but no, sick all over the place. I admire your animals for looking after each other ;) Also my MIL from that time, when she visited at Xmas shocked me by swiping the turkey carcass from the dustbin (where I had thrown it) and boiled it up for the stock.

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    1. I admire thrift, but draw the line at taking things out of the bin. How funny!
      One of our Dalmatians ate a complete chocolate cake and suffered no ill effects. It amused the grandchildren no end.

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  24. Clever Jellicoe! Lucky you're easy going and love your furry friends. Curry?? I'd say 'no' too

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  25. That's amazing, a cat opening a fridge door. And I always thought food was safely out of the way in the fridge. Rachel

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    1. So did we, until we discovered otherwise.

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  26. I thought it rather nice that they all shared :)

    Whatever you eat with your salad tonight enjoy your meal.

    All the best Jan

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  27. I have to laugh. LOL I'm sorry about your 4 meals.

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  28. You made me laugh with your adventure of 4 furred thieves breaking into your fridge ! It reminded me of Arthur who was a born thief, for once I had backed an apple pie and let on the kitchen table to cool down. The next morning there was an empty plate with crumbs and a little piece of cake on the floor ! I didn't know that cats eat apple pies, had never thought of if !

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  29. Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw—
    For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.

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  30. It's been several years since we've had a dog. Now we live with cats. And fish. Neither of them have ever tried to open the refrigerator!

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    1. The thought of fish opening a fridge made me smile.

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  31. What a lovely post. Thanks for sharing! I just got a cabinet painting in my kitchen and am enjoying being next to them, reading some good stuff.

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  32. My aunt had a beagle who could open a fridge even with child locks on it. It once got in and ate the whole contents of the fridge including several pounds of butter and lard which made it very sick but it still tried to open the fridge on regular occasions
    .Jane

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  33. I don't think anyone going to confess.

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  34. Whoopsie. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall to watch that happen

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